You may notice that this site does not display a cookie banner. That is intentional, and it is based on how European privacy law actually applies to this site, not on ignoring it or opting out of it.
Cookie banners are not a general web requirement. They exist to satisfy specific legal obligations in specific circumstances. When those circumstances are not present, adding a banner does not increase compliance or transparency. In some cases it does the opposite by implying risks or choices that do not exist.
Rather than present a consent prompt that would be misleading here, this page explains exactly what is stored, why it is stored, and what control you have over it.
The Legal Context: Consent Is Conditional, Not Automatic
Cookie banners are commonly associated with GDPR, but they originate primarily from a different legal instrument, the ePrivacy Directive. GDPR and ePrivacy overlap, but they regulate different things and operate under different rules.
Understanding whether a banner is required depends on answering two questions.
Is information being stored or accessed on the user’s device Is that storage strictly necessary for a service the user explicitly requested, or does it involve optional processing that requires consent
Only when storage is not strictly necessary does consent, and therefore a banner, become mandatory.
The ePrivacy Directive and Necessary Storage
Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive allows storage or access to information on a user’s device without consent when it is strictly necessary to provide a service explicitly requested by the user.
This exemption is not narrow or exceptional. Regulators routinely cite examples such as:
- Session cookies
- Authentication cookies
- Security cookies
- Preference persistence
- Shopping cart state
A browser game that saves progress locally at the user’s request falls squarely into this category. If you ask the game to remember your progress, the storage required to do so is part of the service itself.
In this case, there is no optional processing to consent to. Either the game saves, or it does not.
GDPR and Personal Data
GDPR applies only when personal data is processed.
Personal data means information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. The storage used on this site contains only gameplay state:
- Numeric counters
- Unlock flags
- Timestamps related to gameplay
It does not include names, accounts, email addresses, IP addresses, device identifiers, fingerprints, or cross site identifiers. It is not combined with other data, shared with third parties, or used to recognize a user across visits or pages.
On its own, this data cannot identify a person, and it is not used to attempt to do so.
Lawful Basis If One Were Required
Even under a conservative interpretation, consent would still not be the appropriate lawful basis.
The relevant basis would be Article 6(1)(b), performance of a contract. In practical terms, the contract is simple. You play the game, and the game remembers its state if you ask it to.
GDPR does not require consent for processing that is necessary to deliver a service the user requested. In fact, regulators consistently warn against using consent when another lawful basis is more appropriate.
Why a Banner Would Be Inaccurate Here
Consent banners exist to let users make choices about optional data use, such as analytics, advertising, profiling, cross site tracking, or other secondary purposes.
None of those occur here.
Displaying a banner would suggest that:
- There is tracking to opt out of
- Data is used beyond core functionality
- A meaningful privacy choice is being presented
That would not be true. The only choice would be whether the game remembers your progress, which is already under your control by using or clearing browser storage.
Several regulators have criticized unnecessary consent prompts precisely because they dilute the meaning of consent and train users to click through notices that do not reflect real risk.
User Control Still Exists
The absence of a banner does not remove control:
- You can inspect the cookie contents directly
- You can delete it at any time
- You can block cookies entirely
- You can play without saving progress
The only consequence of disabling storage is that the game will not remember its state.
What Cookies Were Designed For
Cookies were introduced in 1994 to solve a technical limitation of HTTP. It is stateless. Without cookies, servers cannot remember anything between requests.
Their original purpose was simple and practical:
- Maintain login sessions
- Preserve shopping carts
- Store preferences
- Keep basic application state
These uses are exactly what the HTTP cookie standard describes.
The Standard Definition
RFC 6265, which defines the HTTP cookie mechanism, states that cookies exist to allow servers to store state at the user agent and retrieve it later. Examples given include session identifiers and user preferences.
Cookies are scoped to the domain that sets them and are not inherently cross site. Widespread tracking emerged later through commercial reuse, not because of the protocol itself.
The Cookie Used on This Site
This site uses exactly one cookie.
dead_internet_clicker_save
It stores a compact, encoded JSON representation of the game state. The encoding is purely technical, JSON to URL encoding to Base64, and exists only to fit within browser limits.
The contents include:
- Game progress values
- Unlock states
- Cosmetic selections
- A timestamp related to gameplay
No identifiers, no tracking data, and no information unrelated to the game itself.
Clearing the cookie resets progress. Nothing else happens.
What This Cookie Is Not Used For
This cookie is not used for:
- Analytics
- Advertising
- Profiling
- Cross site tracking
- Sharing data with third parties
It exists solely to make the game function as requested.
Why There Is No Cookie Banner
Whether a site needs a cookie banner is not a matter of preference or ideology. It depends on the specific data processing taking place.
In this case, there is no consent requiring processing to ask about. Adding a banner would not increase user protection or legal compliance. It would simply mischaracterize what the site does.
This page exists to provide the explanation a banner cannot. A clear, accurate description of what is stored, why it is stored, and what control you have over it.
What This Is About
This is not a statement against privacy law or transparency. It is the opposite.
Privacy works best when:
- Consent is asked for only when it is meaningful
- Functional data use is clearly distinguished from surveillance
- Users are informed, not interrupted
- Compliance reflects actual risk, not habit
That is why this site uses one strictly functional cookie, and why it does not display a cookie banner.