Cookie Policy
INTRODUCTION
This Cookie Policy explains how Paragon Digital Consulting, Inc. ("Paragon," "we," "us," or "the Company") uses cookies and similar tracking technologies on our website at www.paragondigitalconsulting.com (the "Site"). It should be read in conjunction with our Privacy Policy, which addresses the broader management of your personal information, and our Legal Notice, which governs your use of the Site generally.
By continuing to use our Site after being presented with our cookie consent banner, you acknowledge this policy. Where applicable law requires explicit consent before non-essential cookies are activated — including under the GDPR and CPRA — no tracking will occur until you have made an active choice. Paragon's cookie consent infrastructure is managed through Consentik, a consent management platform configured within our website hosting environment to present jurisdiction-appropriate consent options based on your detected location.
1. WHAT IS A COOKIE
A cookie is a small text file that a website places on your device — computer, tablet, or smartphone — when you visit. Cookies allow the site to remember information about your visit, such as your preferred settings, login status, or the pages you have viewed. They are widely used to make websites function efficiently, to improve the visitor experience, and to provide reporting information to site operators.
Cookies are not programs and cannot carry viruses or install malware. They cannot access other files on your device, nor can they read information stored by cookies from other websites. Some cookies are set directly by the website you are visiting, known as first-party cookies. Others are set by third-party services operating on that site, known as third-party cookies. Both types are addressed in this policy.
2. WHAT IS A WEB BEACON
A web beacon — also referred to as a tracking pixel, clear GIF, or pixel tag — is a small, typically invisible image embedded in a webpage or email. Unlike cookies, which are stored as files on your device, web beacons are loaded from a remote server each time the relevant content is viewed. This allows the server to record that a specific page was visited, that a particular email was opened, or that a defined action was completed.
Web beacons are typically used in combination with cookies to track user behaviour across a site or to measure the effectiveness of email communications and advertising campaigns. Where their use extends beyond essential site operation, their activation requires your consent in jurisdictions where applicable law demands it. Paragon uses web beacons in connection with advertising measurement tools, including the Meta Pixel described in Section 4.
3. HOW WE CATEGORIZE COOKIES
Paragon uses cookies and web beacons that fall into four standard categories. When you visit our Site, our consent management platform presents you with the ability to accept or decline each category individually, with the exception of essential cookies, which are required for the Site to function and are not subject to consent controls.
3.1 Essential Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary for the Site to operate and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are typically set in response to actions you take, such as configuring your privacy preferences, logging into our client or candidate portal, completing a contact form, or navigating between secure areas of the Site. Without these cookies, the services and functions you have requested cannot be delivered. Because they are technically necessary for the operation of the Site, essential cookies do not require your consent and will be active at all times.
3.2 Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the Site to remember choices you make and provide enhanced, more personalized features. Examples include remembering your language preference, your region, or display settings you have selected. They may be set by Paragon directly or by third-party providers whose services we have incorporated into the Site. If you choose not to allow functional cookies, some features of the Site may not operate as intended, but your ability to browse the Site will not be affected.
3.3 Analytics Cookies
These cookies allow us to understand how visitors interact with our Site — which pages are visited most frequently, how long visitors stay, where they navigate from, and where they exit. This information is collected and analyzed in aggregate form and is used solely to improve the performance, structure, and content of the Site. Where technically possible, analytics data is anonymized prior to processing. Analytics cookies are non-essential and require your consent before they are activated.
3.4 Marketing and Advertising Cookies
These cookies are set through our Site by third-party measurement tools, including Meta Platforms, Inc., to help us understand how visitors find and interact with our Site and whether visits originate from external sources or channels. They work by uniquely identifying your browser and device. These cookies require your explicit consent before activation and will remain fully blocked until that consent is provided.
4. THIRD-PARTY TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES
4.1 Meta Pixel
Our Site uses the Meta Pixel, a tracking and measurement tool provided by Meta Platforms, Inc. The Meta Pixel, once activated with your explicit consent, enables Paragon to understand how visitors find and interact with our Site, including whether visits originate from external sources or channels. It does not serve advertising to visitors of our Site. Information collected through the Meta Pixel may include pages visited, content viewed, and interactions completed, and this data is transmitted to Meta's servers located in the United States.
The Meta Pixel is classified under Section 3.4 of this policy and will not be activated, and no data will be transmitted to Meta, until you provide explicit consent through our cookie consent banner. If you decline non-essential cookies or do not interact with the consent banner, the Meta Pixel will remain fully blocked for the duration of your visit.
Because the Meta Pixel transmits data to servers located in the United States, this constitutes a cross-border data transfer for visitors located in the European Union and other jurisdictions with applicable data transfer restrictions. Where such restrictions apply, Paragon relies on Meta's certification under applicable data transfer frameworks, including Standard Contractual Clauses, as the legal mechanism for this transfer where required. For full information on how Meta processes data received through the Pixel, including your rights in relation to that data, please refer to Meta's Privacy Policy available at www.facebook.com/privacy/policy.
4.2 Hosting Environment Cookies
Our Site is hosted within a managed hosting environment that sets certain cookies necessary for the operation of the platform, site security, performance monitoring, and core functionality. These cookies are primarily essential in nature and are set by our hosting platform as part of its standard operating environment. For information on platform-level cookies, please contact us at privacy@paragondigitalconsulting.com.
