What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that a website places on your computer, smartphone or other device when you visit it. They are widely used to make websites work correctly, to improve their efficiency, and to provide information to the website owner about how visitors use their site.
Cookies were first introduced in 1994 by Netscape to solve a practical problem — websites needed a way to remember information between page loads because the web protocol (HTTP) is stateless, meaning it has no memory of previous requests. Today, cookies do far more than remember login sessions. They enable personalised experiences, track user journeys across multiple visits, power analytics dashboards, and fuel the targeted advertising ecosystem that funds the majority of free web services.
Beyond traditional cookies, similar tracking technologies exist that work in comparable ways:
- Session cookies: Temporary cookies that exist only for the duration of your visit and are deleted when you close your browser. Used for things like keeping you logged in as you navigate between pages.
- Persistent cookies: Cookies that remain on your device for a defined period (their expiry date) even after you close your browser. Used for remembering your preferences, recognising you on return visits, and tracking behaviour over time.
- First-party cookies: Cookies set directly by the website you are visiting (in our case, maddogworld.com). These are generally considered more privacy-respecting than third-party cookies.
- Third-party cookies: Cookies set by a domain other than the website you are visiting — typically by advertising networks, analytics providers or social media platforms whose code is embedded in the page. These enable cross-site tracking.
- Pixels and web beacons: Tiny invisible images or JavaScript code embedded in web pages or emails that track whether a page has been loaded or an email has been opened. Used by Meta (Facebook Pixel) and Google for conversion tracking.
- Local storage and session storage: Browser-based storage mechanisms similar to cookies but with higher capacity. Used by some web applications to store data on your device.
Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDP Act) and the DPDP Rules 2025 (notified 13 November 2025), any cookie that collects or processes data about an identifiable individual — such as IP address, device identifier, browsing behaviour or advertising profile — constitutes processing of personal data. The Ministry of Electronics and IT's Business Requirements Document for Consent Management Systems (BRDCMS, April 2025) provides specific operational guidance on how Indian websites must implement cookie consent, requiring granular controls, easy withdrawal and audit-ready consent records.
How We Categorise Our Cookies
We group all cookies on maddogworld.com into four categories based on their purpose. Strictly necessary cookies are always active because the website cannot function without them. All other categories require your explicit opt-in consent before we place those cookies on your device — in full compliance with India's DPDP Act 2023, the BRDCMS guidelines, and the EU ePrivacy Directive.
🟢 Strictly Necessary Cookies
Required for the website to function. These enable core features like page navigation, contact form submissions, security tokens and session management. Without these cookies, parts of the website will not work. They do not collect personal information used for marketing and cannot be disabled.
🔵 Analytics & Performance Cookies
Help us understand how visitors interact with our website — which pages they visit, how long they stay, which links they click and where they come from. Data is aggregated and anonymised wherever possible. We use this to improve the website experience for everyone. Set by Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Microsoft Clarity.
🟠 Marketing & Advertising Cookies
Track your visit across websites to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant advertising on Google, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms. These cookies are set by our advertising partners (Google Ads, Meta Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag). Refusing them will not block ads but the ads you see will be less relevant to you.
🟣 Functional & Preference Cookies
Remember choices you make to personalise your experience — such as your cookie consent decision, language or region preference. Without these, you may be asked for your preferences every visit. Some are set by us and some by embedded third-party tools such as live chat widgets or video players.
Default state: When you first visit our website, only Strictly Necessary cookies are active. Analytics, Marketing and Functional cookies are blocked by default and are only activated after you provide explicit consent through our cookie banner. This is the opt-in model required by India's DPDP Act 2023 and the EU ePrivacy Directive.
