The position
This website sets no cookies.
Not necessary ones, not functional ones, not analytics, not advertising. Nothing is written to your device, nothing is read back from it, and nothing about your visit is recorded beyond the ordinary server logs described in our Privacy Policy.
This is a deliberate decision rather than an oversight. We do not run analytics on this site, we do not advertise, and we have no interest in knowing which pages you looked at before you decided to write to us.
The rest of this policy explains what that means, and covers the one request the site makes to a third party.
What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store on your device. On your next visit the site can read it back. Cookies are how a site remembers that you are logged in, what is in your basket, or — in the case of advertising cookies — which other sites you have visited.
Related technologies do the same job by other means: local storage, session storage, web beacons, tracking pixels and device fingerprinting. In this policy, everything said about cookies applies equally to those.
Cookies we use
| Category | Used on this site | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | None | The site is static and has no logins, baskets, sessions or preferences to remember |
| Functional | None | There is nothing to configure, so there is nothing to store |
| Analytics and performance | None | We do not measure visitor behaviour |
| Advertising and targeting | None | We do not advertise and carry no third-party advertising technology |
| Social media | None | The site embeds no social media widgets, players or share buttons |
You can verify this yourself. Open your browser's developer tools, look under Storage or Application, and you will find the cookie jar for this domain empty.
Other storage on your device
We use no local storage or session storage. We use no tracking pixels or web beacons. We do not attempt device fingerprinting.
Your browser will cache the page, its stylesheet and its typefaces so the site loads faster next time. That is ordinary browser caching, controlled by you and your browser rather than by us, and it does not identify you.
Why there is no consent banner
Under regulation 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 — PECR — consent is required before storing information on, or gaining access to information stored on, a user's device. The exception is where the storage or access is strictly necessary to provide a service the user has requested.
We neither store nor access anything on your device. The obligation to obtain consent therefore does not arise, and a banner asking you to accept cookies would be asking you to consent to something that is not happening.
We consider a banner in those circumstances to be worse than useless: it trains people to click "accept" without reading, and it implies a data practice we do not have.
Third-party requests
This website makes none. Every asset the page needs — its stylesheet, its typefaces and its images — is served from our own domain. Nothing on this site causes your browser to contact any other company.
This matters more than the cookie question, and it is the part most sites are quiet about. A page can set no cookies at all and still disclose your IP address to a handful of third parties simply by loading fonts, icons, maps, videos or scripts from them. That disclosure needs no cookie and no consent prompt to happen — it is a consequence of the request itself.
Earlier versions of this site loaded its typefaces from Google's font service. They are now served from our own domain, and no request leaves it.
You can verify this. Open your browser's developer tools, switch to the Network tab and reload the page: every request listed will be to this domain.
How to control cookies anyway
There is nothing here for you to refuse, but you may wish to manage cookies across the web generally. Every major browser lets you see the cookies that have been set, delete them individually or in bulk, and block them from particular sites or from all sites. Look under Settings, then Privacy.
Blocking all cookies will break many other websites — anything that requires you to sign in, for example. Blocking them will not affect this one.
The Information Commissioner's Office publishes plain-English guidance on cookies and online tracking at ico.org.uk.
If this changes
If we ever introduce cookies or similar technologies that are not strictly necessary, we will ask for your consent before setting them, through a banner that lets you refuse as easily as accept, and we will update this policy first.
The version number and date at the foot of this page show when it was last revised.
How to contact us
Questions about this policy, or about anything else to do with privacy, go to business@firelake-dev.com, or by post to Firelake Ltd, 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom.
Our Privacy Policy covers the personal data we do collect, why we hold it, how long we keep it and what rights you have over it. Our Terms and Conditions govern the use of this website.