4.3 Analytics Platforms
Paragon uses web analytics tools to understand Site performance and visitor behaviour in aggregate. These tools may set first-party or third-party analytics cookies on your device upon your consent. The information collected is used exclusively for internal reporting and Site improvement purposes. No personally identifiable information is shared with analytics providers beyond what is necessary for aggregate reporting, and data minimization principles are applied to all analytics processing.
5. JURISDICTION-SPECIFIC CONSENT & GEO-BASED CONTROLS
Paragon applies jurisdiction-appropriate consent requirements based on the geographic location detected at the time of your visit. Visitors identified as being located in the European Union are presented with an explicit opt-in consent mechanism consistent with GDPR requirements, under which no non-essential cookies are activated prior to a clear affirmative action. Visitors identified as being located in California are provided with opt-out mechanisms consistent with CPRA requirements, including a clearly accessible "Do Not Sell or Share My Data" option available in the cookie settings panel and in the footer of every page of the Site. Visitors from other jurisdictions are presented with consent options appropriate to the applicable local law.
Paragon takes reasonable and good faith technical steps to apply these jurisdiction-specific controls based on the IP address detected at the time of your visit. Where a visitor's location cannot be accurately determined — including where location-masking technologies such as virtual private networks (VPNs) or proxy services are in use — Paragon cannot be held responsible for the inapplicability of region-specific consent controls that have otherwise been implemented in good faith. Visitors who deliberately obscure their geographic location assume responsibility for any resulting inconsistency between the consent mechanism presented and the requirements of their local jurisdiction.
6. MANAGING YOUR COOKIE PREFERENCES
When you first visit our Site, a cookie consent banner will be displayed providing you with clear and equally accessible options to accept all cookies, decline all non-essential cookies, or manage your preferences by individual category. Your selection is recorded by our consent management platform and respected for the duration of your session and, where technically possible, across future visits from the same device and browser.
You may review or change your cookie preferences at any time by accessing the cookie settings panel available in the footer of every page of our Site. Withdrawing consent is as straightforward as providing it, and your updated preferences will be applied immediately upon confirmation. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing that occurred prior to withdrawal.
In addition to managing preferences through our Site, you may control cookies at the browser level. Most modern browsers allow you to refuse all cookies, delete existing cookies, or be notified before a new cookie is placed on your device. Please note that restricting cookies at the browser level may affect the functionality of our Site and other websites you visit. Guidance on managing cookies in commonly used browsers is available at www.allaboutcookies.org.
For California residents, the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, including through advertising and marketing cookies, may be exercised through our cookie consent banner, through the "Do Not Sell or Share My Data" link in the Site footer, or by contacting our Privacy Officer directly at privacy@paragondigitalconsulting.com.
7. RETENCTION OF COOKIE DATA
The duration for which cookie data is retained varies by category and purpose. Essential cookies are generally session-based and expire automatically when you close your browser, unless a longer duration is technically required for their function. Functional cookies are typically retained for between 30 days and 12 months. Analytics cookies are retained for a period of up to 24 months, after which data is either deleted or fully anonymized. Marketing cookies, including those associated with the Meta Pixel, are subject to Meta's own data retention practices in addition to any browser-level expiry, the details of which are available in Meta's Privacy Policy.
Consent records — including the timestamp, scope, and version of consent given or declined — are retained by our consent management platform for a minimum of 12 months to support compliance and regulatory audit requirements. These records are maintained separately from your personal information and are used solely for the purpose of demonstrating consent compliance.
8. DO NOT TRACK SIGNALS
Some browsers offer a "Do Not Track" (DNT) setting that sends a signal to websites requesting that your browsing activity not be tracked. There is currently no universally adopted legal standard governing how websites must respond to DNT signals. Paragon's Site does not alter its data collection practices in response to DNT signals at this time. However, your ability to manage tracking preferences directly through our cookie consent banner provides an equivalent and more granular level of control.
9. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
Paragon reserves the right to update this Cookie Policy at any time to reflect changes in applicable law, regulatory guidance, or our use of tracking technologies. The date of the most recent revision is noted at the top of this document. Where we introduce a new category of cookie, a new third-party tracking tool, or a material change to how existing cookies are used, we will update this policy accordingly and, where required by applicable law, present you with a refreshed consent request at your next visit.
We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of the Site following any update constitutes acknowledgment of the revised policy, subject to any consent requirements that apply in your jurisdiction.
10. CONTACT US
If you have any questions about this Cookie Policy, wish to exercise any rights in relation to cookies or tracking data, or have concerns about how Paragon uses tracking technologies, please contact our Privacy Officer:
Privacy Officer Paragon Digital Consulting, Inc. Email: privacy@paragondigitalconsulting.com
For matters specifically relating to data processed by Meta through the Meta Pixel, you may also contact Meta Platforms, Inc. directly or refer to Meta's Privacy Policy at www.facebook.com/privacy/policy.
This Cookie Policy was last reviewed and updated in May 2026 and supersedes all prior versions. It will be reviewed no less than annually thereafter.
Last Reviewed: 03 May 2026