Last updated: 28 September 2026.
The short version
This site sets no cookies of its own when you simply visit and read it. There is no Google Analytics, no advertising pixel, no social tracker and no heatmap tool. Two things do come from outside the site, and both are described below: the typeface on the home page, loaded from Google Fonts, and the video player on lesson pages, provided by Gumlet.
Our own cookies appear only when you do something that needs one — put an item in a basket, or log in. Every one of them is strictly necessary for what you asked for, so none of them needs your consent.
What is actually set, and when
Nothing, on a normal visit
We checked this rather than assumed it. On 17 and 28 September 2026 the home page, the shop, the course pages, the basket, the FAQ, the About page, the Contact page and the account page were each requested logged out. Not one of them returned a single cookie.
cb_cart — only if you add something to a basket
If you are not logged in and you add an item to your basket, we store the contents of that basket in a cookie called cb_cart so it is still there when you come back. It holds the items only — no name, no email, no payment details. It lasts 30 days, it cannot be read by scripts, and it is not sent to other sites. If you are logged in we do not use this cookie at all; your basket is saved to your account instead.
WordPress login cookies — only if you log in
Logging in sets the standard WordPress session cookies (their names begin wordpress_, wordpress_logged_in_ and wordpress_sec_). They are what keep you logged in as you move between pages, and they are what stop someone else using your session. They expire when you close your browser, or after two weeks if you ticked “remember me”. Logging out clears them. The login page also sets wordpress_test_cookie, which only checks that your browser accepts cookies.
WordPress also sets wp-settings- and wp-settings-time- cookies, which remember screen preferences inside the site’s own admin area. They last a year and hold nothing about you beyond those preferences.
Comment cookies — only if you leave a comment
If commenting is open on a post and you leave one, WordPress offers to remember the name, email address and website you entered so you do not have to type them again. Those cookies are set only if you tick that box, and they last a year.
Things that come from outside the site
Gumlet video player — on lesson pages
The videos in each lesson are played by Gumlet’s player, which loads from Gumlet’s own servers. As soon as a lesson page with a video opens, the player sets two cookies on Gumlet’s domain, gm_analytics_user_id and gm_analytics_session_id, and keeps the same identifiers in your browser’s local storage, so that Gumlet can record viewing statistics for us. It also stores your volume, playback speed, audio language and where you stopped in each video. These are set by Gumlet, not by this site; Gumlet’s policy is at gumlet.com/privacy. Your browser’s settings for third-party cookies and site data control them.
Google Fonts — on the home page
The home page loads its typeface from Google Fonts. To deliver it, your browser connects to Google, which receives your IP address. When we checked on 28 September 2026, Google Fonts set no cookies. Google’s policy is at policies.google.com/privacy.
Things that are not cookies but are worth telling you about
The site remembers your choice of light or dark theme in your browser’s local storage, under the keys cb-theme and cbMode. That is not a cookie: it never leaves your browser and is never sent to our server. Clearing your site data clears it.
When you leave the site to pay
Paying takes you off this site and onto a checkout page hosted by Stripe. Stripe sets its own cookies on its own page, including ones it uses to detect fraud, and those are governed by Stripe’s policy at stripe.com/privacy, not by this one. No Stripe script runs on our pages.
Analytics, and what would change that
We run no analytics tool of our own. The only statistics collected are Gumlet’s viewing statistics for the course videos, described above. If we add anything else that stores information in your browser — a statistics tool, a chat widget, an advertising pixel — we will update this page before it goes live.
Controlling cookies
Every browser lets you see the cookies a site has set, delete them, and refuse them. Blocking the cookies described here will not stop you reading the site, but it will stop you logging in and stop a basket surviving from one visit to the next.
Questions
Email legal@academicmethod.com. Our full Privacy Policy explains everything else we hold and why.