Cookie Policy

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, tablet, or mobile) when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work efficiently, provide a better user experience, and supply information to website owners.

Aback Launch uses cookies for the following purposes:

Essential Cookies: These cookies are required for the basic functionality of the website. They enable core features such as authentication, session management, and security.

• Session cookies to maintain your login state
• Authentication tokens (JWT) for secure access
• CSRF protection tokens

Functional Cookies: These cookies allow the website to remember your preferences and settings for a more personalized experience.

• Theme preference (light or dark; light is the default)

Analytics: We measure how the site is used with our own first-party analytics. Page views, referral sources and the like are recorded under an anonymous identifier that is generated by your browser and never linked to your account. Our own counter writes no cookie and nothing to your device; the server hashes the IP address and the browser string into a key that is thrown away at the end of the day.

We also use Google Analytics to understand traffic sources and on-site behaviour. Google Signals and ad personalisation are switched off, we do not sell or share the data, and a browser that sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control is not tracked by either system at all: no Google tag is loaded, no Google cookie is set, nothing is sent to Google, and our own trackers send nothing either.

In the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, we ask before Google Analytics is loaded. The prompt appears at the bottom of the page, it does not block the page, and until you allow it nothing is loaded from Google at all: no tag, no Google cookie, no data sent to Google. If you decline, nothing is sent to Google. See "Your Analytics Choice".

• Page views and navigation patterns
• Time spent on pages
• Referral sources and search terms
• Device and browser information

Some of what we store is not a cookie: it is kept in your browser's local storage (which survives until you clear it) and session storage (which is discarded when you close the tab). The same rules apply to both. These are the keys we set:

• An anonymous identifier (`aback_launch.analytics.anon_id`), generated by your browser and stored in local storage. It is used to count visits and page views without identifying you.
• A session identifier (`aback_launch.analytics.session_id`), stored in session storage and discarded when you close the tab.
• Your recent search queries (`aback-search-recent`), so the search box can show what you looked for before.
• Whether you have already seen the first-vote celebration (`aback:first-vote-celebrated`), so it is shown once.
• Your in-progress startup submission (`aback-launch:submit-draft`), so you do not lose what you have typed if the page reloads. This one is stored against your account and is removed when you publish or discard the draft.
• Whether the exit-intent offer has been shown to you (`aback-exit-intent-state`, plus a tab-scoped copy in session storage).
• Your theme preference, light or dark (`theme`).
• Whether you have allowed or declined Google Analytics (`aback:analytics-consent`). It holds the word `accepted` or `declined`, and nothing else.

None of these contain your name, your email address, or anything else that identifies you, with one exception worth stating plainly: the in-progress startup draft is stored against your signed-in account, because it has to survive a page reload. You can clear all of them at any time through your browser's site-data controls.

• Session Cookies: Temporary cookies that are deleted when you close your browser. Used for authentication and session management.
• Persistent Cookies: Cookies that remain on your device for a set period or until manually deleted. Used for remembering preferences and analytics.

Some cookies on our website are placed by third-party services that we use:

• Authentication providers (Google, GitHub) may set cookies during the OAuth sign-in process
• Google Analytics sets an `_ga` cookie (and a `_ga_<container-id>` variant) to distinguish one visit from another. These are only set when your browser does not send Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, and, in the places listed above, only after you have allowed Google Analytics.

We do not control how third-party services use their cookies. Please refer to their respective privacy policies for more information.

In the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland we ask you before Google Analytics is loaded. The prompt sits at the bottom of the page, it does not block anything, and it appears once. Your answer is remembered in this browser, in the `aback:analytics-consent` key, and nowhere else.

• If you allow it: the Google tag is loaded, and Google Analytics works as described above.
• If you decline: no Google tag is loaded, no Google cookie is set, and nothing is sent to Google. Our own anonymous page counter keeps working, because it never left our servers in the first place.
• If you send Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control: you are never asked and nothing is loaded from Google.

You can change your answer at any time, and the button below does it on this device. You can also clear this site's data in your browser, which removes the answer along with everything else we have stored.

Most web browsers allow you to manage cookies through their settings. You can typically:

• View and delete existing cookies
• Block cookies from specific or all websites
• Set preferences for certain types of cookies
• Get notified when a cookie is being set

For instructions on managing cookies in your specific browser, please visit the browser's help documentation or support website.

Some browsers support a "Do Not Track" (DNT) signal. We honour it. When a browser sends DNT, neither our own first-party analytics nor Google Analytics records anything about the visit: the Google tag is never loaded, no Google cookie is set, no request is sent to Google, and our own trackers send nothing and write no identifier to your browser. Some browsers also send a Global Privacy Control signal, which we treat the same way. A browser that sends either signal is never asked for consent, because it has already answered.

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal, operational, or regulatory reasons. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date.

If you have any questions about our use of cookies, please contact us: