Privacy Policy

Last updated: 17 August 2026

This site's Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how staridasgeography.gr ("this site") handles data when you visit. This site is operated by Spyridon Staridas (Staridas Geography), based in Heraklion, Crete, Greece. You can reach us at info@staridasgeography.gr with any questions about this policy.

What this site does not do

This site has no database, no user accounts, no contact forms, and no online store. It does not collect, store, or process any personal data on its own systems. There is nothing here to sign up for, submit, or check out; it's a static portfolio and blog, personal website.

Cookies & Google Analytics

The only tracking on this site is Google Analytics, run through Google Tag Manager. When you accept, it helps us understand general usage patterns, how many people visit, which pages they read, and how they found the site, using cookies named _ga and _ga_*.

These cookies are never set until you actively accept them. By default, all analytics tracking is switched off (via Google's Consent Mode), and it only turns on after you click Accept on the cookie banner. The legal basis for this processing is your consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a)).

Your consent choices

When you first visit, a banner asks you to Accept or Decline analytics cookies. Accept turns analytics tracking on and sets the _ga/_ga_* cookies. Decline keeps analytics off and immediately deletes any _ga/_ga_* cookies already present in your browser.

Your choice is remembered in your browser's local storage, not a cookie, and it doesn't expire on its own. You can change your mind at any time using the Cookie Settings link in the footer, which reopens the banner.

How long data is kept

The _ga and _ga_* cookies can remain in your browser for up to 2 years. However, the underlying analytics data Google stores about your visits is deleted much sooner: individual events (page views, interactions) are retained for 2 months, and data tied to your user or device identifier for 14 months, resetting each time you're active on the site again. After these periods, Google automatically deletes that data, regardless of whether the cookie itself is still present. Declining or withdrawing consent stops new data from being collected and removes the cookies from your browser immediately.

Third-party data sharing & international transfers

The only third party involved is Google, through Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, and only once you've accepted cookies. Because Google processes this data on infrastructure outside the EU/EEA, transfers rely on Google's self-certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Google processes and stores that analytics data under its own privacy policy, available at policies.google.com/privacy.

Your rights

This site has no database and stores no personal data itself, so there's generally nothing on our end to access, correct, or delete beyond what sits in our Google Analytics account. The only processing that occurs is Google Analytics, and Google handles the underlying storage and processing of that data.

The fastest way to exercise your rights over analytics data is to decline or withdraw cookie consent right here on the site, which stops tracking immediately and removes existing analytics cookies, or to use Google's own tools directly at myaccount.google.com/data-and-privacy. You're also welcome to contact us at info@staridasgeography.gr, and we'll help however we can within what our Google Analytics account allows us to see or remove.

You're free to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority at any time — in Greece, the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (www.dpa.gr) — if you believe this processing breaches your rights under GDPR.

Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated occasionally to reflect changes to the site or its use of cookies. The date at the top shows when it was last revised.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent to info@staridasgeography.gr.