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What cookies are, briefly
A cookie is a small text file that a site asks your browser to keep and hand back on later requests. Similar technologies — local storage, pixels, device identifiers — do the same job by other means, and everything said here applies to them equally.
Under Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive, as implemented in Italy by Article 122 of the Privacy Code, storing or reading information on your device requires your consent unless it is strictly necessary to provide the service you asked for. That single rule explains the whole of this page: our one cookie is strictly necessary, everything else waits for you to say yes.
Strictly necessary cookie
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| bs_consent | BuildSums (first party) | Stores whether you accepted or refused advertising cookies, the moment you decided and the version of the notice you saw. Without it we could not honour your choice across pages. | 180 days |
This cookie contains no identifier, is never shared and is not used to recognise you anywhere else. It cannot be disabled through the banner, because refusing it would mean being asked the same question on every page. You can still delete it through your browser at any time; the banner will simply reappear.
Advertising cookies (only with your consent)
Advertising on this site is served by Google AdSense. If — and only if — you accept, Google may set the following cookies. Exact names and lifetimes are determined by Google and can change; this table describes the categories you should expect.
| Name | Domain | Purpose | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| __gads | buildsums.com | Measures ad performance and limits how often the same advertisement is shown | Up to 13 months |
| __gpi | buildsums.com | Ad personalisation and frequency capping | Up to 13 months |
| IDE | doubleclick.net | Ties advertisements to actions on advertiser websites, for measurement and personalisation | Up to 13 months |
| DSID | doubleclick.net | Recognises a signed-in user across devices for ad personalisation | About 2 weeks |
| NID | google.com | Stores advertising and interface preferences for Google services | About 6 months |
| test_cookie | doubleclick.net | Checks whether the browser accepts cookies at all | About 15 minutes |
If you refuse, or if you close the banner without answering, Google is instructed through Consent Mode that advertising storage is denied. In that state no advertising cookie is written or read, click identifiers are redacted from requests, and any advertisement is non-personalised.
Measurement
Vercel Web Analytics counts page views without cookies and without storing anything on your device, so there is nothing here to consent to and no analytics cookie to list. If we ever adopt a tool that does set cookies, it will appear in this table and in the banner before it is switched on.
Changing or withdrawing your choice
Use the "Manage cookie preferences" link at the bottom of any page. It reopens the same panel you saw on your first visit, with your current choice already selected. A change takes effect immediately and withdrawal is exactly as easy as consent — which is what Article 7(3) GDPR requires.
Independently of this site, every major browser lets you block or delete cookies, and Google offers its own controls that apply across its whole network:
Blocking all cookies at browser level does not break the calculators — they never needed cookies in the first place — but it will make the banner reappear on every visit, since the record of your answer is itself a cookie.