Cookie policy
This page covers two sites: lukeduff.co.uk (this one) and portfolio.lukeduff.co.uk, where my work lives. They are separate sites with separate banners and separate cookies, so you will be asked once on each, and a choice on one does not carry over to the other.
What a cookie is here
A cookie is a small file a website asks your browser to keep. The only non-essential ones either site uses are Google Analytics, which tells me how many people visit and which pages they open. Nothing on either site advertises, and I do not build advertising audiences or pass anything on to be sold.
On this site (lukeduff.co.uk)
Analytics runs through Google Tag Manager and only after you agree through the cookie banner. Until you do, consent is set to denied by default, which means the analytics storage is switched off. If you decline, it stays off.
On the portfolio (portfolio.lukeduff.co.uk)
Nothing loads until you say yes. The first time you open it you will get a short banner asking if I can count your visit. Until you answer, no analytics cookie is set and the tracking script is not even requested. Declining is not a preference I note down while the tracking carries on, it means the code never runs. There is no X to dismiss the banner, because dismissing something is not an answer, and if you never answer that is treated as a no.
If you say yes, Google Analytics 4 loads (stream G-G2P25CBWGP) and sets these cookies:
| Cookie | Set by | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
_ga |
Google Analytics | Tells one browser from another, so a returning visit is not counted twice |
_ga_G2P25CBWGP |
Google Analytics | Keeps track of a single visit for that stream |
I do not override how long they last, so Google’s own defaults apply. Both are pinned to portfolio.lukeduff.co.uk specifically rather than shared across lukeduff.co.uk, so the portfolio’s cookies are entirely separate from this site’s.
I also use my host’s built-in visitor counter on the portfolio. It sets no cookie and stores nothing on your device, so strictly it does not need your permission, but the banner promises nothing runs if you decline, so it sits behind the same yes or no anyway.
What I do not do. Advertising and personalisation storage stay switched off even when you say yes. I asked to count visits, and counting visits is all I do with it.
One thing that is not a cookie. Your answer is saved in your browser’s local storage as ld-consent, holding the single word granted or denied. That one is strictly necessary, because it is the only way the site can remember not to track you, so under PECR it does not need consent. It never leaves your browser and tells me nothing about you. If your browser blocks site data the answer cannot be saved, so you will see the banner each visit and nothing will load in the meantime.
Changing your mind. Every page on the portfolio has a “Cookies” button in the footer. Click it and the banner comes back. Choosing no after previously saying yes does two things immediately: it tells Google to stop storing anything, and it deletes the analytics cookies already in your browser. Withdrawing is one click, exactly like giving it. On this site you can withdraw by clearing cookies for lukeduff.co.uk in your browser, which brings the banner back.
The legal bit
Setting the analytics cookies relies on your consent under regulation 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). The lawful basis for the analytics data itself, under UK GDPR, is consent, Article 6(1)(a). You can withdraw it at any time, and withdrawing does not undo or affect anything that happened before you did.
If you want anything here explained, or want me to delete data I hold about you, email hello@lukeduff.co.uk.