1. Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies are small values a browser stores and sends back to a website. Local storage and other identifiers can also remember information or track activity. A technology’s purpose matters even when it is not called a cookie.

The site remembers language, requested notification access and choices made on the page, as described below. It does not load Google Analytics or advertising scripts. An earlier analytics preference or Google cookie may remain until it expires or you remove it; no Google tag reads it while analytics is off. Our own reading counts run on our server without storing or reading a browser identifier; the Privacy policy explains them. Reading does not require optional tracking.

  • Provider and purpose: Athenian Rider; remembering the Greek or English edition you visit.
  • Value: el or en. The cookie contains the language choice, not your name or email.
  • Duration: one year, renewed when you visit an explicit /el/ or /en/ URL or make a valid language selection.
  • Scope: the site’s / path, across athenianrider.gr and www.athenianrider.gr, so one language choice covers both addresses of the site. It is sent with site requests and is not readable by page JavaScript.
  • Choice: use GR/EN to change language, or remove/block the cookie through your browser’s site-data controls. Without a saved choice, the entry page starts in Greek. A link to an article in a specific language always opens that language edition.

This is a functional preference supporting the presentation you request. The Hellenic Data Protection Authority recognises language-preference storage as an exemption from prior cookie consent; it is not permission to add analytics or advertising trackers.

  • Provider and purpose: Athenian Rider; proving that a browser asking to change or stop its news notifications is the same browser that registered them.
  • Value: an identifier for the registration and a credential this server issued for it. It holds no name, no email and no address, and it is set only if you allow notifications.
  • Duration: 400 days, which is the longest a browser will keep it. It is removed when you stop notifications from the settings page.
  • Scope: the site’s / path, HttpOnly — the page’s own scripts cannot read it, so it cannot be taken by a script running on the site.
  • Choice: do not allow notifications, or stop them from the notification settings page, or remove the cookie through your browser’s site-data controls.

This one is not optional in the sense the ones below are: it exists only because you asked for notifications, and it is what stops one browser being able to change or cancel another’s subscription. It is strictly necessary for a service you requested rather than a tracking cookie, so it does not depend on separate cookie consent — but withdrawing your consent to notifications removes it.

3.1 Digital assistant: temporary tab storage

  • Provider: Athenian Rider. The questionnaire uses sessionStorage under ar-finder-preview-v1 to remember answers, any optional note, progress and a random reference to your latest request, which is what reopens that request's results in this tab. ar-finder-dock-compact remembers whether you collapsed its invitation. Neither value is a tracking identifier or an additional cookie.
  • Purpose and duration: maintain the questionnaire you chose to use and the display preference you selected within the tab session. Browser session restoration may restore these values. Start again resets the saved questionnaire and forgets that reference; site-data controls can clear both. If storage is blocked, the assistant can work in memory but progress may be lost on reload.
  • Server-side usage control is separate: a temporary value derived from connection information applies the hours-between-uses setting; results reopen only for the tab holding the request's reference. It does not use a browser cookie. Removing tab storage does not remove that server-side record or reset its waiting period. See Privacy policy section 2.2 for retention and the AI provider.

Submitted questionnaires, notes and results are also kept on our server for market research, as explained in the Privacy policy. Clearing tab storage does not erase those server records. These values support the requested questionnaire and display choice; they are not used for advertising or tracking across websites. The assistant adds no optional analytics or advertising cookie and does not ask for blanket tracking consent.

3.2 Invitations you closed

  • Provider and purpose: Athenian Rider; not offering again what you have closed. Closing the buying guide’s invitation keeps ar_guide_dismissed, with the value 1, in this browser’s localStorage; closing the notifications hint, or following it to the notification settings, keeps ar_notify_dismissed there, holding the time you did so.
  • Duration: ar_guide_dismissed stays until you clear this site’s data; ar_notify_dismissed is disregarded after 30 days, when the hint may appear again, and stays until you clear it. A browser that refuses localStorage keeps ar_guide_dismissed for the tab only.
  • Each is written only by what you do with the invitation or the hint, and neither is sent to our server or to anyone else, identifies you, or is used for measurement, advertising or tracking. Blocking or clearing them only brings the invitation and the hint back.

Provider and purpose: Athenian Rider stores ar_analytics_consent only when you choose Accept or Reject. The page sets it when you choose, and our server then sets it again: some browsers, Safari among them, keep a cookie a page’s script writes for 7 days at most, but one our server sets for its whole period. It contains the choice, expiry, consent version and analytics property, not a visitor identifier. It remembers the same choice across the Greek and English pages for 180 days from your choice, without extending that period on each visit. This preference is necessary to respect your choice and is separate from Google’s analytics cookies.

When Google Analytics is enabled and you accept, Google uses _ga to distinguish browsers and _ga_* to maintain session information. Their configured lifetime is up to 180 days. On withdrawal we disable further measurement in the current page and remove these cookies from the current host and applicable parent domains. Withdrawal does not erase information already received by Google. Browser blocking may prevent storage or measurement.

If analytics is switched off for the site, the banner and Cookie settings control are hidden and Google does not load on new pages. Your preference can remain until its original expiry; switching analytics back on respects it. An expired or missing choice asks again. A change of analytics property or consent version also asks again. You can always remove stored values through your browser’s site-data controls.

3.4 Our own audience statistics

Our own audience measurements do not set or read analytics cookies or browser storage. A visible public page sends a check-in with its Greek or English edition to our own server, then renews about every 20 seconds. This qualifies daily readership and maintains a short-lived presence estimate; country lookup also happens locally. HTML requests alone do not qualify a reader, and check-ins do not add page views. These measurements continue whether Google Analytics is on or off and whether its cookies are accepted or rejected. The Privacy policy describes the data, purpose, retention and right to object.

4. Optional videos and sharing

The homepage and Reviews page automatically load video lists from our Cloudflare-hosted feed and approved thumbnails from YouTube/Google. Images further down the page may load as you scroll. These requests send normal connection information, including your IP address, to the respective provider. The site does not load the YouTube player until you select a video. YouTube/Google may then store or access information under its own policies. Privacy-enhanced embedding does not mean no personal data is processed.

You can read articles without playing videos. Closing the video popup removes its player and stops playback. External social links and, when enabled for published articles, sharing links open the chosen provider. Copying a link does not load a social-network widget. The destination’s policies apply once you visit it.

5. Your optional analytics choice

Google Analytics measurement and advertising are not enabled. Before activation, this notice must list the technologies actually used, their purposes, providers and durations. Any non-essential storage or access requiring consent must remain blocked until you agree.

Accept and Reject are equally accessible. Scrolling, closing settings or continuing to browse does not give consent. Refusing analytics never blocks editorial content. This choice covers Google Analytics only; notification permission, newsletter signup and any future advertising consent are separate.

The analytics consent controls are hidden because Google Analytics is disabled. Browser notification permission is a separate choice from cookie consent; permitting one does not permit the other.

6. Managing storage and questions

Use your browser’s privacy or site-data settings to inspect or remove this site’s cookies and stored values. Blocking the language cookie may prevent a preference from being remembered, but explicit Greek and English links remain usable. Removing local data does not by itself remove information already held by a provider.

When analytics is enabled, use Cookie settings in the footer to change your choice. Removing the preference in your browser asks again on the next page; Google remains blocked until acceptance. For personal data already processed, use the contact details below or the Privacy policy.