Cookie policy
This page lists every cookie that can appear when you visit proteonomix.com and explains why there are so few.
What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store. Your browser sends it back with later requests to the same site. Cookies can do useful, necessary jobs, such as keeping someone signed in or helping a site tell a person from a bot. They can also be used to follow people around the web and build advertising profiles. This site uses them only for the first kind of job.
Cookies that can appear on this site
There are only two kinds, and most readers will see at most one of them.
| Cookie | Set by | What it does | How long it lasts | Who gets it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
__cf_bm (and occasionally cf_clearance) |
Cloudflare | Helps tell people from automated traffic and protects the site from attacks | __cf_bm expires after 30 minutes of inactivity |
Any visitor, when Cloudflare's security checks need it |
| Editor sign-in cookie | proteonomix.com | Keeps an editor signed in to the admin area | Up to 24 hours | Editors only, never readers |
The Cloudflare security cookie
Cloudflare sits in front of the site as a content delivery network and security service. To filter out bots and attacks, it may set the __cf_bm cookie in your browser. It holds no information about which pages you read, and it isn't used for advertising or analytics. If your browser is asked to complete a security check, Cloudflare may also set cf_clearance to remember that you passed, so you aren't asked again straight away. Cloudflare describes these cookies in its documentation on Cloudflare cookies and its privacy policy.
The editor sign-in cookie
When one of the editors signs in to the site's admin area, the site sets a secure, HTTP-only cookie that keeps them signed in while they work. It expires within 24 hours. This cookie is never set for readers. Reading articles, searching the site or using the contact form doesn't create it.
What we don't use
No analytics cookies. No advertising cookies. No social media tracking pixels or "like" buttons that set cookies. No cookies from font or image services, because images and fonts are served from our own domain. There are no reader accounts, so there is no reader sign-in cookie either.
Why there is no consent banner
Privacy rules in many places require a site to ask before setting cookies that aren't needed to provide the service. Both cookies on this site are strictly necessary: one protects the site, and the other keeps an editor signed in to work on it. Since we set nothing optional, there is nothing to ask permission for, and we'd rather not put a banner between you and the article you came to read.
Controlling cookies in your browser
You can see, block and delete cookies in your browser's settings. In most browsers the controls are under Settings, in a section called Privacy, Privacy and security, or Cookies and site data. From there you can:
- delete cookies already stored for proteonomix.com or for every site;
- block all cookies, or only third-party cookies;
- set your browser to clear cookies whenever you close it.
Blocking cookies won't stop you reading anything here. If you block the Cloudflare cookie, you may occasionally be shown an extra security check before a page loads.
Changes and questions
If the cookies on this site change, we will update this page and the date at the top. For how we handle other information, see the privacy policy. Questions can go through the contact page.