HIVEMIND YT Cookies and Similar Technologies Policy

1. Introduction and Scope

This Cookies and Similar Technologies Policy (the Cookies Policy) explains how HIVEMIND YT LLC, a California limited liability company (HIVEMIND YT LLC, we, us, or our), uses cookies and similar technologies on the HIVEMIND YT website and application located at hivemind.yt and on the related subdomains, dashboards, and services we operate (collectively, the Service). HIVEMIND YT is a YouTube creator-growth platform currently offered in a private beta accessible only through an invite access code.

This Cookies Policy describes what these technologies are, the categories we use, the purposes each category serves, the first-party analytics beacons we operate, how consent is obtained and managed (including our use of a consent banner and Google Consent Mode v2), how you can manage or withdraw your consent, the role of third-party cookies, how we communicate changes to this Cookies Policy, and how to contact us.

This Cookies Policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy, which describes more broadly how we collect, use, store, disclose, and protect personal information, and our Terms of Service. Capitalized terms not defined here have the meanings given in those documents. Where this Cookies Policy and the Privacy Policy address the same subject, the Privacy Policy governs the underlying handling of personal information and this Cookies Policy governs the specific technologies used to collect it.

By using the Service, and where required by applicable law by providing your consent through our consent banner, you agree to the use of cookies and similar technologies as described in this Cookies Policy. Where applicable law requires consent for non-essential technologies, those technologies are not used until you provide that consent, as described in Sections 5 and 6.

2. What Cookies and Similar Technologies Are

Cookies are small text files that a website or application places on your browser or device when you visit. They are widely used to make websites and applications work, to make them work more efficiently, to remember your preferences and settings, and to provide reporting information to the operator of the site. Cookies set by the site or application you are visiting are called first-party cookies. Cookies set by a domain other than the one you are visiting are called third-party cookies.

Cookies can be session cookies, which are temporary and are deleted when you close your browser or end your session, or persistent cookies, which remain on your device for a defined period or until you delete them. A cookie typically stores a name, a value, an expiration date, and information about the domain that set it.

Similar technologies perform comparable functions to cookies but use different mechanisms. These include: (a) browser web storage, namely localStorage and sessionStorage, which allow a site to store information in your browser either persistently (localStorage) or only for the duration of a tab session (sessionStorage); (b) IndexedDB, a structured in-browser database used by certain components such as authentication libraries; (c) software development kits and client libraries that read from or write to browser storage; and (d) analytics beacons, which are lightweight network requests a page sends to a server to record an event such as a page view. Throughout this Cookies Policy, references to cookies include these similar technologies unless the context indicates otherwise.

Importantly, the HIVEMIND YT Service relies primarily on browser web storage (localStorage and sessionStorage), IndexedDB, and analytics beacons rather than on traditional cookies for most of its functions. Where this Cookies Policy refers to a category, the disclosures apply to whichever of these technologies we actually use for that purpose, as identified in the category descriptions below.

3. Categories of Cookies and Similar Technologies We Use

We organize the technologies we use into four categories: strictly necessary, functional, analytics, and marketing. The categories below describe the purpose of each category and the specific technologies we currently use. Because HIVEMIND YT is in private beta and its features are non-final and subject to change, the specific items within each category may change over time; we will update this Cookies Policy to reflect material changes.

STRICTLY NECESSARY. These technologies are essential to operate the Service, to authenticate you, to keep your session secure, and to deliver functionality you have requested. They cannot be switched off through our consent tools without breaking core functionality, and under applicable law they do not require your prior consent. They include: (a) authentication state stored by our authentication provider (Google Firebase Authentication), which uses browser local persistence in localStorage and IndexedDB to keep you signed in across page refreshes and to manage your session token; the keys used for this purpose carry Firebase-defined names associated with the Firebase Authentication SDK; (b) integrity and abuse-prevention technology provided through reCAPTCHA Enterprise by way of Firebase App Check, which helps verify that requests to our backend originate from a genuine instance of the app and helps protect the Service against automated abuse; and (c) short-lived storage used to route requests and maintain application state required for pages you have requested to load. Disabling these technologies will prevent you from signing in to or using the Service.

FUNCTIONAL. These technologies remember your choices and preferences to provide enhanced, more personal features. They are not strictly necessary, but they improve your experience. They include browser localStorage and sessionStorage entries that store: (a) your interface and product preferences, such as a selected theme; (b) for users who choose to supply their own AI or YouTube API keys (a feature we call Bring Your Own Keys, or BYOK), a non-secret index of which providers you have configured and a masked display value (for example, the last four characters), and, depending on the persistence mode you select, the keys themselves stored either only for the current tab session (sessionStorage, wiped when the tab closes) or encrypted at rest on your device (localStorage); your BYOK keys are your responsibility, are handled as described in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, and are never transmitted except as an encrypted envelope over HTTPS to our backend; and (c) the persistence-mode setting that records your chosen BYOK storage option. Disabling functional technologies may cause the Service to forget your preferences and may require you to re-enter information.

