In short.
- We use a small number of cookies and similar technologies on the Sites.
- Strictly-necessary cookies (e.g. keeping you signed in) are always on. They do not need your consent under UK law.
- All other cookies — analytics, marketing-automation tracking, anything that profiles your behaviour — are off by default and only set if you give us consent through the cookie banner.
- You can change your cookie choices at any time through the "Cookie preferences" link in the footer of each Site.
- We do not use cookies to sell or share your data with anyone outside Disrupts Media or our service providers acting on our instructions.
1. Why this policy exists
UK law — specifically the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), read together with the UK GDPR — requires us to tell you, in plain language, what cookies and similar technologies we use, why we use them, and how to control them. This policy is how we meet that requirement. Read it together with our Privacy Policy, which covers the wider question of how we handle your personal data.
In this policy, "we", "us" and "our" mean Disrupts Media Limited, the publisher of the Sites.
2. What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store on your device when you visit. The next time you visit, your browser sends the cookie back, which lets the site recognise you — for example, to remember that you are signed in.
This policy also covers similar technologies that do roughly the same job: local storage in your browser, session storage, web beacons and pixels in emails, and device fingerprinting. Where we use any of those, we treat them the same way as cookies: strictly necessary ones are always on, everything else needs your consent.
3. Categories of cookie we use
We group cookies into four categories. The categories are the same across all our Sites.
3.1 Strictly necessary
These cookies make the Sites work. They keep you signed in, remember the choices you have made on the cookie banner itself, and protect against common security attacks (e.g. cross-site request forgery). Without them, basic features such as login and form submission would not work.
You cannot turn these off through the cookie banner because the Sites cannot function without them. You can still block them at the browser level, but parts of the Sites will then fail.
| Example cookie | What it does | Set by | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSESS... / Drupal session cookie | Keeps you signed in across a visit | The Site you are on | Session (until you close your browser) or up to 23 days for "remember me" |
| disrupts_sso | Carries your single sign-on across our four publications | id.disruptsmedia.com | Session, scoped to .disruptsmedia.com |
| cookie_consent_v1 | Remembers your cookie choices so we do not ask again | The Site you are on | 12 months |
| csrf_token | Protects against cross-site request forgery on forms | The Site you are on | Session |
3.2 Functional
These cookies remember choices you make that improve your experience but are not strictly required for the Sites to work — for example, your preferred newsletter subscriptions surfaced as defaults, or remembering that you have dismissed a particular notice.
We currently set few functional cookies. The cookie banner lists any in use at the time of your visit. Off unless you consent.
3.3 Analytics
These cookies help us understand how the Sites are used — which pages are read, how long readers spend on them, where readers come from. We use the results in aggregate; we do not look at individual reading histories outside the legitimate operational reasons described in our Privacy Policy.
The specific analytics provider in use on each Site is listed in the cookie banner. The provisional intention is to use a privacy-respecting analytics tool that does not require third-party cookies; if we ever introduce Google Analytics or a similar provider, this policy will be updated to reflect that and consent will be obtained before any analytics cookies are set.
Off unless you consent.
3.4 Marketing-automation and advertising
These cookies are set by Mautic, our self-hosted marketing-automation platform. They allow us to link your visits to your registered account, so the editorial newsletters and (separately) the marketing emails you have asked for can be made more relevant.
| Example cookie | What it does | Set by | Lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| mtc_id | Identifies your browser to Mautic so visits can be linked to your account | mautic.disruptsmedia.com | 12 months |
| mtc_sid | Mautic session marker | mautic.disruptsmedia.com | 30 minutes |
We do not allow our sponsors or any external advertising network to set their own cookies on the Sites for cross-site tracking purposes. If that ever changes, we will update this policy and seek your fresh consent.
Off unless you consent.
4. How we ask for your consent
When you first visit any of our Sites, you will see a cookie banner. It has three options:
- Accept all. Sets all categories of cookie listed in §3.
- Reject all. Sets only the strictly-necessary cookies in §3.1.
- Cookie preferences. Lets you accept or reject each category individually.
There is no "consent or pay" wall. Rejecting non-essential cookies does not affect your ability to read articles or to register for an account.
We record your choice and stick to it. We do not show the banner again unless our cookie list changes materially or your stored choice expires.
5. Changing your mind
You can change your cookie choices at any time:
- Use the "Cookie preferences" link in the footer of any of our Sites. This reopens the banner.
- Or clear our cookies from your browser. The banner will reappear on your next visit so you can choose again.
- You can also instruct your browser to block all cookies, or to delete them automatically when you close it. Most modern browsers explain how in their help pages — search for "cookies" within the browser's settings.
Withdrawing your consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing that took place before you withdrew it.
6. Cookies in email
Our editorial newsletters and marketing emails may include small images known as tracking pixels. These tell us, in aggregate, how many people opened an email and which links were clicked. Where you have given us consent for marketing-automation tracking (§3.4), this data is linked to your account; otherwise it is held in aggregate.
You can disable image-loading in most email clients to block tracking pixels.
7. Children
The Sites are aimed at working professionals. If you are under 13 you should not register for an account or set cookie preferences on our behalf. If we become aware that we have set non-essential cookies on a device used by a child under 13, we will delete the underlying data.
8. Changes to this policy
We will update this policy if we add, change or remove categories of cookie, or if any of the named processors in §3 changes materially. The version number, "Effective" date and Document history below record the change. Material changes prompt the cookie banner to reappear so you can make a fresh choice.
9. Contact us
For any question about our use of cookies:
Email: privacy@disruptsmedia.com Post: Data Protection, Disrupts Media Limited, 41 Luke Street, London EC2A 4DP, United Kingdom
10. About Disrupts Media
Disrupts Media Limited Registered in England & Wales — Company No. 09447878 Registered office: 41 Luke Street, London EC2A 4DP, United Kingdom
11. Document history
| Date | Version | Change | |---|---|---| | 2026-05-14 | 1.0 | Initial policy. Four-category cookie model (strictly necessary, functional, analytics, marketing-automation). Mautic listed as the marketing-automation processor; analytics provider listed at deploy time. Banner-based consent, no consent-or-pay, "Cookie preferences" footer link for changing choices. Cross-references Privacy Policy. |