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    GOVSPENDING.ORG
    Cookies

    Cookie Policy

    Effective September 8, 2026.

    This page lists every cookie or browser-storage item used by govspending.org, grouped by whether it requires your consent. The full privacy policy lives at /privacy/.

    Always-on (strictly necessary)

    These are set without a consent prompt because they are required for the site to remember settings you choose. They are not measurement cookies.

    gs_consent_v1
    Strictly necessary

    Stores your cookie/analytics consent choice so we don't show the banner again on every visit.

    GOVSPENDING.ORG (first-party, localStorage) · Persistent until you clear browser storage or click "Reset" on the privacy page.

    Loaded without the cookie banner

    Microsoft Clarity session replay and heatmaps load from the site <head> on every visit. Clarity is not cookieless. Rejecting the banner does not stop these cookies; you can still block or delete them in your browser settings. See the privacy policy.

    _clck
    Analytics

    Persists a Clarity user ID and preferences so returning visits can be attributed to the same (pseudonymous) ID. Used for session replay and heatmaps — pointer movement, clicks, and scrolling — not just page counts.

    Microsoft Clarity (yf9ilqdifn) · See Microsoft Clarity / Microsoft privacy statement.

    _clsk
    Analytics

    Connects multiple page views into a single Clarity session recording.

    Microsoft Clarity (yf9ilqdifn) · See Microsoft Clarity / Microsoft privacy statement.

    CLID
    Analytics

    Identifies the first time Clarity saw this browser on a site using Clarity.

    Microsoft Clarity (Microsoft domain) · See Microsoft Clarity / Microsoft privacy statement.

    Loaded only after you accept

    These are analytics cookies. They are NOT set on your browser unless you accept the consent banner. They are removed when you withdraw consent and clear site data. The durations below are the cookie lifetimes in your browser — distinct from how long the analytics provider keeps the resulting data (Google Analytics data retention is set to 14 months; see the privacy policy).

    _ga
    Analytics

    Distinguishes individual visitors so GA can produce session and page-view counts. Not linked to any personal identifier on our side.

    Google Analytics 4 (G-7M9S1VNLGF) · 2 years (Google default).

    _ga_<container-id>
    Analytics

    Maintains GA4 session state for the specific GOVSPENDING.ORG measurement ID. One per container.

    Google Analytics 4 (G-7M9S1VNLGF) · 2 years (Google default).

    Various Ahrefs identifiers
    Analytics

    Distinguishes visitors and pageviews for the Ahrefs dashboard. Ahrefs documents the exact cookie names in their own privacy policy.

    Ahrefs Web Analytics (analytics.ahrefs.com) · See Ahrefs privacy policy.

    What we don’t use

    We do not run advertising on this site, so no advertising cookies are present. We do not embed retargeting pixels (Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc.), do not run A/B testing tools that drop cookies, and do not embed social-sharing widgets that load third-party scripts. We do use Microsoft Clarity for session replay and heatmaps, as listed above.

    How to manage cookies

    • Use the “Your current consent” controls on the privacy page to grant, deny, or reset your choice.
    • Clear browser storage / cookies for govspending.org in your browser’s site settings to remove all our cookies; the consent banner will reappear on next visit.
    • Block third-party cookies entirely in your browser settings — GA and Ahrefs will not load if you have that set, regardless of your choice on our banner. Blocking cookies also limits Microsoft Clarity’s first-party cookies (_clck / _clsk).