WSP InfoWhat a cookie is
A cookie is a small piece of data your browser stores when it visits a website. Cookies help sites remember information across page loads and, in some cases, across visits. They are common on the modern web. WSP Info uses cookies sparingly — only what is needed to operate the site and to understand aggregate readership patterns.
What we use
WSP Info uses two categories of cookies:
- Strictly necessary cookies — set by the site to remember your preferences during a visit. These include a session identifier used to preserve your settings between pages. Without these, some site features would not work correctly.
- Analytics cookies — set by a privacy-respecting analytics tool to understand how many people are reading each article and where they came from. This information is aggregated; it is not used to identify or profile individual readers.
What we do not use
We do not use third-party advertising cookies. We do not use behavioural tracking cookies. We do not participate in cross-site advertising networks. If your browser reports cookies from any domain other than wearesmartypants.com and our analytics provider, that is unexpected and worth reporting to us via the Contact page.
Managing cookies in your browser
Every mainstream browser allows you to view, block, or delete cookies. The exact steps differ by browser and by version, but all of them expose the controls in their settings menu under a heading like "Privacy" or "Cookies and site data". You can block all cookies from wearesmartypants.com without preventing yourself from reading our articles — the analytics cookie is optional and blocking it does not affect the reading experience.
Do Not Track
Where a browser sends a Do Not Track signal, our analytics setup respects that signal and does not set an analytics cookie for the visit. The strictly necessary cookies remain, because those are required for the site to function.
Cookie retention
The session cookie used by WSP Info expires when you close the browser. The analytics cookie, where set, has a short retention window measured in days rather than years — long enough for us to distinguish between a returning visitor and a new one for the current reporting period, and not long enough to build any persistent profile.
Legal basis in Australia
Cookie usage on Australian websites intersects with the Privacy Act 1988 to the extent that a cookie collects personal information. The Australian Privacy Principles set out our obligations where that applies. WSP Info's cookie usage is designed to minimise the collection of personal information at the cookie layer — the essential cookies contain only session identifiers, and the analytics cookie is set only where a Do Not Track signal is absent.
Changes to this notice
If the set of cookies we use changes materially, we will update this notice and the change date at the top. Cosmetic or wording updates that do not change our cookie practice may not be flagged. The current version is the version that describes our current cookie practice.