> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tryprofound.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Consent and privacy
> How Profound Pixel handles consent, which cookies it writes, and what data it collects
This page is a factual description of the pixel's behavior. It is not legal advice, and it makes no recommendation about what your policies, notices, or agreements should say. Those are decisions for your own counsel.
## Consent handling
The way Profound Pixel handles consent depends on whether your website uses a consent management platform (CMP). On sites with a CMP, the pixel reads the consent signal the CMP emits. On sites without one, it follows the consent posture set in your snippet.
Either way, the pixel doesn't ask your visitors for consent and adds no cookie banner of its own to your site.
### The consent signal
Whatever its source, the consent signal the pixel reads consists of the following three permissions:
| Permission | Controls | When denied |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Storage | Reading and writing Profound's cookies, the only browser storage the pixel uses | No cookies are read or written; the pixel works from memory only |
| Send | Whether events may leave the browser | Events wait in memory (up to 100; the oldest are dropped past that); nothing is sent |
| Ad-platform sharing | Any future forwarding of conversions to an ad platform | Nothing is shared. No forwarding exists today |
These permissions are independent, and none of them implies another. For example, consent to cookie storage alone never allows ad-platform sharing or sending out events.
### Sites with CMP
If your site uses a CMP, it handles consent for you: it emits the consent signal that Profound Pixel detects and follows. The recognized standards and vendors include:
| Standard or vendor | Detected via | Notes |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| IAB TCF v2.2 (OneTrust, Cookiebot, Sourcepoint, Didomi, and others) | `__tcfapi` | - |
| Google Consent Mode v2 | `ad_storage`, `analytics_storage`, `ad_user_data`, `ad_personalization` | - |
| OneTrust, Cookiebot, Osano, TrustArc, vanilla-cookieconsent | Built-in support for each vendor's consent categories | - |
| US Privacy / GPP | `__uspapi`, `__gpp` | - |
| Global Privacy Control, Do Not Track | Browser signals | Both always turn off ad-platform sharing and, under the opt-out posture, also stop events from being sent. Neither affects storage: cookies are still written |
#### If your CMP isn't detected
If your CMP isn't recognized, or if you built your own consent banner, you'll need to map your consent categories to the [permissions](#the-consent-signal) Profound Pixel can read.
Call `pfq('consent', …)` from your CMP's change handler, and pass it the permissions map:
```javascript theme={null}
pfq('consent', { storage: true, send: true, share_ads: false });
```
Permissions you leave out keep their default values: denied in the EU/UK, or defined in your [consent posture](#sites-without-cmp) in other regions.
### Sites without CMP
#### Consent posture
If your site doesn't use a CMP, you have to explicitly set your consent posture when you initialize your Profound Pixel. The options are:
* **Opt-in (default)**: all three consent permissions start denied until a consent signal grants them. This is the best setting for EU/UK traffic.
* **Opt-out**: the permissions start granted until a signal denies them, with Global Privacy Control honored. This is the usual setting for US-based traffic. Set it with `pfq("init", "", { posture: "opt-out" })`. Learn more in the [pixel installation guide](/pixel/install).
#### Timezone check
When reading the consent signal, the pixel also checks the browser's timezone. A visitor who appears to be in a European timezone is treated as opt-in even under the opt-out posture. Profound applies this check to comply with European data protection regulations.
The check covers more than the EU region: any `Europe/*` timezone counts, including cities outside the EU, such as Istanbul, Belgrade, and Kyiv, plus several Atlantic islands.
If your pixel is scoped to a single non-EU region, or your local data protection regulations otherwise allow the opt-out posture, you can disable the timezone check by adding `detectRegion: false` to the `pfq('init', ...)` call in your install snippet:
```javascript theme={null}
pfq("init", "", { detectRegion: false });
```
Always review your local data protection laws before disabling the timezone check.
### Consent withdrawal
When a visitor withdraws consent, the changes take effect immediately: the pixel deletes its cookies and clears its memory. The visitor also gets a new random visitor ID, so granting consent again later can't restore the old ID.
## Cookies
Profound Pixel writes the following cookies into the site visitor's browser storage:
| Name | Purpose | Lifetime (set by Profound) |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| `_pf_id` | Random visitor ID, first and last acquisition source, and ad attribution data | 365 days |
| `_pf_clk` | Ad and click identifiers | 90 days |
Some browsers cap the lifetime of script-written cookies below the set lifetime values. For example, Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention shortens both to roughly 7 days.
Both cookies are first-party and marked `SameSite=Lax` and `Secure`. Only the pixel script in the browser writes them, and only after your consent signal allows storage. Profound's servers set no cookies at all.
## Data collection
Profound Pixel collects the following data:
| Category | Examples | Notes |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Visitor ID | A random browser-generated ID | Generated by Profound Pixel, not derived from any personal attribute |
| Ad and click IDs | Ad and campaign identifiers from the landing URL | - |
| Acquisition source | The channel or hostname the visitor came from | This does not include the full referrer URL |
| Page context | Page URL, referrer, title | Any personal data is redacted on Profound's servers |
| Query string | The page URL's query parameters, such as `?ref=newsletter` | Derived on Profound's servers, with sensitive keys dropped |
| Your user IDs | `external_user_id` and `external_account_id` | Collected if you send them in [`identify` call](/pixel/events#tie-events-to-your-own-user-ids) |
| Network | IP address | Never stored for visitors in the EU/EEA, the UK, or Switzerland |
| Country | A two-letter country code (such as US, GB, FR) | No city or precise location is collected |
| Device | The browser's raw User-Agent string, taken from the request header | - |
| Event properties | Whatever you send in event properties | - |
| Consent record | The permission flags and the signal they came from | - |
**Notes**:
* Whether the IP address is discarded or stored depends on the country Profound's servers detect for the request. The detection is reliable in practice, but it isn't guaranteed for any individual request. If the detection fails, the country is recorded as empty, and the IP address is stored.
* Collected data is processed in the United States.
* Conversion data is not forwarded to OpenAI, Google, or any other ad platform today. If that ever changes, Profound will inform you before it is switched on.
## Optional: forwarding conversions to OpenAI
This capability is still in development and subject to change.
When you run ads with OpenAI, OpenAI normally learns about your conversions through [its own pixel](https://developers.openai.com/ads/measurement-pixel) or its [Conversions API](https://developers.openai.com/ads/conversions-api). Profound can handle this for you: because Profound Pixel uses the same event names as OpenAI, Profound can pass your conversions on to OpenAI's Conversions API from its own servers, matched to the ad through OpenAI's click ID.
For you, this would mean:
* OpenAI receives the conversions it needs to credit your ads and adjust bidding.
* Profound Pixel stays the only tag on your site: you don't install OpenAI's pixel, and you keep the full first-party record with Profound.
* Visitors stay in control: the forwarding is governed by the [Ad-platform sharing permission](#the-consent-signal), which stays denied until consent allows it.
If this is an option you would like to explore, speak to your Profound team.
## Legal documents
Your Profound contact can supply the standard data-processing agreement and answer questions from your privacy team before Profound Pixel goes live on your site. Profound also provides a separate legal onboarding document covering what to update in your privacy policy and cookie policy.