Essential only. That’s the whole policy.

In one breath

• Three essential cookies, all set by Ascend, none shared with anyone.
• No analytics, no advertising, no cross-site tracking — today, and not without asking first.
• The banner defaults to essential only; “Accept essential” and “Accept all” are given equal weight.
• Your choice is stored on your device for 180 days, then we ask again — or you can change it below any time.

Manage your preference

The button reopens the same sheet you saw when you first arrived. Essential cookies cannot be switched off because the service cannot run without them; the other two categories are yours to decide, even though nothing sits behind them today.

Essential cookies

Strictly necessary cookies do not need consent under the GDPR (ePrivacy Art. 5(3)) or the DPDP Act, but you deserve to know what they are:

• next-auth.session-token / __Secure-next-auth.session-tokenAscend

  Keeps you signed in after you enter the one-time code. HttpOnly, so scripts can't read it.

  Lasts: Session, up to 30 days

• next-auth.csrf-token / next-auth.callback-urlAscend

  Protects the sign-in flow against cross-site request forgery and returns you to the right page.

  Lasts: Session

• ascend_consentAscend

  Remembers the cookie choice you made on this page or in the banner, and which policy version it was made under.

  Lasts: 180 days

Analytics & marketing — not used

We show these categories in the banner so the choice is genuinely yours, not so we can sneak something in later. Should we ever add a privacy-respecting analytics tool, it will appear here by name with its cookies and lifetime, it will be off by default, and the banner will ask again under a new policy version. We have no plans for marketing cookies.

Local storage

Alongside the ascend_consent cookie we keep a copy of your choice in your browser’s local storage under the same name, so it survives if cookies are cleared but storage is not. It contains only the categories you allowed, the policy version and the time. No identifiers.

Browser controls

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies will sign you out and may stop the one-time-code sign-in from completing. Instructions: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge.

Changes

If this policy changes materially the version at the top changes and the banner asks for your choice again. For how we handle personal data generally, see the Privacy Notice; to exercise your rights, the Data & privacy centre.