Cookie Policy
1. What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that websites store on your device when you visit them. They help websites remember your preferences, understand how you use the site, and provide a better experience across sessions.
Similar technologies include local storage (data saved in your browser) and session storage (temporary data cleared when you close your browser). Where we refer to "cookies" in this policy, we also mean these similar technologies unless stated otherwise.
2. How Virtopia Uses Cookies
We keep our cookie use minimal and purposeful. We believe you should have a fast, functional experience without unnecessary tracking. Here is what we use and why:
3. Essential Cookies
Essential cookies are necessary for our website to work correctly. They enable core functionality including:
- Theme preference: We save your light/dark mode preference in your browser's localStorage so you don't have to reset it every visit.
- Reading progress: We may save your position in a long article during your current session.
- Form state: If you interact with our newsletter form, we save a flag so we don't show you a repeated signup prompt.
Because these are strictly necessary, they cannot be disabled without affecting site functionality. No personal information is transmitted to our servers from these cookies.
4. Analytics Cookies
We use privacy-respecting analytics to understand how our content is used. Our analytics provider is configured with the following privacy settings:
- IP addresses are anonymized before storage
- We do not share analytics data with third parties
- We do not use analytics data to build individual profiles
- Data is aggregated and used only to improve content quality
- We do not enable cross-site tracking
Analytics data helps us understand which articles are most useful, where readers come from (country-level only), and how the site performs technically. This helps us prioritize content and fix performance issues.
5. How to Opt Out or Manage Cookies
You have several options for controlling cookies:
Browser Settings
All major browsers allow you to view, delete, and block cookies. Here are links to cookie management instructions for common browsers:
Do Not Track
If your browser sends a Do Not Track (DNT) signal, we honour it by disabling analytics cookie collection for your session.
Opting Out of Analytics
To opt out of analytics specifically, you can email us at [email protected] and we will add your browser's user agent pattern to our exclusion list, or you can use a browser extension such as uBlock Origin to block analytics requests.
6. Third-Party Services
Virtopia uses a small number of third-party services that may set their own cookies:
- Google Fonts: Fonts are loaded from Google's CDN. Google may log requests. We minimize this by using
font-display: swapand preconnect hints. - Newsletter provider: When you subscribe to our newsletter, our email provider may set cookies related to the subscription confirmation flow.
We do not embed social media widgets, video players, or advertising iframes that would set third-party tracking cookies without your knowledge.
7. Changes to This Policy
If we introduce new types of cookies or change how we use existing ones, we will update this policy and change the "Last updated" date at the top. Significant changes will be noted on our homepage for at least 30 days.
8. Contact Us
If you have questions about our cookie practices, please contact:
Virtopia Editorial Inc.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Email: [email protected]