Last Updated: November 16, 2025

Cookies Policy

Introduction

This Cookie Policy explains how CTRL-ALT-DEFEAT.ca (“we,” “us,” or “our”) uses cookies and similar tracking technologies on our website at www.ctrl-alt-defeat.ca.

This policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

By using our website, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with this Cookie Policy. If you do not agree to our use of cookies, you should change your browser settings accordingly or stop using our website.

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by website owners to make their websites work more efficiently and to provide useful information to the website owner.

Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, CTRL-ALT-DEFEAT.ca) are called “first-party cookies.” Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third-party cookies.” Third-party cookies enable third-party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website (e.g., analytics, advertising, and interactive content).

Types of Information Collected by Cookies

Cookies may collect various types of information, including:

Your IP address
Browser type and version
Operating system
Referring website
Pages you visit on our website
Time and date of your visit
Time spent on pages
Items clicked on a page

What Cookies Do We Use and Why?

We use both first-party and third-party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons for our website to operate (we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies). Other cookies enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our website. Third parties serve cookies through our website for analytics, marketing, and other purposes.

1. Essential Cookies (Strictly Necessary)

These cookies are essential for our website to function properly. Without these cookies, services you have requested, such as maintaining your shopping cart or accessing your account, cannot be provided.

Purpose:

Enable you to navigate our website and use its features
Maintain your shopping cart
Remember your login status
Process your orders
Ensure security and prevent fraud

Examples:

WooCommerce session cookies – Remember cart contents and user session
WordPress authentication cookies – Keep you logged in to your account
Security cookies – Protect against cross-site request forgery

Duration: Session or up to 48 hours

Legal Basis: These cookies are necessary for the performance of our contract with you and do not require consent.

Can you refuse them? No – these cookies are essential for the website to function. Disabling them will prevent you from using our website properly.

2. Performance and Analytics Cookies

These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website by collecting and reporting information anonymously. This helps us improve how our website works.

Google Analytics (via Site Kit by Google)

Provider: Google LLC
Purpose:

Analyze website traffic and usage patterns
Understand which pages are most popular
Track how users navigate our website
Measure the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns

Information Collected:

Pages visited
Time spent on pages
Browser and device information
Anonymized IP addresses (last octet removed)
Referring websites
Geographic location (country/region level)

Cookies Used:

_ga – Distinguishes unique users (expires after 2 years)
_gid – Distinguishes unique users (expires after 24 hours)
_gat – Used to throttle request rate (expires after 1 minute)

Duration: Up to 2 years

Privacy Policy: Google Privacy Policy

Opt-Out: Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on

Jetpack Stats

Provider: Automattic Inc.
Purpose:

Track website statistics
Monitor website performance
Analyze visitor behaviour

Information Collected:

Page views
Referrer information
Browser type
Anonymized visitor data

Cookies Used:

Various Jetpack tracking cookies

Duration: Session to 2 years

Privacy Policy: Jetpack Privacy Policy

Legal Basis: Legitimate interest in improving our website and services. You can opt out through your browser settings.

3. Functional Cookies

These cookies enable our website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages.

Ultimate Member

Purpose:

Remember your login information
Store your account preferences
Personalize your user experience
Remember your privacy preferences

Cookies Used:

User session cookies
Remember me cookies (if selected)

Duration: Session or up to 14 days

Legal Basis: These cookies are necessary to provide the functionality you have requested.

4. Marketing and Advertising Cookies

These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They also perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing and ensuring that ads are properly displayed.

Pinterest Tag

Provider: Pinterest, Inc.
Purpose:

Track conversions from Pinterest
Build custom audiences for advertising
Measure advertising campaign effectiveness
Enable retargeting

Information Collected:

Pages visited on our website
Products viewed
Add-to-cart actions
Purchase information
Browser and device data

Cookies Used:

_pinterest_sess – Pinterest session cookie
_pin_unauth – First-party cookie for non-Pinterest users
Various Pinterest tracking pixels

Duration: Up to 1 year

Privacy Policy: Pinterest Privacy Policy

Opt-Out: You can opt out of Pinterest tracking through your Pinterest privacy settings or browser settings.

Google Ads

Provider: Google LLC
Purpose:

Display relevant advertisements
Measure ad campaign performance
Enable remarketing
Prevent showing the same ads repeatedly

Cookies Used:

IDE – Used by Google DoubleClick for retargeting
test_cookie – Check if the browser accepts cookies
Various Google advertising cookies

Duration: Up to 2 years

Privacy Policy: Google Ads Privacy Policy

Opt-Out: Google Ads Settings

5. Email Marketing Cookies (Kit/ConvertKit)

Provider: Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
Purpose:

Track email campaign performance
Understand subscriber engagement
Personalize email content

Cookies Used:

Email tracking pixels
Click tracking cookies

Duration: Session to 1 year

Privacy Policy: Kit Privacy Policy

Legal Basis: Consent obtained when you subscribe to our email list.

Other Tracking Technologies

Web Beacons (Tracking Pixels)

We may use web beacons (also known as tracking pixels or clear GIFs) on our website and in our emails. These are tiny graphics with a unique identifier that are used to track online movements and email opens.

