Cookie Policy

Cookies are small text files placed on your device — computer, smartphone, or tablet — when you visit a website. They allow websites to recognize your device on return visits, remember your preferences, and gather anonymous information about how you interact with content.

Geeklands and its advertising partners also use closely related technologies alongside cookies:

• Web beacons / pixels: Tiny transparent image files embedded in pages that track whether a page was loaded and how a user interacted with it.
• Local storage (HTML5): Browser-based storage that saves data on your device between sessions — used for preferences such as theme mode (dark/light).
• Session tokens: Short-lived identifiers that maintain your logged-in state for the duration of a visit.
• Browser fingerprinting: Geeklands does not engage in browser fingerprinting. Google may use fraud-prevention signals in accordance with its own policies.

Cookies are governed by the EU ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC, as amended) and the GDPR. In France, Article 82 of the Data Protection Act (Loi Informatique et Libertés) specifically regulates cookie placement and consent requirements.

Geeklands uses cookies for the following purposes:

• Essential functionality: Login sessions, comment forms, security tokens, and site navigation all require session cookies to function properly.
• Preference memory: We remember your display settings — dark/light mode, notification state, comment author details — across visits.
• Analytics: We measure which articles are most popular, how visitors navigate between sections (The Lab, Gear, Explained, Optimize, Lore Vault), and which devices and browsers our audience uses — using anonymised, aggregate data only.
• Advertising: Geeklands displays ads via Google AdSense. Advertising cookies enable Google to serve relevant ads and help fund the free content we produce. These cookies are not loaded until you give explicit consent (for EEA, UK, and Swiss visitors).

All cookies on Geeklands fall into one of four categories. Only Essential cookies are placed without your consent; all others require an affirmative opt-in from EEA, UK, and Swiss visitors.

The table below lists the specific cookies that may be set when you visit Geeklands, along with their purpose and retention period. This list is updated periodically as third-party services evolve.

Google uses advertising cookies on Geeklands to:

• Deliver advertisements relevant to your interests based on your browsing history (ads personalisation)
• Limit how often you see the same advertisement (frequency capping)
• Measure click-through rates and ad campaign effectiveness (conversion tracking)
• Detect and prevent fraudulent ad activity
• Produce aggregate reporting on ad performance for Geeklands

TCF v2.3 & Consent Mode v2

As of February 28, 2026, all publishers using Google AdSense in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland are required to use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) certified under the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework v2.3 (TCF v2.3). Geeklands uses a certified CMP that transmits a valid TC string — including the mandatory disclosedVendors segment — to Google before any advertising tags fire.

Since July 2025, Google requires Consent Mode v2 signals from all publishers. Our implementation ensures that no AdSense tags load prior to consent for EEA, UK, and Swiss visitors.

Opt Out of Personalised Advertising

You may opt out of personalised advertising from Google and other participating ad networks using the following official tools:

Geeklands may load content or scripts from the following third-party services. Each service operates under its own privacy and cookie policy; we encourage you to review them directly.

Geeklands is not responsible for the data practices of third-party services once users leave our site. We encourage you to review each service’s privacy policy directly.

Cookie Consent Banner

When you first visit Geeklands, a cookie consent banner asks for your preferences. You can Accept All, Reject Non-Essential, or Customize your choices by category. Your selection is stored and respected on subsequent visits.

You can revisit and change your preferences at any time by clicking the “Cookie Settings” link in our website footer.

Browser-Level Controls

All modern browsers allow you to manage cookies through their settings. Note that disabling essential cookies may break login, comments, and other site features.

• Google ChromeSettings → Privacy and Security → Cookies and other site data
• Mozilla FirefoxSettings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data
• Microsoft EdgeSettings → Cookies and Site Permissions → Manage and delete cookies
• Apple SafariPreferences → Privacy → Manage Website Data
• OperaSettings → Advanced → Privacy & Security → Cookies
• iOS SafariSettings → Safari → Advanced → Website Data
• Android ChromeChrome Menu → Settings → Site Settings → Cookies

Do Not Track (DNT)

Geeklands acknowledges Do Not Track (DNT:1) browser signals and will not load analytics or advertising cookies when a valid DNT signal is detected, to the extent technically feasible.

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the following rights:

To exercise any of the above rights, please contact us via the Geeklands contact form. We will respond within 30 days in accordance with GDPR requirements.

We may update this Cookie Policy periodically to reflect changes in technology, applicable law, or the services we use. When significant changes are made, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify you via a site banner.

Previous versions of this policy are available on request. We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies.

Continued use of the Geeklands website after the effective date of a revised policy constitutes acceptance of those changes.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests related to this Cookie Policy or how Geeklands handles your personal data, please reach out:

For complaints under French data protection law, you may also contact the CNIL:
Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés — www.cnil.fr