Privacy Policy
Last updated: 19/09/2026. This policy explains what personal data Cyprus Pulse collects, why, on what legal basis, and the rights you hold over it.
1. Who we are
Cyprus Pulse ("we", "us") is an independent English-language news publication based in Nicosia, Cyprus, publishing at cypruspulse.org. For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Cypriot data protection law, the data controller is Cyprus Pulse , [STREET], Nicosia 1010, Cyprus. Questions and requests about personal data should go to [email protected].
2. What data we collect
We collect far less than most websites, and nothing about reading our articles requires an account. The categories are:
- Data you give us. If you email us or use the contact form, we receive your name, email address and whatever you write. If you subscribe to our newsletter, we receive your email address.
- Technical data collected automatically. Our hosting infrastructure records standard server logs: IP address, browser type, pages requested and timestamps, used for security and capacity planning.
- Cookie-based data. With your consent, analytics cookies measure how the site is used, and advertising cookies support the personalised advertising described below. One strictly necessary cookie stores your consent choice itself, and an optional cookie remembers your light/dark theme preference. Full details are in our Cookie Policy.
3. Advertising: Google AdSense and third-party vendors
Cyprus Pulse is funded by advertising served through Google AdSense and the Google Display Network. This has specific privacy consequences you should understand:
- Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites.
- Google's use of advertising cookies, historically known as the DoubleClick or DART cookie, enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and other sites on the internet.
- You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings at https://www.google.com/settings/ads.
- You can opt out of many third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalised advertising at www.aboutads.info/choices.
- Other ad-network vendors and ad servers participating in the Google Display Network may also place cookies when ads appear; their use of data is governed by their own privacy policies. Google lists these vendors in its ad technology provider documentation.
In line with Google's EU User Consent Policy and the GDPR, advertising cookies on this site are loaded only after you give consent through our cookie banner. If you reject non-essential cookies, ads may still appear but will be non-personalised or absent, and no advertising cookies will be set by this site's consent mechanism.
4. Analytics
With your consent, we use Google Analytics 4 to understand which articles readers value: page views, approximate (city-level) location derived from truncated IP addresses, device type and how visitors move through the site. We configure analytics with IP anonymisation and do not use it to identify individuals. You can withdraw consent at any time via "Cookie settings" in the footer, and Google offers a browser opt-out add-on that blocks Google Analytics everywhere.
5. Legal bases for processing
Under the GDPR, we rely on: consent (Article 6(1)(a)) for analytics and advertising cookies and for the newsletter; legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) for security logging, fraud prevention and answering messages you send us; and legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)) where retention is required by law. Where we rely on consent, withdrawing it is as easy as giving it and does not affect processing that happened before withdrawal.
6. How long we keep data
Server logs are kept for a short rolling period measured in weeks, then deleted or anonymised. Correspondence is kept for as long as needed to handle the matter and for up to two years afterwards in case of follow-up. Newsletter addresses are kept until you unsubscribe, which every email lets you do in one click. Your cookie-consent choice is stored for 12 months, after which we ask again. Where a legal claim or obligation requires longer retention, we keep only what that purpose demands.
7. Sharing and international transfers
We do not sell personal data, full stop. Data is shared only with the processors that make the site run: our hosting provider, our email and newsletter service, and Google in its role as advertising and analytics provider. Where these providers process data outside the European Economic Area, transfers rest on adequacy decisions or standard contractual clauses as required by Chapter V of the GDPR. Each provider processes data under a data processing agreement and only on our instructions.
8. Your rights
Under the GDPR you have the right to: access the personal data we hold about you; rectify inaccurate data; erase data ("right to be forgotten") where no legal ground requires keeping it; restrict or object to processing, including any processing based on legitimate interests; data portability for data you provided to us; and to withdraw consent at any time where processing rests on consent. To exercise any of these, email [email protected]; we respond within one month as the law requires, and we may ask you to verify your identity before releasing data.
If you believe we have mishandled your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority: the Office of the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Cyprus (dataprotection.gov.cy), or the supervisory authority of your own EU member state.
9. Children's privacy
Cyprus Pulse is a general-audience news publication and does not knowingly collect personal data from children under 14. We do not offer accounts, communities or services directed at children. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, for example through the contact form, write to [email protected] and we will delete it promptly.
10. Security
The site is served over HTTPS, access to correspondence and subscriber data is limited to the small team that needs it, and we choose established processors with their own security certifications. No internet service can promise perfect security, but we collect little, keep it briefly, and protect what we hold.
11. Changes to this policy
When we change this policy materially, we will update the date at the top and, for significant changes, note the update on the site. The current version always lives at this address. Continued use of the site after a change does not substitute for consent where consent is legally required; the cookie banner will re-ask when it must.
12. Contact
Data requests and privacy questions: [email protected] · Cyprus Pulse, [STREET], Nicosia 1010, Cyprus · +357 22 [XXX XXX]. General editorial contact details are on our Contact page.