Cookie policy
Effective 2026-08-22. Operated by FeedAtom.
FeedAtom sets one cookie that matters, and it exists only to keep you signed in. There is nothing here to consent to, and no banner asking you to.
Who sets them
Only FeedAtom. No advertiser, analytics vendor or social network sets a cookie on this site.
What we set
One session cookie holding your signed-in session, and one small preferences cookie remembering your theme and density. The session cookie is httpOnly and first-party, and it expires when your session does. Both are strictly necessary: without the session cookie you cannot stay signed in, so no law requires us to ask permission for them.
What we do not set
On this website: no advertising cookie, no cross-site tracker, no analytics pixel, no fingerprinting. Because there is no non-essential cookie here, there is no consent banner - a banner asking permission for something that needs no permission is theatre, and we would rather tell you plainly. Email is a different matter, and the next section says exactly what happens there.
What happens in the emails we send
A digest contains a small image that loads when your mail program displays the message, which is how we know it arrived and was opened, and its links pass through us on their way to the publisher, which is how we know a story was worth reading. We use this to stop sending to addresses that bounce and to improve ranking in aggregate. It is measurement, not advertising, and it is never sold or shared. You can turn it off in your delivery preferences, or block remote images in your mail program, and the digest will still arrive.
Third parties
Signing in sends you to our identity provider, which sets its own cookie on its own domain to remember that you signed in there. That is governed by its own policy, not this one. Clicking a story link takes you to the publisher's site, which is governed by theirs.
Your control
Your browser can block or clear cookies for this site at any time. Blocking the session cookie means you cannot sign in; everything a signed-out visitor can read stays readable.
Changes
If we ever add a cookie that is not strictly necessary, we will ask for your consent before setting it, and this page will say so first.
Contact
Cookie questions go to [email protected].