Full Cookie Inventory — maddogworld.com
The table below is our live cookie inventory — a complete list of every cookie currently used on maddogworld.com, what it does, who sets it, and how long it persists. We scan our website regularly to keep this inventory accurate and up to date.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
| Cookie Name | Provider | Purpose | Type | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| wordpress_logged_in_* | WordPress (maddogworld.com) | Authenticates logged-in WordPress users. Ensures that the correct content is displayed based on login status. Only active if you are a registered user with a website login. | First-party, persistent | 14 days |
| wordpress_sec_* | WordPress (maddogworld.com) | WordPress security token to prevent Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks on authenticated users. | First-party, session | Session |
| wp-settings-* | WordPress (maddogworld.com) | Stores personalised WordPress user interface settings for registered users. | First-party, persistent | 1 year |
| PHPSESSID | Server (maddogworld.com) | A generic PHP session identifier that maintains your session state across page requests. Required for contact forms and other interactive features to work correctly. | First-party, session | Session |
| cookie_consent | maddogworld.com | Stores your cookie consent decision (which categories you accepted or rejected) so you are not shown the consent banner on every page visit. | First-party, persistent | 12 months |
| cf_clearance | Cloudflare | Security cookie set by Cloudflare to verify that you are a human visitor and not a malicious bot. Required for DDoS protection and server security. | First-party, persistent | 30 minutes |
| __cf_bm | Cloudflare | Used by Cloudflare's Bot Management product to distinguish legitimate visitors from automated bots. Helps protect the website from spam and automated attacks. | First-party, session | 30 minutes |
Analytics & Performance Cookies (Consent Required)
| Cookie Name | Provider | Purpose | Type | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Google Analytics 4 (GA4) | Distinguishes unique users by assigning a randomly generated client ID. Used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data for our GA4 reports. The last 2 octets of the IP address are anonymised by default. | First-party, persistent | 2 years |
| _ga_XXXXXXXXXX | Google Analytics 4 (GA4) | GA4 property-specific cookie that persists the session state and tracks page interactions, events and conversion goals within a single session and across sessions. | First-party, persistent | 2 years |
| _gid | Google Analytics (legacy) | Distinguishes users. Stores and updates a unique value for each page visited. | First-party, persistent | 24 hours |
| _gat_gtag_* | Google Analytics | Used to throttle request rates — limits the number of requests made to Google's servers to prevent data collection from overwhelming bandwidth. | First-party, session | 1 minute |
| _clck | Microsoft Clarity | Persists the Clarity User ID and preferences for the current website, attributing website visits to the same user ID. Enables session recordings and heatmaps. All data is anonymised and personally identifiable information is masked by default. | First-party, persistent | 1 year |
| _clsk | Microsoft Clarity | Connects multiple page views by a user into a single Clarity session recording. | First-party, session | 1 day |
Marketing & Advertising Cookies (Consent Required)
| Cookie Name | Provider | Purpose | Type | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _gcl_au | Google Ads (Tag Manager) | Used by Google AdSense to experiment with advertisement efficiency across websites using their services. Stores the Google Click ID (GCLID) for conversion measurement. | First-party, persistent | 3 months |
| _gcl_aw | Google Ads | Tracks ad click information and ties it to form submission or conversion events on our website, allowing us to measure which ad clicks lead to enquiries. | First-party, persistent | 3 months |
| _fbp | Meta (Facebook Pixel) | Used by Facebook to deliver, measure and improve advertising shown on Facebook and Instagram to people who have visited our website. Enables custom audience creation and conversion tracking. IP masking is enabled on our Meta Pixel configuration. | First-party, persistent | 3 months |
| _fbc | Meta (Facebook) | Stores the Facebook Click ID when you arrive at our website by clicking a Facebook ad, enabling accurate conversion attribution to that specific ad click. | First-party, persistent | 3 months |
| fr | Meta (Facebook) | Contains a unique browser and user ID combination, used for targeted advertising and to measure ad performance. Third-party cookie set on facebook.com domain. | Third-party, persistent | 3 months |
| IDE | Google DoubleClick | Used by Google DoubleClick to register and report user actions after viewing or clicking one of our Google ads. Enables cross-site ad frequency capping and conversion reporting. | Third-party, persistent | 13 months |
| UserMatchHistory | Set by LinkedIn's Insight Tag to sync the LinkedIn member ID for ad targeting and conversion measurement. Only active if the LinkedIn Insight Tag is enabled. | Third-party, persistent | 30 days |
Functional & Preference Cookies (Consent Required)
| Cookie Name | Provider | Purpose | Type | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lang | maddogworld.com | Remembers your language or regional preference so pages are displayed in your chosen language on return visits. | First-party, persistent | 1 year |
| yt-remote-device-id | YouTube (Google) | Stores user preferences related to embedded YouTube videos on our website, such as volume level and whether autoplay is on. Set when you interact with an embedded YouTube video. | Third-party, persistent | Persistent |
| wc_fragments_* | WooCommerce / WordPress | Used by the WooCommerce plugin (if active) to store cart fragment data, ensuring cart contents are displayed correctly as you navigate the website. | First-party, session | Session |
We conduct regular automated cookie scans on maddogworld.com to ensure this inventory remains accurate and complete. If you notice a cookie being set on our website that is not listed here, please report it to [email protected] and we will investigate and update this policy promptly.
