Cookie and Privacy Technologies Policy
Effective date: October 27, 2026
This Policy explains the cookies, local storage, and comparable technologies used by 4Internet, LLC on 4search.com and the 4Search network. Google-hosted search results are part of the essential search service when configured. AI-assisted answers are optional and disabled by default unless you authorize them. Saved preferences, which keep the stocks you follow and your chart settings on Finance pages, and the members of Congress, committees, bills, races and prediction markets you follow on Politics pages, and your home place, units and the places you follow on Weather pages, and the prediction markets you follow and your odds format on Predictions pages, and the places you save, your recent searches and your distance units on Maps pages, and the topics you follow, are also optional and disabled by default.
1. Technologies currently used
| Technology | Purpose | Duration | Required? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy-choice local storage | Records whether the optional AI-assisted answers and Saved preferences categories are enabled, along with the always-active Necessary and Google search categories. | Until changed or browser storage is cleared. | Necessary to remember your direction. |
| Saved-preferences local storage | If you enable the optional Saved preferences category, keeps the stocks you follow (your watchlist) and your chart settings on Finance pages, and the members of Congress, committees, bills, races and prediction markets you follow on Politics pages in this browser for your next visit. They are not tied to an account and are not stored on our servers. To display prices, the page sends the symbols on your watchlist with its price requests, and to show what you follow on Politics it sends that list with the requests that display it; these requests are part of the operational request records described in the Privacy Policy. | Until you remove them, turn off Saved preferences (which deletes them), or clear cookies or browser storage. | Optional; disabled by default. Following a stock, or anything on Politics, asks for it. |
| Weather home place, units and followed places | If you enable the optional Saved preferences category: the place you choose with "Set as home" on a Weather page (its ZIP code or place number, in a cookie named wx_home, which is sent with your requests so the Weather overview can show its forecast), your choice of °F or °C (a cookie named wx_units), and the places you follow (kept in this browser's local storage). None of them is tied to an account or stored on our servers. To show the places you follow, the page sends that list with the requests that display them; these requests are part of the operational request records described in the Privacy Policy. Without Saved preferences a units choice is kept only until you close the browser. | The cookies up to one year; followed places until you remove them. Turning off Saved preferences deletes the home place and the followed places; clearing cookies or browser storage deletes all of them. | Optional; disabled by default. "Set as home" and Follow ask for it. |
| Predictions followed markets and odds format | If you enable the optional Saved preferences category: the prediction markets you follow on Predictions pages (each market's identifier, and its chance and the time when you followed it, so the page can show how it has moved since) and your choice of odds format (percent, American or decimal), kept in this browser's local storage. They are not tied to an account and are not stored on our servers. To show the markets you follow, the page sends that list with the requests that display them; these requests are part of the operational request records described in the Privacy Policy. Without Saved preferences an odds format applies only to the page you are on. | Until you remove them, turn off Saved preferences (which deletes them), or clear cookies or browser storage. | Optional; disabled by default. Following a market asks for it. |
| Maps saved places, recent searches and units | If you enable the optional Saved preferences category: the places you save with Save on a Maps page (each place's name, position and page address, and any lists you sort them into), your last dozen searches in the Maps search box, and your choice of miles or kilometers, kept in this browser's local storage. None of them is tied to an account, stored on our servers or sent with your requests. Without Saved preferences, a units choice lasts only until the tab is closed (session storage), and nothing else is kept. | Until you remove them, turn off Saved preferences (which deletes them), or clear browser storage. | Optional; disabled by default. Save asks for it. |
| Followed topics | If you enable the optional Saved preferences category: the topics you follow with the star on a topic page or a topic card (each topic's address on this site, its name, the name of the topic above it, and when you followed it), kept in this browser's local storage so the Topics page, the home page and search results can offer them. They are not tied to an account and are not stored on our servers. The list is not sent with your requests: to show their latest stories first, the home page asks for each topic you follow (up to eight) with a request of its own, and opening or searching a topic you follow is an ordinary page request. | Until you remove them, turn off Saved preferences (which deletes them), or clear browser storage. | Optional; disabled by default. Following a topic asks for it. |
| PHP session cookie | Protects forms against cross-site request forgery, preserves CAPTCHA state, and records a bounded search allowance after a bot-classified visitor completes the human press-and-hold check. It is issued only when a protected form or that human check is used. | Browser session, subject to server session expiration. The human allowance also expires at the configured server deadline. | Necessary for protected forms and abuse prevention. |
