Cookies
Last updated 23 August 2026
This portal has no cookie banner, and that is not an oversight. It sets no advertising cookie, no tracking cookie and no analytics cookie, because it has none to set — so there is nothing here to ask your permission for.
The law this page answers to
Two rules govern what a website may keep on your device: the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations in the United Kingdom, and the ePrivacy Directive across the European Union. Both say the same thing in the same order — you must be told what is stored, and your consent must be asked for first, unless the storage is strictly necessary for something you asked the site to do.
Both also cover more than cookies. The words in the law are “storage of information on terminal equipment”, which means the browser storage below counts exactly as much as the cookie above it. Everything is therefore listed together.
The one cookie
| Name | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|
sb-…-auth-tokenStrictly necessary | Keeps you signed in as you move between pages. Written by Supabase when you sign in. | Until you sign out, or it expires |
That is the entire list. Signed out, the portal sets no cookie whatsoever — you can check that yourself in your browser’s developer tools before you sign in.
What is kept in your own browser
These are stored by the portal in your browser and read back by the portal alone. None of them is sent anywhere on its own, none identifies you, and no other website can read them.
| Name | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|
reader-font · reader-width · reader-focusYour own settings | The type size, column width and focus mode you chose in the reader. | Until you clear your browser |
somm.saved-words.v1Your own settings | The glossary words you starred, so they survive a signed-out visit. | Until you clear your browser |
tasting-run-v1 · tasting-journal-v1Your own work | A tasting grid you are part-way through, and the notes you have kept. | Until you clear your browser |
cms:recents · cms:last-visitYour own settings | The last few places you opened, so the portal can offer to take you back. | Until you clear your browser |
booknav:countriesYour own settings | Which countries you unfolded in the book navigation. Forgotten when you close the tab. | The current tab only |
Why you are not asked to agree
Consent is required for storage that is not strictly necessary. Keeping you signed in as you move from one chapter to the next is the plain example of storage that is — without it you would be asked for your password on every page.
The rest is the setting you yourself chose: the type size you picked, the word you starred, the tasting note you were part-way through. Remembering what you asked for is the thing you asked for. Nothing in either list follows you to another website, builds a profile, or is shared with anyone.
A banner asking permission for storage that needs none is not caution. It trains people to dismiss the banners that matter, and it implies a kind of tracking that is not happening here.
Refusing or removing it
- Your browser settings can block or clear all of it. Clearing the sign-in cookie signs you out; clearing browser storage returns the reader to its default size and empties any starred words not attached to your account.
- Signing out removes the sign-in cookie. The portal keeps working — you simply see the public pages.
- Nothing here can be refused selectively, because there is nothing optional to refuse. Blocking the sign-in cookie means you cannot sign in.
If this ever changes
If the Court ever adds analytics, an advertising pixel, or anything that watches you beyond this site, this page will say so and you will be asked to agree before it is set — not after. That is what the law requires and it is what the Court intends to do.
Asking about it
Write to rsayburn@courtofmastersommeliers.org. What the portal records on its own servers, rather than in your browser, is set out in the privacy notice, and what you may demand about it in your data rights.