Third-Party Cookies and Their Privacy Policies
Some cookies on our website are set by third-party companies whose services we embed or integrate. These companies have their own privacy and cookie policies that govern how they collect and use data from their cookies. We have listed the key third-party cookie providers and their relevant policies below:
| Provider | Cookie Category | Data Sent To | Privacy / Opt-Out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google (Analytics + Ads) | Analytics + Marketing | Google servers (USA, EU and global) | policies.google.com/privacy & adssettings.google.com |
| Meta (Facebook Pixel) | Marketing | Meta servers (USA, EU and global) | facebook.com/privacy/policy & Ad preferences |
| Microsoft Clarity | Analytics | Microsoft servers (USA) | privacy.microsoft.com |
| Marketing | LinkedIn servers (USA and global) | linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy | |
| YouTube (Google) | Functional | Google servers (USA) | policies.google.com/privacy |
| Cloudflare | Strictly Necessary | Cloudflare global network (194 countries) | cloudflare.com/privacypolicy |
Third-party cookies are governed by those companies' own privacy policies. We have no control over how third-party providers use the data they collect through their cookies once it leaves our website. We only activate third-party marketing and analytics cookies after you provide consent. Where those providers transfer data outside India or the EU, they do so under Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent transfer mechanisms.
Legal Basis for Cookie Use
Every cookie we use — or allow third parties to set through our website — has a defined legal basis under the applicable data protection and privacy laws that govern our operations.
| Cookie Category | Legal Basis (India — DPDP Act 2023) | Legal Basis (EU/UK — GDPR + ePrivacy) |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly Necessary | Lawful purpose — necessary for the functioning of the website and delivery of the digital service requested by the user. No consent required under DPDP for strictly necessary processing. | Legitimate interest / technical necessity — Article 5(3) ePrivacy Directive exempts strictly necessary cookies from the consent requirement. No consent required. |
| Analytics & Performance | Explicit consent — under DPDP Act 2023 and BRDCMS 2025 guidelines, consent is the required lawful basis for processing personal data through analytics cookies. Consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous. | Consent — Article 6(1)(a) GDPR and Article 5(3) ePrivacy Directive require prior informed consent for analytics cookies that process personal data or access information stored on the user's device. |
| Marketing & Advertising | Explicit consent — marketing cookies that build advertising profiles from browsing behaviour constitute personal data processing under the DPDP Act. Explicit opt-in consent is required before activation. | Consent — Article 6(1)(a) GDPR. The Planet49 ECJ decision (2019) confirmed that pre-ticked boxes do not constitute valid consent for marketing cookies. Active opt-in is required. |
| Functional & Preference | Consent — where functional cookies store personal preferences that could identify a user's device or behaviour, consent is required under the DPDP Act's purpose-specific consent model. | Consent or Legitimate Interest — depending on whether the functional cookie processes personal data. Where it does, consent is required. Where it stores only non-personal preferences, legitimate interest may apply. |
Consent records: In compliance with BRDCMS 2025 guidelines and GDPR accountability requirements, we maintain auditable records of all cookie consents — including when consent was given, which categories were accepted, the version of the cookie policy at the time, and the user's IP address (anonymised). These records can be produced in the event of a regulatory inquiry from India's Data Protection Board of India or an EU/UK supervisory authority.
Managing Your Cookie Preferences
You have full, granular control over which cookies we place on your device. Under India's DPDP Act 2023 and the BRDCMS guidelines, your consent must be as easy to withdraw as it was to give. We honour this requirement in full.
Cookie Consent Banner
When you visit maddogworld.com for the first time, a cookie consent banner appears at the bottom of the page. This banner gives you three options:
- Accept All: Activates all four cookie categories — Strictly Necessary, Analytics, Marketing and Functional cookies. You are giving us permission to use the full suite of cookies described in this Policy.
- Reject All (Non-Essential): Only Strictly Necessary cookies remain active. All Analytics, Marketing and Functional cookies are blocked. Your browsing experience on our website will continue to work but we will not be able to measure your visit in analytics or show you personalised advertising.
