Guides
What cookies and trackers actually do, what the law requires, and how to check or reduce what a site loads before you've agreed to anything.
- How to see which cookies and trackers a website loads
A hands-on walkthrough for checking what a site sets before you've clicked anything, using Chrome and Firefox's built-in tools, plus how CookieTosser automates the same check every month.
Updated September 27, 2026
- What counts as valid cookie consent in the EU
The rules that actually govern cookie banners — the ePrivacy Directive, the GDPR consent standard, the Planet49 ruling, the strictly-necessary exemption, and what "reject" has to offer compared with "accept.
Updated September 27, 2026
- First-party vs third-party cookies (and why "first-party" still tracks you)
What the distinction actually means technically, why browsers only block one of the two, and how CNAME cloaking, server-side tagging and cookies like _ga let sites keep tracking under their own domain.
Updated September 27, 2026
- What the tracker categories mean
What "advertising," "analytics," "social," "consent" and the rest actually mean for a company or a cookie, and how CookieTosser decides which one applies.
Updated September 27, 2026
- How cookie lifetimes work, and why a 13-month _ga matters
What a cookie's "expires" field actually controls, why Google Analytics ships a 2-year default that many sites cut down to 13 months, and how Safari's 7-day cap on script-set cookies changes the picture.
Updated September 27, 2026
- How to block or limit trackers
Browser privacy settings, content blockers, Global Privacy Control and clearing cookies compared honestly — what each one actually stops, what it doesn't, and what it costs you in return.
Updated September 27, 2026
- Consent management platforms explained
What a CMP banner is actually doing behind the scenes, how the IAB's TCF standard and Google's Consent Mode v2 fit in, and why a banner being present is no guarantee that nothing loads before you answer it.
Updated September 27, 2026
- For site owners: how to stop loading trackers before consent
A practical path to actually holding tags back until a visitor consents — tag gating, Google Consent Mode, and how to audit whether it worked, rather than assuming a banner alone handles it.
Updated September 27, 2026