Cookies Policy
NOTEDFIRST SEEN 2026-08-19 · VERSION 20260819_rev01 · COMPARED WITH 20260818_rev01
What changed, in plain language
Nothing about PLOS's cookie practices changed. The only difference is that the scrambled links used to hide HubSpot's and Cloudflare's contact email addresses from spam bots were re-scrambled, which happens automatically each time the page loads. The cookie list, what each cookie does, and how long each one is stored are all identical.
This change appears to be cosmetic (formatting, typos, or contact details).
Changelog
- ± CHANGEDSpam-protection codes on contact email links were regenerated
The website hides the HubSpot and Cloudflare contact email addresses behind a scrambled link so spam bots can't read them. Those scrambled codes were regenerated, so the link addresses look different. The actual email addresses, the cookies, their purposes, and their storage times are unchanged.
HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#addddfc4dbccced4edc5d8cfdeddc2d983cec2c0)
HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#ee9e9c87988f8d97ae869b8c9d9e819ac08d8183)
Full text changes — 20260818_rev01 to 20260819_rev01
COLOUR MARKS THE SEVERITY OF A FLAGGED CLAUSE · + AND − MARK ADDED AND REMOVED
| 35 | 35 | | \_cer.v | Crazy Egg, 16220 Ridgeview Ln La Mirada, CA 90638, USA [Privacy Policy](https://www.crazyegg.com/privacy) | Performance and Analytics | Up to 31 Days | Tracks whether a visitor has visited the site before. | |
| 36 | 36 | | \_ce.s | Crazy Egg, 16220 Ridgeview Ln La Mirada, CA 90638, USA [Privacy Policy](https://www.crazyegg.com/privacy) | Performance and Analytics | 1 Year | Tracks a recording visitor session unique ID, host, and start time. | |
| 37 | 37 | | \_ce.cch | Crazy Egg, 16220 Ridgeview Ln La Mirada, CA 90638, USA [Privacy Policy](https://www.crazyegg.com/privacy) | Performance and Analytics | 1 Second | Used to check if cookies can be added. | |
| 38 | 38 | | \_ce.gtld | Crazy Egg, 16220 Ridgeview Ln La Mirada, CA 90638, USA [Privacy Policy](https://www.crazyegg.com/privacy) | Performance and Analytics | 1 Second | Used to identify the top-level domain. | |
| 39 | 39 | | ce\_need\_secure\_cookie | Crazy Egg, 16220 Ridgeview Ln La Mirada, CA 90638, USA [Privacy Policy](https://www.crazyegg.com/privacy) | Performance and Analytics | 1 Second | Used to determine cookie security parameters. | |
| 40 | 40 | | ce\_successful\_csp\_check | Crazy Egg, 16220 Ridgeview Ln La Mirada, CA 90638, USA [Privacy Policy](https://www.crazyegg.com/privacy) | Performance and Analytics | 24 Hours | Determines if the page has a Content Security Policy rule that would prevent tracking. | |
| 41 | | \_\_hs\_opt\_out | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#addddfc4dbccced4edc5d8cfdeddc2d983cec2c0) | Necessary | 6 month | This cookie is used by the opt-in privacy policy to remember not to ask the visitor to accept cookies again. | | |
| 42 | | \_\_hs\_do\_not\_track | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#19696b706f787a6059716c7b6a69766d377a7674) | Necessary | 6 month | This cookie can be set to prevent the tracking code from sending any information to HubSpot. | | |
| 43 | | \_\_hs\_initial\_opt\_in | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b1c1c3d8c7d0d2c8f1d9c4d3c2c1dec59fd2dedc) | Necessary | 7 days | This cookie is used to prevent the banner from always displaying when visitors are browsing in strict mode. | | |
| 44 | | \_\_hs\_cookie\_cat\_pref | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#58282a312e393b2118302d3a2b28372c763b3735) | Necessary | 6 months | This cookie is used to record the categories a visitor consented to. | | |
| 45 | | \_\_hs\_gpc\_banner\_dismiss | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c7b7b5aeb1a6a4be87afb2a5b4b7a8b3e9a4a8aa) | Necessary | 180 days | This cookie is used when the Global Privacy Control banner is dismissed. | | |
| 46 | | \_\_hs\_notify\_banner\_dismiss | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f484869d8295978db49c819687849b80da979b99) | Necessary | 180 days | This cookie is used when the website uses a Notify consent banner type. | | |