- Customise Preferences: Opens our detailed cookie preference panel where you can individually toggle each cookie category on or off. This is the most granular level of control available.
Changing your preferences at any time: Your cookie consent is stored for 12 months. You can change your preferences at any time by clicking the "Cookie Settings" link in the footer of any page on our website. When you update your preferences, we immediately apply the change — any cookies that are no longer consented to are deleted from your browser, and their data collection stops instantly.
Withdrawing Consent
You can withdraw your previously given cookie consent at any time without providing any reason. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing that took place based on your consent before it was withdrawn. To withdraw consent, visit our Cookie Settings panel via the footer link and select "Reject All" or deactivate specific categories.
If you clear your browser cookies, your cookie preference record will be deleted and you will be shown the consent banner again on your next visit. This is a browser limitation rather than a deliberate design choice — please re-set your preferences after clearing cookies.
Controlling Cookies Through Your Browser
In addition to our on-site cookie preference panel, you can control cookies directly through your browser settings. Most modern browsers allow you to view, manage, block and delete cookies. Here is how to access cookie settings in the most commonly used browsers:
Google Chrome
Settings → Privacy and Security → Cookies and other site data. You can block all third-party cookies, clear all cookies, or manage exceptions for specific sites.
Chrome cookie guide →Mozilla Firefox
Settings → Privacy and Security → Cookies and Site Data. Firefox offers enhanced tracking protection with Standard, Strict and Custom modes.
Firefox cookie guide →Microsoft Edge
Settings → Cookies and Site Permissions → Cookies and Site Data. Edge includes tracking prevention with Basic, Balanced and Strict options.
Edge cookie guide →Apple Safari
Preferences → Privacy → Manage Website Data. Safari blocks cross-site tracking by default through its Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) feature.
Safari cookie guide →Chrome on Android
Chrome menu → Settings → Privacy and Security → Clear browsing data. You can also manage site-specific cookie permissions under Site Settings.
Chrome Android guide →Safari on iPhone / iPad
Settings → Safari → Privacy and Security → Block All Cookies. Note that blocking all cookies may prevent some websites from functioning properly.
Safari iOS guide →Important: Blocking all cookies through your browser settings — including Strictly Necessary cookies — may prevent contact forms, navigation and other essential features of our website from working correctly. We recommend using our on-site cookie preference panel to reject only non-essential cookies while keeping strictly necessary cookies active, which gives you the best browsing experience with maximum privacy control.
Direct Opt-Out Links for Advertising Networks
In addition to our cookie consent panel and browser controls, you can opt out of interest-based advertising directly through the advertising networks we use. These opt-out tools are independent of our website and allow you to control how these networks use your data across all websites — not just ours.
- Google Ads personalisation: Visit adssettings.google.com to turn off personalised advertising from Google across all Google properties and partner websites. You can also install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on to prevent GA4 from collecting your data entirely.
- Meta (Facebook/Instagram) ads: Visit facebook.com/settings/?tab=ads to manage your Facebook and Instagram ad preferences, including interest-based advertising and data sharing with advertisers.
- LinkedIn ads: Visit LinkedIn Ad Settings to opt out of LinkedIn interest-based advertising and the LinkedIn Insight Tag conversion tracking.
- Microsoft (Clarity + Bing): Visit account.microsoft.com/privacy to manage Microsoft's personalised advertising and data collection settings, including Microsoft Clarity session recording.
- Digital Advertising Alliance (India/Global): The YourAdChoices opt-out tool allows you to opt out of interest-based advertising from multiple networks simultaneously using the industry's AdChoices icon programme.
- European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EU users): EU visitors can use youronlinechoices.eu to opt out of behavioural advertising from all participating members of the European advertising industry simultaneously.
Note that opting out of interest-based advertising does not mean you will stop seeing advertisements. It means the advertisements you see will not be personalised to your interests and browsing history. You may still see general advertising from these platforms based on context, time of day, and other non-personal factors.
