Cookie Policy

1. What cookies and similar technologies are

Cookies are small text files that a website stores on your device. Websites can also use similar technologies such as local storage and session storage, which work in a comparable way but are managed entirely by your browser.

Some storage is essential: without it, a website cannot keep you signed in or remember a security setting. Other storage — such as analytics or advertising — is optional and should only be used with your consent.

2. Our approach

We keep things simple and privacy-friendly. At present, merkel.academy uses only strictly necessary browser storage. That means:

• we do not use advertising or marketing cookies;
• we do not use cross-site tracking or social media pixels;
• we do not sell or share data with data brokers;
• because we only use strictly necessary storage, we do not show a cookie consent banner.

If we ever add optional cookies (for example, privacy-friendly analytics), we will ask for your consent first and update this policy.

3. Storage we use

Name	Type	Purpose	Duration
site.token	Local storage	Stores your sign-in session token so you stay signed in as you move between pages. It is sent to our API with requests and is validated on the server.	Up to 30 days, or until you sign out or clear your browser storage.
Server session data	Server-side record	A record of your active sessions so we can validate your token and let you sign out of all devices after a password change. It is not stored in your browser.	Up to 30 days.

We do not use cookies to build advertising profiles, and we do not track you across other websites.

4. Third-party services

When you pay, you are redirected to Stripe's hosted checkout page. Stripe may set its own cookies on its own domain to keep the checkout secure and to prevent fraud. Those cookies are governed by Stripe's own cookie and privacy policies, not ours; we do not receive that cookie data. See stripe.com/cookies-policy.

Our pages load fonts from Google Fonts. When your browser requests those fonts, Google may receive your IP address and basic request information in order to deliver the files.

5. How to control storage

You can view, block or delete cookies and local storage through your browser settings. Every major browser provides controls under its privacy or security settings, and you can usually delete all stored data and set your browser to block it in future.

Please note that if you block or delete our sign-in storage, you will not be able to stay signed in and will need to log in again each time you visit. Deleting this storage does not delete your merkel.academy account or your course access.

6. Changes and contact

We may update this policy if we change the storage we use. We will publish the new version here and update the "Last updated" date. For any question, email hello@merkel.academy, or see our Privacy Policy for more about how we handle personal data.