| 47 | | hs\_ab\_test | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#19696b706f787a6059716c7b6a69766d377a7674) | Necessary | End of the session | This cookie is used to consistently serve visitors the same version of an A/B test page they've seen before. | | |
| 48 | | \_key | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#abdbd9c2ddcac8d2ebc3dec9d8dbc4df85c8c4c6) | Necessary | 14 days | When visiting a password-protected page, this cookie is set so future visits to the page from the same browser do not require login again. | | |
| 49 | | \_\_hsmem | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA[\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1363617a6572706a537b667160637c673d707c7e) | Necessary | 7 days | This cookie is set when visitors log in to a HubSpot-hosted site. It contains encrypted data that identifies the membership user when they are currently logged in. | | |
| 50 | | hs-membership-csrf | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#acdcdec5dacdcfd5ecc4d9cedfdcc3d882cfc3c1) | Necessary | End of the session | This cookie is used to ensure that content membership logins cannot be forged. | | |
| 41 | | \_\_hs\_opt\_out | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#ee9e9c87988f8d97ae869b8c9d9e819ac08d8183) | Necessary | 6 month | This cookie is used by the opt-in privacy policy to remember not to ask the visitor to accept cookies again. | | |
| 42 | | \_\_hs\_do\_not\_track | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#99e9ebf0eff8fae0d9f1ecfbeae9f6edb7faf6f4) | Necessary | 6 month | This cookie can be set to prevent the tracking code from sending any information to HubSpot. | | |
| 43 | | \_\_hs\_initial\_opt\_in | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e090928996818399a088958293908f94ce838f8d) | Necessary | 7 days | This cookie is used to prevent the banner from always displaying when visitors are browsing in strict mode. | | |
| 44 | | \_\_hs\_cookie\_cat\_pref | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3343415a4552504a735b465140435c471d505c5e) | Necessary | 6 months | This cookie is used to record the categories a visitor consented to. | | |
| 45 | | \_\_hs\_gpc\_banner\_dismiss | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0575776c7364667c456d706776756a712b666a68) | Necessary | 180 days | This cookie is used when the Global Privacy Control banner is dismissed. | | |
| 46 | | \_\_hs\_notify\_banner\_dismiss | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0373716a7562607a436b766170736c772d606c6e) | Necessary | 180 days | This cookie is used when the website uses a Notify consent banner type. | | |
| 47 | | hs\_ab\_test | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1262607b6473716b527a677061627d663c717d7f) | Necessary | End of the session | This cookie is used to consistently serve visitors the same version of an A/B test page they've seen before. | | |
| 48 | | \_key | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f181839887909288b199849382819e85df929e9c) | Necessary | 14 days | When visiting a password-protected page, this cookie is set so future visits to the page from the same browser do not require login again. | | |
| 49 | | \_\_hsmem | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA[\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#fd8d8f948b9c9e84bd95889f8e8d9289d39e9290) | Necessary | 7 days | This cookie is set when visitors log in to a HubSpot-hosted site. It contains encrypted data that identifies the membership user when they are currently logged in. | | |
| 50 | | hs-membership-csrf | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4636342f3027253f062e3324353629326825292b) | Necessary | End of the session | This cookie is used to ensure that content membership logins cannot be forged. | | |
| 51 | 51 | | \_\_cfruid | |
| 52 | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#96e6e4ffe0f7f5efd6fee3f4e5e6f9e2b8f5f9fb) | |
| 52 | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8ffffde6f9eeecf6cfe7faedfcffe0fba1ece0e2) | |