ANALYTICS. These technologies help us understand how visitors and users interact with the Service so that we can measure and improve performance and usability. Our analytics are first-party and privacy-protective by design. They use sessionStorage rather than cookies to generate an ephemeral, per-session visitor identifier and a session start timestamp; these values live only in your browser tab and are cleared when you close the tab. The Service then sends lightweight analytics beacons to our own backend recording aggregate signals such as page path, whether the visit is a new session, approximate session length, and a periodic presence heartbeat. Our analytics backend does not log your IP address and aggregates data into counters; coarse location and browser or device type are derived only at an aggregate level. The analytics beacons are described in more detail in Section 4. Where required by applicable law, analytics technologies that are not strictly necessary are activated only after you consent through our consent banner.

MARKETING. Marketing technologies are used to deliver advertising, to build advertising profiles, to measure advertising campaigns, or to enable cross-context behavioral advertising. As of the date of this Cookies Policy, the HIVEMIND YT Service does not set marketing or advertising cookies, does not use advertising pixels or tags, does not engage in cross-context behavioral advertising, and does not use Google user data or other data obtained through the Service to serve interest-based, personalized, or retargeted advertising. If we introduce any marketing technology in the future, it will be treated as non-essential, it will be set to denied by default until you provide consent through our consent banner where consent is required, and we will update this Cookies Policy and, where applicable, provide the opt-out and choice mechanisms described in Sections 5, 6, and 7 before any such technology becomes active.

4. Our First-Party Analytics Beacons

We operate our own first-party analytics rather than relying on third-party advertising-grade analytics products. This section describes how those analytics beacons work so that you can understand exactly what is collected.

When you load a page of the Service, a client component generates, if one does not already exist for the current tab session, an ephemeral visitor identifier and a session start timestamp, both stored in your browser using sessionStorage under names internal to the Service (for example, an entry used to cluster activity within a single session). These values are confined to your browser tab and are automatically discarded when you close the tab; they are not persistent cookies and are not shared across sites.

The component then sends two kinds of lightweight, fire-and-forget network requests, which we call beacons, to our own backend endpoints. The first is a page-view beacon that records the page path you visited, whether the request represents a new session, and an approximate cumulative session length in seconds. The second is a periodic presence heartbeat, sent on load and at regular intervals while the page remains open, that records the ephemeral session identifier and whether the visitor is signed in, so that we can estimate concurrent activity. These beacons are sent without credentials and are designed never to interrupt or delay your use of the Service.

On the server side, our analytics deliberately minimize personal data. We do not log your IP address. Geographic signals such as country, region, and city, along with browser and device type, are derived at an aggregate level and stored as incrementing counters rather than as individual visit records tied to an identifiable person. The aggregate counters help us understand overall traffic patterns and improve the Service.

Because these analytics are not strictly necessary to deliver the Service, where applicable law requires consent for non-essential analytics they are governed by your consent choices through our consent banner, as described in Sections 5 and 6, and you can decline or withdraw consent at any time.

5. Consent Banner and Google Consent Mode v2

Where required by applicable law, we present a consent banner the first time you visit the Service and at other appropriate times. The consent banner allows you to accept or decline categories of non-essential cookies and similar technologies before they are used. Strictly necessary technologies, described in Section 3, are used without consent because they are essential to operate the Service and to keep it secure; under applicable law these do not require your prior consent.

We design our consent mechanism so that non-essential technologies, which include functional, analytics, and any future marketing technologies, are set to denied by default and are not activated until you provide consent. Consent is requested in a manner intended to be clear and granular, so that declining is as straightforward as accepting, and so that a failure to interact with the banner is not treated as consent.

To implement this default-denied posture for Google technologies and tags, we use Google Consent Mode v2. Consent Mode v2 communicates your consent choices to compatible Google tags and controls how they behave based on those choices. Under our configuration, the relevant consent signals, including the signals that govern analytics storage and any advertising-related storage and personalization (for example, the parameters Google identifies as analytics_storage, ad_storage, ad_user_data, and ad_personalization), are set to denied by default until you grant consent through our consent banner. Only after you grant consent for the applicable category are the corresponding signals updated to granted. Because, as stated in Section 3, we do not currently use marketing or advertising tags, the advertising-related signals remain denied; the Consent Mode v2 configuration nonetheless ensures that, should any compatible Google tag be present now or in the future, it will not write or read non-essential storage or use data for advertising unless and until you have consented.

Your interaction with the consent banner is recorded so that we can honor your choices on subsequent visits and demonstrate, where required, that consent was obtained. You may change your choices at any time as described in Section 6.

