Cookies
Last updated 24 August 2026
We ask before we track. Nothing beyond the strictly necessary preferences listed below is stored on your device unless you say yes, and you can change your mind at any time from the Cookie settings link at the bottom of the home page.
The three categories
Strictly necessary — always on
One entry that remembers the choice you made in the banner, so we stop asking you on every visit. It holds nothing but your answer and the date you gave it. This is the only thing stored if you reject everything else, and it is exempt from consent because without it we could not honour your refusal.
There is a second entry in the same category, and it is only ever written if you ask for it: the marker that records your objection to the measurement described below. It exists for the same reason as the first — a refusal we cannot remember is a refusal we cannot honour — and it holds nothing but the fact that you objected.
Analytics — off until you accept
Two different things share this name, and only the second one is a choice you make here. Our server counts the pages it serves — which page, which site referred you, roughly where in the world you are, and what kind of device you used — and it does that for every visit, without writing anything to or reading anything from your device. That measurement is ours, it runs on our own machines, it is never shared, and it is described in full, including the legal basis for it and how to object to it, in the privacy policy.
What accepting this category adds is detail: a small script of ours that reports how long you stayed on a page, how far down it you scrolled, and which parts of it you used. It is first-party, it sends to our own server, it identifies you no more precisely than the measurement above does, and if you reject the category it is never loaded at all. It is not loaded-then-disabled; it simply never runs.
We do not call any of this anonymous, because it is not. It cannot be tied to your name, and we hold no name to tie it to, but for as long as we hold the day's salt the identifier could in principle be re-derived from a known address. Calling that anonymous would be the convenient word rather than the accurate one.
Security — off until you accept
Google reCAPTCHA on the contact form, which tells a person apart from a script. Google receives your IP address, browser and device information, and how you interacted with the page, and sets its own cookies. It acts as an independent controller for that data under its own privacy policy and terms.
If you leave it off, the form still works. It falls back to a hidden field that only automated software fills in, plus a check on how long the form was open — neither of which stores anything on your device or contacts anyone. We would rather lose the reCAPTCHA than make you trade a service for consent.
The cookies themselves
| Name | Category | Provider | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| escalate.consent | Strictly necessary | Escalate AI (first party, local storage) | Remembers whether you accepted or rejected analytics | 180 days |
| escalate.optout | Strictly necessary | Escalate AI (first party, local storage) | Remembers that you objected to first-party measurement, so we stop counting you | 12 months |
| None | Analytics | Escalate AI (first party) | The analytics described above sends events to our own server and stores nothing on your device | Nothing is stored, so nothing expires |
| _GRECAPTCHA | Security | Tells a person apart from an automated script on the contact form. Set only if you accept the security category; if you do not, reCAPTCHA is never loaded and Google is never contacted | 6 months |
What happens when you use the form
Two checks run whatever you chose: a hidden field that only automated software fills in, and how long the form was open before it was sent. Both are decided by our own server from what the form sends it — deliberately, because a check the browser decides is a check the software it exists to stop can decide for itself. Neither stores anything on your device and neither contacts anyone else. reCAPTCHA is added on top of those only if you accepted the security category.
Changing your mind
Use the Cookie settings link at the bottom of the home page. It reopens the same panel you saw on your first visit, with your current choice already selected. Withdrawing consent is as easy as giving it, and takes effect immediately.
We ask again every 180 days regardless, and straight away if the cookies themselves change.
Controlling cookies in your browser
Independently of anything here, every browser lets you review and delete cookies from any site. Look for privacy or site settings in Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge.
If this changes
The day we add an embedded video, a chat widget, advertising or reCAPTCHA, this page will be rewritten, a new category will appear in the banner, and everyone will be asked again — a consent given for analytics is not consent for anything else.
Questions
Write to info@goescalate.ai. See also the privacy policy, which covers the email address you leave on the form.