Effective Date: July 13, 2026

At Tampa Bay Disaster Preparedness News, we believe transparency builds trust. This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are, why we use them and the choices you have when visiting our website.

By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies as described in this policy, subject to any preferences you choose through our cookie settings where available.

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files stored on your computer, phone, or tablet when you visit a website. They help websites remember your preferences, improve performance, maintain security and better understand how visitors use a site.

Cookies cannot access files on your device or collect information beyond what your browser provides.

Why We Use Cookies

We use cookies to make our website more reliable, secure, and useful.

Depending on how you use our site, cookies may help us:

  • Keep the website operating properly.
  • Remember your preferences and settings.
  • Maintain secure member login sessions (if applicable).
  • Understand how visitors use our website.
  • Improve website performance and user experience.
  • Measure readership and content engagement.
  • Detect spam, abuse, and security threats.

We do not use cookies to sell your personal information.

Types of Cookies We May Use

Essential Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function properly. Without them, certain features may not work as intended.

Examples include:

  • Security
  • Login authentication
  • Session management
  • Website functionality

These cookies cannot generally be disabled through our website because they are required for basic operation.

Analytics Cookies

Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website.

They may collect information such as:

  • Pages viewed
  • Time spent on the site
  • Navigation patterns
  • Device type
  • Browser type
  • General geographic region (such as city or state)
  • Referring websites

This information is typically aggregated and used to improve content and the overall visitor experience.

Functional Cookies

Functional cookies remember choices you make, such as preferences that personalize your experience during future visits.

These cookies help create a smoother browsing experience.

Performance Cookies

Performance cookies help us identify technical issues, improve page speed and optimize website reliability across different browsers and devices.

Ghost Platform Cookies

Our website is powered by Ghost, a professional publishing platform.

Ghost may use cookies necessary for:

  • Secure authentication
  • Member accounts
  • Newsletter subscriptions
  • Session management
  • Website functionality
  • Administrative features

These cookies are essential to providing a secure publishing experience.

Third-Party Services

We may use carefully selected third-party services to operate and improve our website.

Depending on the features available on our site, these providers may place cookies to support services such as:

  • Website analytics
  • Email newsletters
  • Embedded videos
  • Social media sharing
  • Spam prevention
  • Website security

Each third party operates under its own privacy practices.

Managing Cookies

Most web browsers allow you to:

  • View stored cookies
  • Delete cookies
  • Block cookies
  • Restrict cookies
  • Receive notifications before cookies are stored

Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality, including member features or saved preferences.

Do Not Track

Some browsers offer a "Do Not Track" setting.

Because there is no universally accepted standard for responding to these signals, our website may not respond to all Do Not Track requests. We continue to monitor industry standards and may update our practices as they evolve.

Changes to This Policy

Technology and privacy practices evolve over time.

We may update this Cookie Policy periodically to reflect changes to our website, the Ghost platform, legal requirements or the services we use.

The updated version will always display the latest Effective Date.

Questions?

If you have questions about this Cookie Policy or our privacy practices, we'd be happy to help.

Email: editor@tampabaydisasterprepnews.com

Thank you for trusting Tampa Bay Disaster Preparedness News