Privacy Tool

Cookie Privacy Sandbox

Cookie consent banners ask you to accept three very different things. This sandbox lets you toggle each type and see exactly what changes — for you and for the site owner.

Toggle each cookie type and see what changes — for you and for the website owner

🔒 This is a simulation. No real cookies are set. No data is collected.

How to use this tool

  1. 1 Start with all three cookie types enabled — this is the default when you click "Accept All".
  2. 2 Toggle "Analytics Cookies" off and watch the admin dashboard go blind.
  3. 3 Toggle "Marketing Cookies" off and watch the targeted ad become a generic placeholder.
  4. 4 Try "Necessary Only" (turn both off) — this is what you get when you refuse the cookie banner.
  5. 5 Use the reset button (↺) to return to the all-on state.

Cookie Privacy Sandbox

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Admin: Business Analytics

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Conversion

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User UX

Optimal

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Necessary Cookies
Analytics Cookies
Marketing Cookies

What each cookie type actually does

🔒 Necessary Cookies

Always On

Session · Login · Cart

Keep you logged in, remember your cart, and make the site function. Without these, every page load forgets who you are.

💡 These are the only cookies you genuinely cannot refuse without breaking the site.

📊 Analytics Cookies

Optional

Page views · Funnels · Clicks

Track which pages you visit, how long you stay, and what you click. The site owner sees aggregate stats — but your journey is still recorded.

💡 Refusing analytics hides you from dashboards. The site still works fine for you.

🎯 Marketing Cookies

Most Invasive

Ad targeting · Retargeting · Profiling

Track you across websites to build a profile and serve targeted ads. These are shared with hundreds of ad networks — this is the data broker pipeline.

💡 Refusing marketing cookies is the single highest-impact privacy choice on most banners.

What actually happens when you click "Accept All"

Cookie banners are designed to make "Accept All" the easiest option. Here is what you are agreeing to when you do.

  • Your browsing behaviour on that site is recorded and sent to Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, and potentially dozens of other third-party trackers.
  • Marketing cookies create a persistent ID that follows you across different websites — this is how ads "follow" you after you visit a product page.
  • The data is sold to data brokers, who combine it with data from other sources (your email address, phone number, location history) to build a profile.
  • Under GDPR (EU) and CCPA (California), you have the legal right to refuse all non-necessary cookies. The site must still work.
  • If the banner has no "Reject All" button at the same level as "Accept All", that is a dark pattern — report it to your data protection authority.

Does refusing cookies mean websites can't track me at all?

No. Refusing cookies removes one tracking method, but there are others that don't require cookies at all — most notably browser fingerprinting, IP address logging, and link tracking parameters in URLs.

1

Browser fingerprinting identifies you through your screen size, fonts, GPU, and browser settings — no cookie required, and no banner can stop it.

2

Your IP address is visible to every website you visit, regardless of cookie consent. It reveals your approximate location and ISP.

3

Email tracking pixels fire when you open an email — no consent banner is shown, and they work even if you've refused all website cookies.

4

UTM parameters (the ?utm_source=... in URLs) let advertisers attribute which ad brought you to a site without any cookie at all.

💡 Bottom line: Refusing non-necessary cookies is worth doing — it removes the most pervasive form of cross-site tracking. But it is one layer of many. Use it alongside a privacy-focused browser, a VPN, and email image blocking for meaningful protection.

Learn more about tracking

What tracks you more — cookies, fingerprinting, or behaviour? Why you can still be tracked with Incognito mode and a VPN