Cookies Policy
This policy describes cookies, browser storage, consent records, and similar technologies used across The Spark Unfolding Book Club website and member experience.
How these technologies work
A cookie is a small value a website stores through a browser. Local storage can retain preferences and device based entries for later visits. Similar technologies may support security, measurement, accessibility, experience settings, and durable evidence of policy choices.
Technology categories
| Category | Purpose | Choice |
|---|---|---|
| Necessary | Supports secure portal sessions, authentication, consent records, fraud prevention, requested downloads, and core site operation. | Active when required to provide the requested service. |
| Analytics | Helps understand aggregate page use, performance, navigation, and errors so the experience can improve. | Activated only after permission when implemented. |
| Experience | Supports optional personalization, remembered interface settings, and enhanced features. | Activated only after permission when implemented. |
Browser and durable account storage
The site may store reading progress, private journal entries, reflections, notes, annotations, monthly intentions, message and form drafts, bookmarks, display preferences, interest details, credits interface state, privacy choices, a pseudonymous consent-session identifier, and temporarily queued records in the participant’s browser. Eligible values are also synchronized to durable server storage under a signed-in account or pseudonymous browser session. Portal authentication may use a secure, HTTP only session cookie with a limited duration. Signed-in account storage supports compatible cross-device retrieval; session-only recovery may be lost if the participant clears the browser identifier before signing in.
Necessary server storage and operational audit events support the saving requested by the participant, record integrity, security, troubleshooting, and administrator stewardship. Optional interaction analytics remain controlled by the recorded analytics choice where required. Passwords, authentication secrets, payment-card fields, and other fields excluded for security are not stored through the general synchronization layer.
Terms acknowledgment and privacy choices
The banner presents direct links to the Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, and Cookies Policy. Before a privacy choice is saved, each participant must affirmatively acknowledge review and acceptance of the Terms and Conditions, including the intellectual-property, prohibited-use, in-person Book Circle, risk-allocation, and dispute-resolution provisions. Optional analytics and experience choices remain separate from necessary technologies and policy acknowledgment.
Durable server-side record
When a choice is saved, the site sends a consent event to a tamper-evident server-side ledger. The record may contain the applicable policy versions, exact acknowledgment language, selected categories, action, authoritative server time, account email when available or a pseudonymous session identifier, route, IP address, browser and device information, previous-event hash, and event hash. If a network interruption prevents immediate transmission, the browser may retain the pending event and retry during a later visit.
Managing choices
The banner offers Necessary only, Allow all, and Manage preferences controls. A Cookie settings control remains available after a choice is saved. Browser controls may also delete or block cookies and local storage. Blocking necessary technologies can interrupt portal access or requested functionality. Later preference changes create a new ledger event while preserving the earlier historical record.
Duration
Session technologies expire when the session ends or within the period established for security. Consent and experience preferences may remain until they expire, are replaced, or are cleared through the browser. Consent-ledger records follow the retention, legal-hold, rights-request, deletion, and deidentification framework described in the Privacy Policy.
Updates
Changes to technology categories or uses will appear here with a revised effective date. Where required, renewed consent will be requested and recorded. Before a new optional technology is activated, its provider, purpose, category, duration, and first-party or third-party status will be reviewed and disclosed as applicable.