How to check a website for privacy compliance
A website privacy check comes down to five observable facts: which cookies and trackers are written before the visitor consents; whether a consent banner with an equal Reject option is shown; whether data-collection forms carry a consent checkbox and a policy link; whether an up-to-date privacy policy is published; and whether data leaves for services in other jurisdictions. Each item takes minutes to verify in a browser — or one automated scan.
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What an audit actually looks at
An auditor cares less about the policy text than about the site's behaviour: processing must start after consent, not before. In practice the order is reversed — analytics counters, ad pixels and chat widgets initialise on page load and ship visitor identifiers to third parties before the banner even appears.
- Cookies and third-party requests before consent — the headline fact
- The banner: an equal Reject, or an Accept-only design
- Forms: an unchecked consent checkbox and a policy link next to the form
- The privacy policy: published, current, reachable from every page
- Cross-border transfers: which services receive data and where they are based
Checking by hand with DevTools
Open the site in an incognito window with DevTools → Application → Cookies visible. Touch nothing in the banner. Everything that appears in the cookie list and on the Network tab before your first click is processing-before-consent. Then repeat after pressing Accept and compare: the difference shows what the banner actually controls versus what loads unconditionally.
# Quick third-party host list from the console:\nperformance.getEntriesByType('resource')\n .map(r => new URL(r.name).hostname)\n .filter((h, i, a) => a.indexOf(h) === i && h !== location.hostname)Automating the check
A manual check covers one page and one scenario. The compliance scanner does the same in a real browser across multiple pages and three scenarios — no action, banner accepted, banner rejected — then folds the observations into an A–F grade with 152-FZ and GDPR projections and a per-page fix list. For a quick single-page registry-and-cookie check there is the 152-FZ aggregator.
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Why teams trust us
How it works
Enter your site URL
The scanner opens pages in a browser
Get a grade and a fix list
Why check your site for privacy compliance?
Regulators fine sites for processing personal data without consent — and a site starts processing earlier than it seems: analytics, pixels and widgets write cookies the moment the page loads. The scanner shows the auditor's view: what leaves for third parties before consent, whether the banner works, and whether forms collect data correctly.
Real Browser
Three sessions per page: no action, banner accepted, banner rejected.
Trackers and Jurisdiction
Service catalogue: who receives visitor data and in which country.
Policy at Collection Point
The policy link and consent element are checked next to the form, not in the footer.
Signed PDF
Report with an HMAC integrity stamp — hand it to your lawyer or contractor.
Who uses this
Business
preparing for an audit
Lawyers
technical facts for an opinion
Web Studios
client site handover
DevOps
consent regression monitoring
Common Mistakes
Best Practices
Monitor compliance automatically
Scheduled re-checks with an alert when pre-consent trackers appear on your site.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is this check a legal opinion?
No. Both the manual and the automated check record technical facts: what is written, what is shown, how forms are built. It is the groundwork for counsel, not a substitute.
Where do I start if the grade is low?
With the most measurable item: move counter and pixel initialisation into the consent banner's accept callback. That usually clears the bulk of before-consent findings.
How often should I re-check?
After every new widget, tag manager or marketing pixel — they change the picture silently. A standing watch does this automatically and alerts on a grade drop.
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