Privacy & Cookies Policy

Astra is committed to transparency. This page explains what cookies we set, how we handle user analytics data, and how you can control your preferences.

1. Introduction

This Privacy & Cookies Policy explains how Astra ("we", "our", or "us") utilizes cookies and similar tracking techniques on our website. As a developer of cutting-edge industrial automation, robotics, and AI vision systems, we operate under strict engineering standards. We apply the same discipline of precision and control to our digital data operations, respecting the regulations defined by the European Union ePrivacy Directive, GDPR, and the UAE Personal Data Protection Law.

2. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device (computer, tablet, or mobile phone) when you visit a website. They serve multiple purposes, such as allowing the server to recognize your session, securing restricted administrative pathways, saving user inputs, and providing anonymous usage statistics to help us analyze and improve website performance.

3. The Cookies We Set

We prioritize privacy and run a highly optimized self-hosted analytics stack. Unlike standard setups that rely on intrusive third-party ad networks, we collect only high-level, aggregate visitor characteristics. Below is a detailed disclosure of the cookies utilized by this platform:

Cookie Identifier Category Storage Duration Operational Purpose
astra_analytics_consent Essential (System) 1 Year (365 Days) Persists your cookie preferences (Accepted or Declined) so you do not see the consent banner on every visit.
astra_visitor_id Analytics (Optional) 1 Year (365 Days) Stores a secure, randomized hash identifier to uniquely tally page views and aggregate visitor counts without identifying you personally. Cleared if consent is declined.
PHPSESSID Essential (Admin only) Session-based A standard secure session token generated exclusively for administrators entering the restricted dashboard. Does not track general public visitors.

4. Analytics and Self-Hosted Tracking

If you consent to optional cookies, our secure self-hosted script (stored in analytics.php) logs high-level viewport details, screen size, approximate time zone, aggregate navigation paths, referrer channels, and approximate country/city when available.

  • IP Privacy: We do not store raw IP addresses. IP addresses are hashed using a dynamically salted SHA-256 value, and approximate location cache keys are stored as salted hashes.
  • Limited Location Lookup: When the browser cannot provide location data, the server may use a lightweight IP location lookup to resolve approximate country/city. If that lookup is unavailable, analytics keeps the location as unknown.

5. Managing Preferences via Your Browser

Most modern web browsers allow you to manage cookies through their preference interfaces. You can set rules to block all cookies, accept only first-party cookies, or automatically clear all files upon exiting the browser. To learn how to do this in your specific browser, refer to the documentation of Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge.