Cookie Policy






Cookie Policy — Patriot University


Cookies at a Glance

Patriot University uses a minimal set of cookies and similar technologies. We do not use
advertising cookies, behavioral tracking pixels, social media tracking widgets, or
cross-site tracking technologies. All core civic education content is fully accessible
without accepting any cookies.

✓ No advertising cookies
✓ No social media trackers
✓ No cross-site tracking
ℹ 6 cookie types + comment form metadata

1. What Are Cookies & Trackers?

This document informs you about the technologies that Patriot University uses to achieve the
purposes described below. These technologies allow the platform to access and store information
(for example, by using a Cookie) or use resources (for example, by running a script) on your
device as you interact with the site.

For simplicity, all such technologies are defined as “Trackers” in this
document — unless there is a reason to differentiate. A Cookie is a small
text file that a website stores on your device through your browser. Cookies can be “first-party”
(set by the site you’re visiting) or “third-party” (set by a service embedded in the site).

The validity and expiration of cookies vary depending on who sets them. Some expire when you
close your browser (“session cookies”); others persist for a set duration (“persistent cookies”).

2. How Patriot University Uses Cookies

We categorize our cookie usage into three types. Patriot University does not use any
Marketing or Advertising category cookies.

Category Purpose Consent Required?
Necessary Essential for the site to function — security tokens, admin authentication. The site cannot operate properly without them. No (strictly necessary; exempt from consent under ePrivacy Directive and GDPR)
Analytics Anonymous, aggregate content consumption metrics. Help us understand which civic education content is most useful. Yes (under GDPR/ePrivacy); implied consent under US law. You may opt out at any time.
Functional Enable specific plugin features (SEO optimization, chatbot, embedding sync). Not used for tracking. No (functional necessity)

3. Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are required for basic site operation. They cannot be disabled without
breaking core functionality.

Cookie Name Provider Purpose Duration
wordpress_logged_in_* First-party (WordPress) Maintains authentication state for logged-in administrative users. Not set for anonymous visitors. Session (expires on browser close)
wordpress_sec_* First-party (WordPress) Secure authentication cookie for admin users over HTTPS. Not set for anonymous visitors. Session
wp-settings-*
wp-settings-time-*		 First-party (WordPress) Stores admin dashboard preferences (e.g., editor layout). Only set for logged-in admin users. 1 year
_wpnonce / wp_rest First-party (WordPress) Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection tokens. Prevent malicious form submissions. 24 hours
✓

Anonymous visitors: If you are not logged in to a WordPress admin account,
the authentication cookies above (wordpress_logged_in_*,
wordpress_sec_*, wp-settings-*) are not set
on your device.

4. Analytics Cookies

We use Google Analytics 4 to collect anonymous, aggregate content consumption metrics.
These cookies help us understand which civic education topics are most useful to our audience.

Cookie Name Provider Purpose Duration
_ga Third-party (Google LLC) Distinguishes unique sessions for aggregate page view counting. Contains a randomly generated
client ID — not linked to any personal information, login, or user account. In GA4,
IP addresses are used at collection time and then discarded before data is logged in any
Google data center or server.		 2 years
_ga_* Third-party (Google LLC) Maintains session state for Google Analytics 4. The suffix is your GA4 measurement ID.
Contains session-level data (session count, session start time) — no PII.		 2 years

What we collect with Google Analytics

  • Aggregate page views and session counts
  • General geographic region (country/city level, derived from IP at collection time — IP is then discarded)
  • Device category (mobile, desktop, tablet)
  • Browser and operating system (aggregate)
  • Session duration (aggregate)

What we do NOT enable in Google Analytics

  • User-ID: Disabled. We do not link analytics data to registered user accounts.
  • Google Signals: Disabled. We do not collect cross-device data or demographic information.
  • Enhanced Measurement (form interactions): Disabled. We do not track form submissions through GA.
  • Advertising Reporting Features: Disabled. No DoubleClick integration, no demographic/interest reports.
  • Data Sharing with Google Products: We do not share GA data with other Google products for advertising purposes.
ℹ

Google’s own data practices: While we configure Google Analytics to collect
minimal, anonymous data, Google may aggregate data collected through its analytics service
across all sites that use it for Google’s own purposes, including improving Google products.
For details, see
How Google uses information from sites that use its services.
You can opt out entirely — see Section 11.

5. Functional Cookies

These cookies support specific WordPress plugin functionality. They are not used for
tracking or advertising.

Cookie / Technology Provider Purpose Duration
Yoast SEO cookies First-party (Yoast SEO plugin) SEO optimization plugin may set functional cookies for admin users managing SEO metadata.
May make external API calls for SEO analysis. Not set for anonymous visitors browsing content.		 Varies
AI Engine cookies First-party (AI Engine plugin by Meow Apps) Embedding synchronization plugin may set functional cookies for chatbot session management
and admin operations. Used for knowledge base vector sync — not for user tracking.		 Varies

6. Session Storage & Local Storage

In addition to cookies, Patriot University uses browser session storage for one specific purpose:

Storage Type Key Purpose Duration
sessionStorage JWT access token Stores the invite-code authentication token for users who access authenticated features
(e.g., community rapid-response alerts, research tools). The token contains no
personally identifying information — only an access tier and expiry timestamp.
Data in sessionStorage is deleted automatically when the browser tab is closed.		 Until token expiry or tab close (whichever comes first)

We do not use localStorage for persistent cross-session storage
of any user data, tracking identifiers, or browsing preferences.

7. Comment Form Data Collection (Registered Users)

When a registered, logged-in user submits a comment on Patriot University, the
PU Comment Sentinel plugin collects additional metadata for
accountability and abuse prevention. This data is not stored in cookies
and is not collected from anonymous visitors.

How it works

A small JavaScript file (pucs-fingerprint.js) runs only on pages with an
open comment form and only for logged-in users. It populates hidden form fields with
device characteristics. When you submit a comment, these fields are sent to the server
along with the comment text via the standard form POST — the same way your name and
email would be sent. No data is stored in cookies, localStorage, or sessionStorage by
this script.

What is collected

Data Point Source Purpose
Screen resolution screen.width × screen.height Device identification
Viewport size window.innerWidth × window.innerHeight Window fingerprint
Timezone name & offset Intl.DateTimeFormat Location signal
Browser language navigator.language Locale signal
Platform / OS navigator.userAgentData OS identification
Device memory navigator.deviceMemory Hardware fingerprint
CPU cores navigator.hardwareConcurrency Hardware fingerprint
Touch capability navigator.maxTouchPoints Device type
Connection type navigator.connection Network signal
Do-Not-Track setting navigator.doNotTrack Privacy preference
⚠

This is not cross-site tracking. The data listed above is collected
once per comment submission, stored in the Patriot University database only, never
shared with third parties, and never used for advertising. It serves exclusively as
an accountability tool for identifying users who violate our
Terms of Use. See our
Privacy Policy, Section 5 for full details on how
this data is used, retained, and your rights to request deletion.

Why we collect this data

We implemented this data collection specifically to protect our users, contributors,
and staff from abuse, harassment, and intimidation. Patriot University covers sensitive
civic topics, and we take user safety extremely seriously. Any user found violating our
Terms of Use will be permanently banned. If evidence demonstrates
provable intent to cause harm or chill constitutionally protected speech, we will report
that activity to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. For full details, see our
Terms of Use, Section 7.5.

✓

Anonymous visitors are not affected. If you do not have a registered
account and are not logged in, no client-side data collection scripts run. All civic
education content is fully accessible without registering or commenting.

8. What We Do Not Use

Patriot University does not use any of the following tracking technologies:

  • Advertising cookies — No Google Ads, Facebook Pixel, Meta advertising, LinkedIn Insight Tag, or any ad network cookies
  • Social media tracking widgets — No Facebook Like buttons, X (Twitter) widgets, LinkedIn widgets, or other social plugins that track browsing
  • Retargeting / remarketing pixels — No technology that follows you across other websites with ads
  • Cross-site browser fingerprinting — No canvas fingerprinting, WebGL fingerprinting, font enumeration, or similar cross-session identification techniques used for tracking anonymous visitors. (Registered commenters: basic device characteristics are collected at comment submission time for accountability — see Section 7.)
  • Supercookies or ETags — No techniques that circumvent normal cookie deletion
  • Unique device identifiers for advertising — No Google Advertiser ID (GAID) or Apple IDFA collection
  • Interest-based advertising — No DoubleClick, Google Ad Manager, or behavioral ad targeting
  • HubSpot, Salesforce, or CRM tracking — No CRM analytics or lead tracking cookies
  • Payment cookies — No PayPal, Stripe, or payment processor cookies (this site has no paid features)
✓

Contrast with IT Influentials corporate site: The parent company site
(it-influentials.com) uses a broader set of cookies for its business operations, including
social login, payment processing, and advertising. Patriot University’s cookie footprint is
intentionally minimal because of our civic education mission and the sensitivity of the
topics our users may be researching.