| Automation-detection page script | Sends the site one report per page view with the display and interaction signals described in Section 2, so automated clients can be told apart from people. | One report per page view; nothing is stored in the browser. | Necessary for security and abuse prevention. |
| Browser-check cookie (fs_bc) | Set by a short page script the first time you open a comparison of your own symbols on a Finance page, to show that the request comes from a browser and not from an automated client. It holds only an expiry time and a code that is valid from the network you are connecting through. It does not contain your IP address and is not recorded with your requests or used to recognize you. | 30 days, or until you clear cookies. A new one is set when you open a comparison from a different network. | Necessary for security and abuse prevention. Without it, comparisons of your own symbols do not open. |
| Google search technologies | Google-hosted search results and related technical processing. | Governed by Google when a search is requested. | Essential search service when configured. |
| AI-assisted processing | Transmits the query and selected context to the configured AI provider. | Application caching is disabled by default; provider handling is described in the AI notice and provider terms. | Optional; disabled by default. |
2. Automation detection without browser fingerprinting
To tell people apart from crawlers and other automated clients, the page script sends the site one small report per page view: the browser's screen and window dimensions, pixel ratio, pointer type and touch-point count, the standard WebDriver automation flag and the browser's declared brand and mobile hints, whether the reported platform contradicts the user agent, the kind of first input (mouse, touch, pen, wheel, or keyboard), a count of pointer movements and the depth of scrolling, the category of the referring page (search engine, social network, this site, other, or none, never its address), the navigation type (new, reload, or back), how long the page had been open, and the page URL. The report is recorded with the request's IP address, user agent, and country code, whether standard request headers were present, the network operator of the address and whether it is a hosting provider, and the recent request rate from the address, as part of the first-party operational request records described in the Privacy Policy, and the application derives from them a human-likelihood score kept with the record. This is a strictly necessary security measure: it stores nothing in your browser, records no pointer positions, is not combined into a persistent identifier, and is not used for advertising or profiling. When you follow a link to another website, the same script adds to the click the page view’s random report code, what followed the link (mouse, touch, pen, keyboard, middle button, or the link menu), how long the page had been open and whether the browser marked it as a real input, so the click can be told apart from an automated one, as the Privacy Policy describes under “Link clicks”. Nothing is stored in your browser for this either.
The current application does not generate canvas or WebGL fingerprints, request STUN-based public-IP discovery, collect ICE candidates, read plugin, font, hardware, storage, network, timezone, or language inventories, or combine device characteristics to create a persistent browser identifier.
If an ordinary request is classified as automated, the site may offer a server-timed press-and-hold check before Google-hosted or AI results are served. A successful check stores only the remaining allowance, an expiration time, and a one-way user-agent digest in the server session. The default allowance is 100 top-level searches and is configurable by the operator.
3. Managing choices
You may use Allow All, reject all non-essential categories, or select AI-assisted answers and Saved preferences individually. Rejecting non-essential categories does not disable Google-hosted search results. Withdrawal operates prospectively. If an optional third-party script has already loaded, changing the choice may reload the page to prevent further use.
You may also clear cookies and local storage through browser settings. Doing so removes the saved choice and causes the banner to be presented again. Clearing them also deletes any watchlist, chart settings and Politics follows, and your Weather home place and followed places, and the prediction markets you follow, and the places you save on Maps, and the topics you follow, kept under Saved preferences.
4. Global Privacy Control
When the browser sends an enabled Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as an opt-out of sale, sharing, targeted advertising, and other optional processing to the extent required by law. It does not disable essential Google-hosted search results.
5. Third-party terms
Google receives the query and technical connection data needed to return Google-hosted results under its privacy disclosures. An authorized AI or advertising provider may use its own cookies or technologies under its privacy notice. On Maps pages, the map, satellite and aerial images, elevation data, street-level photos and Wikipedia pictures load directly from their providers (listed on the Maps page “About these maps”), which receive your IP address and browser information and may use their own cookies or similar technologies under their own policies. Refusing an optional category does not prevent first-party 4Search results or essential Google-hosted search results.
6. Contact
Questions or requests may be submitted through our Privacy Request Form.