Cookie Retention Periods
Cookies do not persist forever. Every cookie has a defined lifespan — either it expires automatically after a set period, or it is a session cookie that is deleted when you close your browser. The table below summarises the retention periods for each category of cookie we use.
| Cookie Category | Typical Retention Range | How Deleted |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly Necessary | Session to 1 year (varies by cookie) | Session cookies deleted on browser close; persistent cookies expire automatically on set date |
| Analytics (GA4) | 24 hours to 2 years | Automatic expiry; data retention in Google Analytics set to 14 months maximum |
| Marketing (Google Ads) | 30 days to 13 months | Automatic expiry; deleted immediately if consent is withdrawn via cookie settings |
| Marketing (Meta Pixel) | 90 days to 6 months | Automatic expiry; deleted immediately if consent is withdrawn via cookie settings |
| Functional / Preference | Session to 1 year | Session cookies deleted on browser close; persistent cookies expire automatically |
| Cookie Consent Record | 12 months | Automatic expiry after 12 months — you will then be asked for consent again on your next visit |
When consent is withdrawn for any cookie category, we configure our consent management system to immediately delete those cookies from your browser and stop any associated data collection. We do not retain data from previously consented cookies beyond the period required to complete any in-progress analytics processing already underway at the point of withdrawal.
Children and Cookies
Our website and services are intended exclusively for business professionals and adults aged 18 and above. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children through cookies or any other mechanism.
Under India's DPDP Act 2023, processing personal data of children (under 18) requires verifiable parental or guardian consent before any data collection can take place. Our cookie consent mechanism is not designed to verify age, and we rely on the fact that our website addresses business and professional audiences rather than minors.
If you believe a child under the age of 18 has provided cookie consent on our website and their data has been collected, please contact us immediately at [email protected]. We will delete all associated data and cookie records without delay upon verified notification.
We do not use targeted advertising cookies to display content to children and we do not knowingly enable the profiling of any individual we have reason to believe may be under 18 years of age.
Updates to This Cookie Policy
We update this Cookie Policy regularly to reflect changes in the cookies we use, changes in applicable law (particularly as India's DPDP Rules evolve and new guidance is issued by the Data Protection Board of India and MeitY), and changes in the technologies used on our website.
When we make material changes to this Policy — for example, adding a new cookie category, engaging a new third-party analytics or advertising provider, or making significant changes to how long we retain cookie data — we will:
- Update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page to reflect when the change took effect
- Display a notice on our website for a period of at least 14 days following any material change
- Reset your cookie consent preference when changes materially affect how non-essential cookies are used, requiring you to review and reconfirm your preferences on your next visit
- Send an email notification to active clients and newsletter subscribers where the change is significant enough to warrant direct notification
We also conduct regular automated scans of maddogworld.com to detect any new cookies introduced through third-party scripts or plugin updates, and update this inventory accordingly. The BRDCMS 2025 guidelines recommend continuous cookie monitoring and we follow this recommendation as part of our privacy governance practice.
This Cookie Policy was last reviewed and updated on 1 March 2026 (Version 2.1). It reflects the cookie inventory and consent practices in place as of that date, aligned with the DPDP Rules 2025 (notified November 13, 2025) and BRDCMS guidelines (April 2025).
Contact Us — Cookie and Privacy Queries
If you have any questions about this Cookie Policy, want to report a cookie that is not listed in our inventory, want to exercise your rights under the DPDP Act 2023 in relation to data collected through cookies, or wish to raise a concern about our cookie practices, please contact us:
| Contact Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Business | Maddog Global |
| Website | maddogworld.com |
| Privacy & Cookie Email | [email protected] |
| Phone | +91 721 779 3189 |
| Contact Page | maddogworld.com/contact-us/ |
| Subject Line to Use | "Cookie Policy Query" or "DPDP Cookie Request" |
| Response Time | Within 2 business days |
Related Policies
- Privacy Policy — Full details of how we collect, use, store and protect your personal data beyond cookies, including your rights under the DPDP Act 2023 and GDPR.
- Terms of Service — The legal terms governing your use of our website and engagement with our digital marketing services.
Supervisory Authorities
If you are not satisfied with our response to a cookie-related complaint, you have the right to escalate to the relevant supervisory authority for your jurisdiction:
- India: Data Protection Board of India — being established under the DPDP Act 2023 (operational from November 2025 in phased rollout)
- European Union: Your national Data Protection Authority — find your country's DPA at edpb.europa.eu
- United Kingdom: Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) — ico.org.uk
- Australia: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner — oaic.gov.au
Questions About Our Cookies?
Cookie policies can be confusing. If anything in this policy is unclear or you want help understanding which cookies apply to your situation, our team is happy to explain in plain language — no jargon, no automated responses.