9. Third-Party Cookies

The only third-party cookies set on Patriot University are the Google Analytics cookies
described in Section 4. These are set by Google LLC (United States).

When your browser requests the Cytoscape.js library from Cloudflare’s CDN for the network
graph visualization feature, Cloudflare may set its own cookies or access standard HTTP
request data (IP address, user agent) under its own
Privacy Policy.
This is limited to the delivery of a single JavaScript library file.

We cannot fully control cookies set by third-party services. For complete information,
consult the privacy policies of the respective services:

10. How to Manage Cookies

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to:

  • See what cookies are stored on your device
  • Block all cookies or only third-party cookies
  • Delete cookies from specific sites
  • Set your browser to notify you when a cookie is set

Browser-specific instructions

Privacy-focused browser extensions

Mobile devices

On mobile devices, you can manage cookies through your browser’s settings menu.
Additionally, you can manage advertising-related tracking (which we do not use)
through your device settings:

  • iOS: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking
  • Android: Settings → Privacy → Ads

11. Opting Out of Analytics

You can opt out of Google Analytics data collection entirely using any of these methods:

  1. Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on: Install the official add-on from
    https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
    This prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript from sharing data with Google Analytics.
  2. Block third-party cookies: Configure your browser to block third-party
    cookies. This will prevent the _ga and _ga_* cookies from
    being set.
  3. Use a tracker blocker: Extensions like Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin, or
    Brave’s built-in shields will block the Google Analytics script from loading.
  4. Use Tor Browser: Tor Browser blocks most tracking by default. You may
    access Patriot University over the Tor network — we do not block Tor exit nodes.
ℹ

No degraded experience: Opting out of analytics will not affect your
experience on Patriot University in any way. All civic education content, the AI advisor,
search features, and all other functionality remain fully accessible with analytics blocked.

General opt-out resources

Even though Patriot University does not engage in interest-based advertising, you may find
these general opt-out resources useful for managing your broader online privacy:

12. Consequences of Blocking Cookies

You are free to block or delete any cookies. Here’s what happens if you do:

If You Block… What Happens
Google Analytics cookies (_ga, _ga_*) No impact on your experience. You simply won’t be counted in our anonymous aggregate metrics.
WordPress CSRF tokens (_wpnonce) Some form submissions may fail validation. Does not affect reading content.
WordPress admin cookies You will not be able to log in to the WordPress admin dashboard. Does not affect anonymous visitors.
All cookies All civic education content remains fully readable. The AI advisor continues to work. Search continues to work. Invite-code features use sessionStorage (not cookies) and continue to work. WordPress login and commenting will not function.

13. Definitions

  • Cookie: A small set of data stored in your browser by a website. Cookies
    can be “first-party” (set by the site you’re visiting) or “third-party” (set by a different
    domain embedded in the page).
  • Tracker: Any technology — cookies, web beacons, embedded scripts, e-tags,
    fingerprinting — that enables tracking of users by accessing or storing information on their device.
  • Session cookie: A cookie that expires when you close your browser.
  • Persistent cookie: A cookie that remains on your device for a set duration
    or until you manually delete it.
  • First-party cookie: A cookie set by the website you are visiting (patriot.university).
  • Third-party cookie: A cookie set by a domain other than the one you are
    visiting (e.g., google-analytics.com).
  • Session storage: Browser storage that is automatically cleared when the
    browser tab is closed. Unlike cookies, session storage data is not sent to the server with
    each request.
  • Personal Data: Any information that directly or indirectly identifies a
    natural person. See our Privacy Policy for the full definition.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy when we add or remove cookies, change our analytics
configuration, or integrate new third-party services. Changes that introduce new tracking
technologies or expand data collection will be announced with at least 30 days’
notice via the Privacy Policy change notification
process.

The current version of this policy always lives at
patriot.university/cookie-policy.

15. Contact

For questions about this Cookie Policy or our use of cookies and similar technologies: