Cookies Policy

Plain-language summary; the legal text governs if the two ever differ.

What is this?

This is the everyday version of our Cookies Policy for jdswebservice.com. It lists everything the site and our payment partner store on your device, what each one does, how long it lasts, and how you control the tracking kind. The formal legal version is the one that counts if the two ever say different things.

The short version

There are two kinds of cookies: Essential Cookies (the site needs them to work) and Personal Cookies (the tracking kind). Personal Cookies stay off unless you accept them. The banner at the bottom of the screen has two buttons: Accept All (the highlighted one) and Just Essential Cookies. Just Essential means no tracking cookies, the site still works fully, and no ads load. Your pick is stored in your own browser and we never get a report of it. When you become a client, the agreement you sign covers the cookies in this policy, and your first sign-in resets any older pick so the cookies here apply. Policy updates take effect the moment we post them.

Who we are; who can use the site

• "JD's Web Service" is a sole proprietorship in Pennsylvania that runs jdswebservice.com. We say "we," "us," and "our."
• Our terms of service say you must be at least 18 to use the site.

The two kinds of cookies

• Essential Cookies: what the site needs to run. Always on, and there is no turn-off for them.
• Personal Cookies: the tracking kind behind our analytics and ads. These are the only ones you can opt out of, and they run only if you accept them.

The banner and your choice

• The banner sits at the bottom of the screen with exactly two buttons: Accept All (the highlighted one) and Just Essential Cookies.
• Before you pick, tracking is off. Nothing tracks your visit while the banner waits.
• The banner stays on screen until you pick. After you pick, we do not ask again while your pick stands.
• Your pick is stored in your own browser on your own device (an entry named jds-cookie-consent that says all or essential). We never receive a report of it and keep no record of it on our side.
• Your pick lasts until you change it or until the client reset described below.

Essential Cookies (always on)

• Your consent choice (jds-cookie-consent): remembers your banner pick so the banner does not ask again on every page. Lasts until you clear the site's data in your browser, or until the client reset below.
• Client portal session: keeps you signed in at clients.jdswebservice.com. Lasts until you log out or the session ends.
• Checkout integrity and fraud checks: set by Stripe while you pay. Lasts through your checkout and the fraud checks around it.
• Security and abuse prevention: form protection and security tokens, so bots stay out. Lasts for your browsing or form session.

Example: You pick Just Essential Cookies. Everything in this list still runs. The site works exactly as before, nothing about your visit is recorded for tracking, and no ads load.

Personal Cookies (the tracking kind)

• Analytics (ours): our analytics is software called Matomo that we host on our own server, so its cookies come from our own domain and the records stay on our own systems. It records the pages you view and how often, IP addresses, the page each visit came from (including visits from search and ad campaigns), browser and device type, the date and time of each visit, and an approximate region based on the IP address. Lasts up to about a year.
• Advertising (set by ad partners, not by us): helps show ads on the site, counts how often ads are seen, and limits repeat ads. We name the current ad networks here as the networks we work with change. Those cookies last as each partner sets and rules them.

Personal Cookies only run if you accepted them (or if the client reset below applies to you).

Who else sets cookies

• Our analytics: ours, on our own server.
• Stripe: its own checkout and fraud-check cookies while you pay.
• Ad partners: their own advertising cookies.
• Hosting and email providers: no cookies at all.

If you become a client

• The contract you sign says you agree to the cookies described on this page, including analytics tracking.
• The first time you sign in and set your client password, any older banner pick is reset, and the signed agreement's consent governs: the cookies on this page then apply to your client visits.

Example: Last month you browsed and picked Just Essential Cookies. This month you became a client and signed the agreement. The first time you sign in and set your password, that old pick is reset and the cookies in this policy (tracking included) apply from then on.

Changing your mind

• Your pick does not change by itself, and we do not ask again while it stands.
• To change it: clear the site's data for jdswebservice.com in your browser's settings. The banner comes back the next time you load a page, and you pick either button.
• Picking Just Essential Cookies applies immediately: tracking cookies stop, nothing about your visit is recorded for tracking, and no ads load on your visits.
• Nothing breaks if you pick Just Essential. The site and the client portal work normally, and an older Accept All pick gets replaced.

California

• If you are in California, your tracking control is the banner (and the steps above).
• Rights over data we already have (analytics records included) follow the Privacy Policy: use the contact form with a "privacy request" note.
• This page opens no second request route.

If you are in the EU, EEA, or the UK

• Nothing non-essential is set before you choose. While you decide, only Essential Cookies run, and those keep the site and its security working.
• Just Essential Cookies never removes any site function.
• You can withdraw consent any time with immediate effect (the steps above).
• What we collect and where it lives (servers in the United States) is in the Privacy Policy.

Changes take effect immediately

• We can change this policy at any time. The change starts working the moment we post it.
• Our terms of service and privacy policy carry the same rule, so no document disagrees about this.

Contact

• Privacy requests: the contact form with a "privacy request" note (see the Privacy Policy).
• Everything else: [email protected].

Related documents

• Privacy Policy (/privacy, formal version /privacy/legal): what we collect and your rights; it points here for cookie detail.
• Terms of Service (/terms, formal version /terms/legal): governs the site and defines the Signed Service Agreement.
• Clients: the signed agreement wins for portal and payment legal terms wherever it differs.