Unlike cookies, which are stored on your device, web beacons are embedded invisibly on web pages or in emails.

We use web beacons to:

Track email opens and clicks
Monitor user behaviour on our website
Measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns
Count website visits

Local Storage

We may use local storage technologies such as:

HTML5 Local Storage – Stores data locally in your browser
Session Storage – Stores data for the duration of your browser session

These technologies allow us to store larger amounts of data and improve website performance.

Third-Party Cookies

Some cookies on our website are set by third-party services. We have no control over these cookies, and you should review the privacy policies of these third parties for information on how they use cookies.

Third-party services that may set cookies include:

Google (Analytics, Ads, Site Kit)
Pinterest (Pinterest Tag)
Automattic (Jetpack)
Kit/ConvertKit (Email marketing)
Printful (Order fulfillment – if integrated)
Payment processors (Stripe, PayPal, etc.)

How Long Do Cookies Last?

The length of time a cookie will stay on your device depends on its type:

Session Cookies

Temporary cookies that expire when you close your browser
Used for essential website functions like maintaining your shopping cart

Persistent Cookies

Remain on your device for a set period (from a few hours to several years)
Used for analytics, preferences, and marketing purposes

Cookie Duration on Our Website:

Essential cookies: Session to 48 hours
Analytics cookies: Up to 2 years
Functional cookies: Session to 14 days
Marketing cookies: Up to 1 year

How to Manage Cookies

You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. You can exercise your cookie rights by setting your preferences in our cookie consent banner that appears when you first visit our website.

Managing Cookies Through Your Browser

You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our website, though your access to some functionality and areas may be restricted.

Here’s how to manage cookies in popular browsers:

Google Chrome:

Click the three dots menu (⋮) in the top-right corner
Select “Settings”
Click “Privacy and security”
Click “Cookies and other site data”
Choose your preferred settings

Mozilla Firefox:

Click the menu button (≡) and select “Settings”
Select “Privacy & Security”
Under “Cookies and Site Data,” adjust your settings

Safari (Mac):

Click “Safari” in the top menu
Select “Preferences”
Click “Privacy”
Adjust your cookie settings

Microsoft Edge:

Click the three dots menu (…) in the top-right corner
Select “Settings”
Click “Cookies and site permissions”
Click “Cookies and data stored”
Adjust your settings

Mobile Browsers: Refer to your device manufacturer’s instructions for managing cookies on mobile browsers.

Cookie Consent Management

When you first visit our website, you will see a cookie consent banner with the following options:

Accept All – Allow all cookies, including analytics and marketing
Reject All – Only essential cookies will be used
Customize – Customize which types of cookies you want to allow

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

Do Not Track Signals

Some browsers include a “Do Not Track” (DNT) feature that signals to websites you visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked.

Currently, there is no industry standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals. At this time, our website does not respond to DNT browser signals. However, you can manage cookies through your browser settings or our cookie consent tool.

Cookies and Personal Data

Some cookies may collect personal data or become personal data when combined with other information. We treat all data collected through cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

If cookies collect personal data, we process this data in compliance with:

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – for EU/EEA visitors
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) – for Canadian visitors
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) – for California visitors
Other applicable privacy laws

Your Rights Regarding Cookies

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights:

European Union (GDPR)

Right to withdraw consent to cookies at any time
Right to access data collected through cookies
Right to delete data collected through cookies
Right to object to processing

Canada (PIPEDA)

Right to withdraw consent
Right to access personal information collected
Right to request correction or deletion

California (CCPA)

Right to know what data is collected
Right to opt out of the sale of personal information
Right to delete personal information

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at privacy@ctrl-alt-defeat.ca.

Children’s Privacy

Our website is not intended for children under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect information from children through cookies. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us immediately.

Changes to This Cookie Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons.

We will notify you of any material changes by:

Posting the new Cookie Policy on this page
Updating the “Last Updated” date
Displaying a prominent notice on our website

We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically to stay informed about our use of cookies.

More Information About Cookies

To learn more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit:

Contact Us

If you have any questions about our use of cookies or this Cookie Policy, please contact us:

Email: privacy@ctrl-alt-defeat.ca
Subject Line: Cookie Policy Inquiry

Cookie Summary Table

Cookie Name	Provider	Purpose	Type	Duration
`woocommerce_cart_hash`	WooCommerce	Shopping cart	Essential	Session
`woocommerce_items_in_cart`	WooCommerce	Shopping cart	Essential	Session
`wordpress_logged_in_*`	WordPress	User authentication	Essential	2 days
`_ga`	Google Analytics	Analytics	Performance	2 years
`_gid`	Google Analytics	Analytics	Performance	24 hours
`_pinterest_sess`	Pinterest	Advertising	Marketing	1 year
`IDE`	Google DoubleClick	Advertising	Marketing	2 years
Ultimate Member cookies	Ultimate Member	User preferences	Functional	14 days
Jetpack cookies	Automattic	Analytics	Performance	Varies

This table provides a summary of the main cookies used. Additional cookies may be present depending on your browsing behaviour and the features you use.

By continuing to use our website, you consent to our use of cookies as described in this Cookie Policy.

Last Reviewed: November 16, 2025