Cookie Policy
Last updated: [DD Month YYYY]
Cookie banners have trained everyone to click "Accept All" without reading. Fair enough. But if you do want to know what's being stored on your device and why, this page tells you honestly.
It works alongside our [Privacy Policy] and [Terms & Conditions].
The short version
- We use cookies to keep you logged in, remember your settings, and understand which parts of our courses people actually finish.
- The login ones are non-negotiable. Block them and the site stops working.
- The analytics ones are optional and you can turn them off.
- We don't run advertising cookies. Nobody is retargeting you with ads because you looked at our Python course.
- YouTube is the big one. When you play an embedded lesson video, Google can set its own cookies on your device. We don't control those and we don't see that data.
- You can change your mind about any of this whenever you like.
1. What a cookie actually is
A cookie is a small text file a website asks your browser to store. Next time you visit, the browser hands it back, and the site recognises you.
That's it. It's a coat check ticket, not a surveillance device, though it can be used for either depending on who's holding it.
We also use a few related technologies that do similar jobs:
- Local storage: browser storage that holds more data and doesn't expire on its own. We use it to remember course progress locally so lessons load faster.
- Session storage: same idea, but wiped the moment you close the tab.
- Pixels: tiny invisible images in emails that tell us whether a message was opened.
When we say "cookies" on this page, we mean all of these.
2. Why we use them
Four reasons, in descending order of necessity.
Strictly necessary
The site does not function without these. There's no consent toggle because there's no version of Shattak that runs without them.
They handle:
- keeping you signed in as you move between lessons
- remembering that you've entered a valid course access key, so you're not re-entering it on every page
- security, including protecting form submissions from being forged
- balancing traffic across our servers
Preferences
Small conveniences. Your theme choice, your language, whether you've dismissed a particular notice, which module you had expanded last time.
Turn these off and the site works, it just forgets things and gets mildly annoying.
Analytics
These tell us how the platform is being used. Not who you are, but what's happening.
The honest reason we care: one of the biggest problems in online education is that people enroll and never finish. If forty percent of students in a course stop at module four, we need to know that so we can rewrite module four. Analytics is how we find out.
We look at things like:
- which pages get visited, and in what order
- how long people spend on a lesson
- where students drop off in a course
- which devices and browsers to prioritise for testing
- whether a page is throwing errors
These are optional. Decline them and we lose some insight, but you lose nothing.
Advertising
We don't use them. There are no third party advertising or retargeting cookies on Shattak. We aren't building ad profiles and we aren't feeding your behaviour to ad networks.
If that ever changes, this page changes first and we ask you before switching anything on.
3. What's actually running
| Cookie | Type | What it does | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
[session_id] | Necessary | Keeps you logged in | Until you log out or [30] days |
[csrf_token] | Necessary | Stops forged form submissions | Session only |
[course_access] | Necessary | Remembers you've entered a valid access key | [180] days |
[cookie_consent] | Necessary | Remembers your choices on this page | [12] months |
[theme_pref] | Preference | Light or dark mode | [12] months |
[lesson_state] | Preference | Which module you had open | [90] days |
[_ga] and related | Analytics | Google Analytics, if enabled | Up to [24] months |
[payment_ref] | Necessary | Links you back to your session after payment | Session only |
Set by others, not by us:
| Source | When it appears | Whose policy applies |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube / Google | When you play an embedded lesson video | [Google Privacy Policy] |
| [Payment gateway name] | During checkout | Theirs |
| [Video host, if separate] | When you play hosted content | Theirs |
Names and durations above are indicative and change as we update the platform. The categories don't.
4. YouTube, specifically
This deserves its own section because of how Shattak courses are built.
We currently use a curation model. Many lessons combine our own written material and assignments with high quality videos that already exist on YouTube, embedded from the original platform so the creator keeps their views and their credit.
The consequence for you:
- Playing an embedded video can cause Google to set cookies on your device.
- Google may collect information about what you watched and link it to your Google account if you're signed in.
- This happens under Google's terms, not ours. We can't switch it off for you.
- We don't receive that viewing data. We only know that you marked a lesson complete on our side.
Where our player supports it, we use YouTube's privacy-enhanced mode, which delays cookie setting until you actually press play. So loading a lesson page isn't the same as watching.
If you'd rather avoid it entirely, you can watch the video directly on YouTube in a private window and then mark the lesson complete on Shattak. Progress tracking still works.
Over time we plan to produce more of our own video, which will reduce this. Right now, using the best existing explanation of a topic lets us put our limited resources into curriculum, mentorship, and assignments instead.
5. WhatsApp and mentorship groups
Our community groups run on WhatsApp, which is an app, not a website. No cookies are involved.
But it's worth knowing that WhatsApp collects its own data about your use of it, including your number and activity, under Meta's policies. Our [Privacy Policy] covers what joining a group exposes, and it's the most important thing on that page. Worth reading.
6. How to change your mind
On Shattak: open [Cookie Settings] in the site footer and adjust your categories. Changes apply immediately.
In your browser: every major browser lets you block or delete cookies. Look under Settings, then Privacy.
- Chrome: Settings, Privacy and security, Third-party cookies
- Safari: Settings, Privacy
- Firefox: Settings, Privacy & Security
- Edge: Settings, Cookies and site permissions
Fair warning: blocking necessary cookies will break login, break access key verification, and probably make you think the site is broken. It isn't. It's just doing what you asked.
Deleting cookies also clears your consent record, so the banner will reappear.
Browser privacy modes stop cookies persisting after you close the window, but they don't prevent cookies during the session.
7. Do Not Track
Most browsers have a Do Not Track setting. There's still no agreed industry standard for what a site should do when it sees one, so most sites ignore it.
We don't honour DNT as a signal, because our cookie settings give you more precise control than a single on-off flag would. Use those instead.
8. Your rights
Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and other applicable law, you can ask to see the data we hold, have it corrected, have it deleted, or withdraw consent for anything optional.
Full detail is in our [Privacy Policy]. To exercise any of it, email [privacy@shattak.com].
9. Changes to this policy
We'll update this page when we add or remove tools. Significant changes reset the consent banner so you get to choose again.
The date at the top tells you when it last moved.
10. Contact
Questions about anything on this page:
Email: [privacy@shattak.com] General support: [support@shattak.com] Address: [REGISTERED ADDRESS]
We use cookies to run the platform and to find out where our courses lose people. Not to follow you around the internet.