6. How to Manage or Withdraw Your Consent

You have several ways to manage or withdraw your consent and to control cookies and similar technologies.

Consent controls within the Service. Where the consent banner is presented, you can decline non-essential categories at the outset, and you can revisit and change your choices at any time through the consent controls we make available in the Service. Withdrawing consent is as easy as giving it, and withdrawing consent for a category will stop the further use of the non-essential technologies in that category. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdrew consent, and it does not affect strictly necessary technologies, which remain active because they are essential to operate the Service.

Browser and device controls. Most web browsers allow you to view, manage, delete, and block cookies and to clear locally stored data, including localStorage, sessionStorage, and IndexedDB, through the browser settings. You can usually find these controls in the privacy or security section of your browser settings. Please note that because strictly necessary authentication and security technologies are stored in browser storage, clearing or blocking that storage will sign you out and may prevent the Service from functioning. Blocking or deleting functional storage may cause the Service to forget your preferences.

Opt-out preference signals, including Global Privacy Control. We recognize and honor user-enabled opt-out preference signals such as the Global Privacy Control (GPC) where required by applicable law. If your browser or a browser extension transmits a recognized opt-out preference signal, we treat it as a valid request to opt out of any sale or sharing of personal information for that browser or device to the extent applicable law requires. You can learn how to enable the Global Privacy Control from the provider of your browser or the relevant browser extension.

Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. We do not sell your personal information for money, and we do not currently use technologies for cross-context behavioral advertising, which under certain laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended, may be treated as a sale or sharing of personal information. If we introduce any technology that constitutes a sale or sharing under applicable law, we will provide a clear and conspicuous Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information (or Your Privacy Choices) link and at least two methods to submit opt-out requests, we will honor recognized opt-out preference signals as a valid opt-out, and we will not resume selling or sharing after you opt out without later authorization, waiting at least twelve months before asking you to opt back in. Additional rights and the methods to exercise them are described in our Privacy Policy.

Withdrawing access to YouTube and Google data. Cookies and similar technologies are distinct from the data we access through Google and YouTube application programming interfaces under the authorizations you grant. You can revoke our application's access to your Google and YouTube data at any time through the Google security settings page at https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions. Details about that data and your choices are set out in our Privacy Policy.

7. Third-Party Cookies and Similar Technologies

Some of the technologies used in connection with the Service are provided by trusted third parties that supply the infrastructure on which the Service runs. As of the date of this Cookies Policy, the principal third-party technologies are strictly necessary: (a) Google Firebase Authentication, which stores authentication state in your browser using localStorage and IndexedDB to keep you signed in and to manage your session securely; and (b) reCAPTCHA Enterprise, used through Firebase App Check for integrity verification and abuse prevention. These services are provided by Google as part of the Firebase and Google Cloud platforms that host and secure the Service.

Where a third party processes information through these technologies, that processing is also governed by the third party's own privacy notices. Google's handling of data in connection with its services is described in the Google Privacy Policy, available at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy, which we encourage you to review. Where the Service integrates with social publishing platforms or other third-party services that you choose to connect, those connections are governed by your separate relationship with, and the terms and privacy policies of, those platforms, as further described in our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

We do not currently permit third-party advertising networks, data brokers, or interest-based advertising vendors to set cookies or read storage through the Service, and we do not transfer or sell information obtained through the Service to such parties. If this changes, we will update this Cookies Policy, classify any such technology as non-essential and default it to denied until you consent where consent is required, and provide the choices described in Section 6.

We do not control third-party technologies and are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties. You should review the privacy and cookie policies of any third party whose services you access or connect through the Service.

8. Children

The Service is not directed to, and is not intended for, anyone under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly use cookies or similar technologies to collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a person under 18 has provided personal information through the Service, please contact us using the details in Section 10 so that we can take appropriate action.

9. Changes to This Cookies Policy

We may update this Cookies Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the technologies we use, in our practices, or in applicable legal requirements. Because HIVEMIND YT is in private beta and its features are non-final and subject to change at any time, the specific technologies described here may change as the Service evolves. When we make material changes, we will revise the Last Updated date below and, where required by applicable law, we will provide additional notice or seek renewed consent through the consent banner. We will also review and, as appropriate, update this Cookies Policy at least once every twelve months. Your continued use of the Service after an update, together with any consent you provide through the consent banner, constitutes your acknowledgment of the updated Cookies Policy to the extent permitted by applicable law.

Last Updated: 2026-06-18.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Cookies Policy or about our use of cookies and similar technologies, you may contact us at contact@hivemind.yt. For postal correspondence, you may direct notices to our registered agent on file with the California Secretary of State.

This Cookies Policy is governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or relating to this Cookies Policy is subject to the dispute-resolution, binding arbitration, venue, and class-action-waiver provisions set out in our Terms of Service.