| 53 | 53 | |
| 54 | 54 | Cloudflare, Inc. 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107 |
| 55 | [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7410041b3417181b011012181506115a171b19) | |
| 55 | [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#482c3827082b24273d2c2e24293a2d662b2725) | |
| 56 | 56 | |
| 57 | 57 | | Necessay | End of the session | This cookie is set by HubSpot's CDN provider because of their rate limiting policies. Learn more about Cloudflare cookies. | |
| 58 | 58 | | \_\_cfuvid | |
| 59 | 59 | |
| 60 | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bacac8d3ccdbd9c3fad2cfd8c9cad5ce94d9d5d7) | |
| 60 | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7303011a0512100a331b061100031c075d101c1e) | |
| 61 | 61 | |
| 62 | 62 | Cloudflare, Inc. 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107 |
| 63 | [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7b1f0b143b1817140e1f1d171a091e55181416) | |
| 63 | [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cfabbfa08faca3a0baaba9a3aebdaae1aca0a2) | |
| 64 | 64 | |
| 65 | 65 | | Necessay | End of the session | This cookie is set by HubSpot's CDN provider because of their rate limiting policies. Learn more about Cloudflare cookies. | |
| 66 | 66 | | \_\_cf\_bm | |
| 67 | 67 | |
| 68 | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3a4a48534c5b59437a524f58494a554e14595557) | |
| 68 | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1262607b6473716b527a677061627d663c717d7f) | |
| 69 | 69 | |
| 70 | 70 | Cloudflare, Inc. 101 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94107 |
| 71 | [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#ceaabea18eada2a1bbaaa8a2afbcabe0ada1a3) | |
| 71 | [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e6829689a6858a899382808a879483c885898b) | |
| 72 | 72 | |
| 73 | 73 | | Necessary | 30 minutes | This cookie is set by HubSpot's CDN provider and is a necessary cookie for bot protection. Learn more about Cloudflare cookies. | |
| 74 | | \_\_hstc | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#89f9fbe0ffe8eaf0c9e1fcebfaf9e6fda7eae6e4) | Performance and analytics | 6 months | The main cookie for tracking visitors. | | |
| 75 | | hubspotutk | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6616140f1007051f260e1304151609124805090b) | Performance and analytics | 6 months | This cookie keeps track of a visitor's identity. It is passed to HubSpot on form submission and used when deduplicating contacts. | | |
| 76 | | \_\_hssc | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3444465d4255574d745c415647445b401a575b59) | Performance and analytics | 6 months | This cookie keeps track of sessions. | | |
| 77 | | \_\_hssrc | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a8d8dac1dec9cbd1e8c0ddcadbd8c7dc86cbc7c5) | Performance and analytics | End of the session | Whenever HubSpot changes the session cookie, this cookie is also set to determine if the visitor has restarted their browser | | |
| 74 | | \_\_hstc | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2b5b59425d4a48526b435e49585b445f05484446) | Performance and analytics | 6 months | The main cookie for tracking visitors. | | |
| 75 | | hubspotutk | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#10606279667173695078657263607f643e737f7d) | Performance and analytics | 6 months | This cookie keeps track of a visitor's identity. It is passed to HubSpot on form submission and used when deduplicating contacts. | | |
| 76 | | \_\_hssc | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2454564d5245475d644c514657544b500a474b49) | Performance and analytics | 6 months | This cookie keeps track of sessions. | | |
| 77 | | \_\_hssrc | HubSpot, Inc. Two Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141 USA [\[email protected\]](https://plos.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bcccced5cadddfc5fcd4c9decfccd3c892dfd3d1) | Performance and analytics | End of the session | Whenever HubSpot changes the session cookie, this cookie is also set to determine if the visitor has restarted their browser | |