Cookie Usage Policy | OOC Advocates

1. Introduction

This Cookie Policy functions as a specific technical annex to the overarching OOC Advocates Privacy Policy. It explicitly details the automated deployment, utilisation, and management of tracking technologies within The Firm's digital domain. In compliance with the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019, the accompanying regulatory frameworks enforced by the ODPC, and recognising international best practices (including guidance from the European Union ePrivacy Directive and GDPR), this document ensures full transparency regarding the management of digital footprints during a Website Visitor's active session.

2. What are Cookies?

A 'cookie' is a small, encrypted text file that a host web server transmits to a Website Visitor's browser (such as Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox). The browser stores this file in the user's device's local storage (desktop, mobile, or tablet). For purposes of this Policy, 'cookies' encompasses all similar tracking technologies, including web beacons, tracking pixels, local HTML5 storage objects, and browser fingerprinting technologies. These mechanisms operate in the background, permitting the host web server to recognise returning browsers, maintain active session states, facilitate load balancing, and render localised visual preferences.

3. Crucial Infrastructural Realities

The OOC Website is not hosted on proprietary, internally managed servers; it is entirely constructed, hosted, and maintained by WebWave (legally incorporated as WebWave Sp. z o.o., based in Poland). Consequently, Website Visitors must be aware of the following unalterable technical constraints:

Platform-Level Autonomous Deployment: The WebWave architecture inherently deploys a standardised suite of essential, functional cookies required to maintain the website's structural integrity, backend security, and rapid loading speed across global content delivery networks.
Absence of Backend Override Capabilities: Because OOC Advocates operates strictly as a digital tenant on the WebWave platform, The Firm does not possess direct administrative or root-level access to the underlying server code. It is therefore a technical impossibility for The Firm to physically intercept, disable, and selectively filter the baseline infrastructural cookies injected by the WebWave servers.
Third-Party Jurisdictional Independence: WebWave acts as a legally independent entity regarding the deployment and monitoring of these baseline cookies. The utilisation of technical telemetry harvested by foundational cookies is governed by the WebWave Privacy Policy (https://webwave.me/privacy-policy) and their internal Data Processing Agreements.

4. Categories of Cookies Deployed

Based on an analysis of the WebWave architecture and standard digital deployment practices, the cookies deployed upon accessing this domain are classified as follows:

Strictly Necessary (Essential) Cookies: These are structurally non-negotiable and technically imperative. They are required for fundamental routing of data packets, user authentication (for accessing administrative portals), server load balancing, and preventing malicious cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks. Because these cookies are absolutely mandatory for the website to render on screen, they cannot be disabled through any on-site consent banner or toggle.
Performance and Analytical Cookies: The WebWave platform integrates baseline analytics to measure site traffic, page load durations, and user bounce rates. These cookies aggregate anonymised, statistical data to assist the hosting provider in optimising server performance. This category may include third-party tracking tools, such as Google Analytics, which are integrated natively into the WebWave platform architecture.
Functionality Cookies: These files exist to optimise the user interface by remembering localised regional settings, language selections, or font-size adjustments previously chosen by the Website Visitor, reducing the need to repeatedly re-enter preferences.

5. Cookie Provenance

First-Party Cookies: Generated, deployed and read exclusively by the primary domain (the OOC Advocates website), visible in the user's browser address bar.
Third-Party Cookies: Deployed by domains other than the primary site being visited. On this website, third-party cookies are primarily injected by the hosting provider (WebWave) and their affiliated sub-processors, such as integrated analytic platforms, external font libraries, or security firewall providers.

6. Cookie Lifespan

Session Cookies: Transient, temporary files that exist purely within the device's volatile memory (RAM). They facilitate the immediate browsing session and are automatically purged the moment the Website Visitor terminates the browser application or ends the active session.
Persistent Cookies: Programmed with specific expiration timestamps. They remain on the user's device after the browser is closed and are reactivated when the user navigates to the OOC Advocates domain. They persist until their chronological expiration date (which can range from days to years) or until the user manually deletes them via browser settings.

7. Consent Mechanisms and Browser-Level Management

In adherence to the Kenya ODPC guidelines and international data protection standards, the processing of personal data via optional, non-essential cookies requires explicit, informed consent. However, due to the WebWave backend constraints detailed in Section 3 of this Policy, an on-site pop-up banner cannot technically prevent the server-side injection of WebWave's root cookies.

To manage, restrict, or revoke cookie consent, you must perform direct, manual interventions at the browser level. Website Visitors retain full autonomy to configure their web browsers to intercept, block, or delete all cookies.

Browser-Level Management Instructions:

Google Chrome: Navigate to Settings > Privacy and security > Third-party cookies to block tracking.
Apple Safari: Navigate to Preferences/Settings > Privacy and enable Prevent cross-site tracking or Block all cookies.
Mozilla Firefox: Navigate to Settings > Privacy & Security and select Strict Tracking Protection.

Important Warning: Aggressively blocking Strictly Necessary cookies at the browser level will almost certainly result in severely degraded website functionality, visual rendering errors, or complete site failure.

8. Policy Modifications and ODPC Compliance

OOC Advocates reserves the right to amend, update, or rewrite this Cookie Policy at any time to accurately reflect alterations in WebWave's server architecture, new ODPC guidance notes, or shifts in Kenyan jurisprudence. All updates are legally effective upon their immediate publication to this domain.

For technical inquiries concerning this Cookie Policy, the Kenya DPA, and the WebWave infrastructure, Website Visitors are instructed to direct correspondence to the Data Protection Officer at: dpo@ooc-advocates.com.