Cookies & Tracking Technologies Policy

Last Updated: 27 March 2026; Version: v2

1. How We Use Local Storage and Tracking

This University of Oxford National Conversation Project uses strictly necessary local storage to function. Additionally, with your explicit consent, we use third-party analytical cookies and tracking platforms to measure our survey's reach. Under UK law, any technology that stores data on your device or tracks your origin requires clear disclosure.

2. Strictly Necessary Technologies (No Consent Required)

To ensure this survey works securely and reliably, we deploy the following necessary technologies:

• Session Storage: We temporarily store your survey answers and progress in your browser's sessionStorage. This ensures you do not lose data if your page refreshes. This data is permanently erased from your device the moment you close the browser tab.
• Security & Anti-Spam Metadata: When you submit your survey, we log specific technical metadata: start/submission times, a cryptographically "hashed" (anonymized) IP address, your country code (e.g., "GB"), and basic browser/device family identifiers. This is processed under our legitimate interest to prevent spam, bot submissions, and to maintain the integrity of our academic data.
• Essential API Processors: If you utilize location features in our survey, your device will interact with two third-party processors:
  • Postcodes.io: An open-source API used to validate your postcode. Your IP address is briefly transmitted to their service to process the request.
  • AWS Location Service: We use Amazon Web Services to process mapping data securely. Your IP address and coordinates are processed by AWS strictly for providing this functionality.

3. Analytical and Referral Tracking (Consent Required)

If you provide your consent via our cookie banner, we use Google Tag Manager (GTM) to deploy Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

• Purpose: This helps us identify the "referral domain" (the website you clicked from, such as a news article or community partner site) and analyse participant traffic flows.
• Mechanism: GA4 uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to store and analyse this behavioural data on your device.
• Sharing: We share aggregated, anonymous numbers (e.g., "500 people came from news item X") with our specific partners. We also use this data academically to assess if our survey is reaching a diverse demographic or suffers from participation bias.
• International Data Transfers: Please be aware that Google Analytics processes and stores data on its global network of servers. Therefore, by consenting to this tracking, your analytical data may be transferred outside of the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA), primarily to the United States. We rely on Google's compliance with UK GDPR restricted transfer mechanisms (such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement/Addendum) to ensure this data remains protected. You can opt out of this tracking at any time via our Consent Manager.