Cookie Policy

Version 1.2 · Last updated 26 August 2026

Why there is no cookie banner on this site. Under the UK's Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, consent is needed for cookies that are not strictly necessary — analytics and advertising, mainly. This site has none of those. The one exception is the payment checkout, which is provided by Paddle and does not load at all until you agree to it.

What this site sets

Name	What it does	When	Expires	Consent?
`fortan_mktg`	A session identifier. Its only job is to carry a security token between the moment a form is drawn and the moment you submit it, which is what stops another site from submitting forms as you (cross-site request forgery).	Only when you open the contact form or the admin area. If you just read the site, you are never given one.	When you close your browser	Not required — strictly necessary
`fortan_forum`	Keeps you signed in to the support forum, so you paste your licence key once rather than on every visit. It holds a random token, not your key.	Only if you sign in to the forum	90 days, or when you sign out	Not required — you asked to be signed in
Paddle checkout cookies	Cookies and similar browser storage set by paddle.com, not by us, to run the payment form and to prevent payment fraud.	Only after you press a buy button and agree to the notice. Nothing from Paddle loads before that.	Per Paddle's own policy	Yes — asked for at the point of checkout
`fortan_preview`	Lets somebody we have given a preview link see the site before it is publicly open.	Only if you follow such a link — visitors are never given one.	24 hours	Not required — you used the link that sets it

What this site does not set

No analytics cookies. There is no Google Analytics, Plausible, Fathom or anything comparable on this site.
No advertising or remarketing cookies. No Meta pixel, no Google Ads tag, no LinkedIn Insight tag.
No social media buttons — those set cookies simply by being on a page, so there are none here.
No embedded YouTube or Vimeo players. Our videos are served from this server as ordinary MP4 files, precisely so that watching one does not introduce a third party.
No third-party fonts. Our typefaces are files on this server, not a request to Google.
No session recording or heatmaps.

Local storage

If you answer the checkout notice, your answer is remembered in your browser's local storage under fortan_consent so that you are not asked again on every page. It never leaves your browser and is not sent to us. Clearing your browser data removes it and you will be asked again.

Server logs

Separately from cookies, our web host keeps ordinary access logs — IP address, page requested, time, browser user-agent — as every web server does. They are used to keep the site running and to investigate abuse, and are covered in the Privacy Policy.

Controlling cookies

You can block or delete cookies in your browser's settings. Blocking them entirely will stop the contact form and the forum sign-in from working, since both depend on the security token described above — but everything you can read on this site will still be readable.

Cookies in Fortan Software itself

The product you install sets its own session cookie, on your own domain, to keep you logged in — and one for each of your clients who uses the client portal. Those are yours, on your server, and are not covered by this policy. If you run a public credits board or portfolio you may have your own cookie obligations to the people who visit it.