Cookie Policy

This Cookie Policy explains how WhisperAsk, operated by CleverDevel ("we", "us"), uses cookies and similar technologies on whisperask.com and within the WhisperAsk application (together, the "Service"). It supplements our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service.

1. What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that a website places on your device when you visit it. Cookies are widely used to make websites work, to make them work more efficiently, and to provide information to the operator of the website. We also use related technologies such as local storage (a small storage area in your browser) and signed JSON Web Tokens stored in cookies. For brevity we refer to all of these as "cookies" in this policy.

Cookies are either first-party (set by the site you are visiting) or third-party (set by another domain). They are also classified by lifespan as session cookies (deleted when you close your browser) or persistent cookies (kept until they expire or you delete them).

2. Categories of cookies we use

We use only first-party cookies, and only those that are strictly necessary to deliver the Service or that store a basic preference you have set. We do not use any cookies for advertising, profiling, or cross-site tracking, and we do not use third-party tracking cookies.

2.1 Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are essential to provide the Service you have requested. Under Regulation 6 of the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and Article 5(3) of the EU ePrivacy Directive, your consent is not required for these cookies, but you can still block them in your browser at the cost of breaking the Service.

Name	Provider	Purpose	Expiry
_whisperask_session	WhisperAsk	Encrypted Rails session cookie. Keeps you signed in, stores the CSRF anti-forgery token and short-lived flash messages.	Session
session_id	WhisperAsk	Identifier for your authenticated session. Required to remain signed in across requests.	30 days from last activity
participant_token	WhisperAsk	Cryptographically signed token that identifies an audience member to the Session they joined. Scoped to a single Session.	Duration of the Session
__stripe_mid, __stripe_sid	Stripe	Set by Stripe when you load a checkout or payment-element page. Used by Stripe for payment-fraud prevention. Required to subscribe.	__stripe_mid: 1 year. __stripe_sid: 30 minutes.

2.2 Preference cookies

These cookies remember a basic choice you have made about the Service. They are not used to track you and are not shared with any third party.

Name	Provider	Purpose	Expiry
cookie_banner_dismissed	WhisperAsk	Records that you have acknowledged the cookie notice so we do not show it again.	1 year

2.3 Analytics — without cookies

We use Fathom Analytics, which is cookieless by design. Fathom does not set any cookies, does not store IP addresses, and does not track visitors across sites. It produces aggregate page-view counts only.

2.4 Marketing and advertising — none

We do not use cookies, pixels, or similar technologies for advertising, retargeting, or behavioural profiling, and we do not allow third parties to do so on our Service.

3. Your choices

Because we use only strictly-necessary and basic preference cookies, our use does not require your consent under UK or EU law (Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive). You can still control cookies in the following ways:

• Browser settings. Most browsers let you block or delete cookies. See: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge. Blocking the strictly-necessary cookies will prevent the Service from working.
• Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control. We respect Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals where they apply to us. Because we do not sell or share personal data and do not run advertising cookies, GPC has no additional effect on your interaction with our Service.
• Audience members. If you decline the participant_token cookie, you cannot participate in a Session, because we have no other way to attribute your responses to you securely.

4. Updates to this policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time, for example when we add or remove a cookie. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the current version. If a change is material we will give appropriate notice (for example, an in-app notice or, for account holders, an email).

5. Contact

Questions about this Cookie Policy? Email [email protected]. For more information about how we handle personal data, see our Privacy Policy.