New EU Cookie Law

paulstar

Every website is now supposed to have a warning about its use of cookies thanks to some daft bit of EU law.

Having looked around many websites, there seem to be many different interpretations of what is required.

Any suggestions on what is the simplest way to comply? Any good examples you've come across of how to do it simply? Free code downloads?

njm123

I've been using Civic's Cookie Control it's free and works. They've updated to the latest interpretation of the rules which is

1) Implied consent should be good enough if the cookies in question are unobtrusive enough and documented in a privacy policy or similar.
2) Implied consent probably wouldn't be good enough for more intrusive cookies,like the third party cookies set by behavioural advertisers.


Look on the civicuk website for guidance

http://www.civicuk.com/cookie-law/index

societys_child

Another stupid law thought up by someone who hasn't a clue.

paulstar

njm123 wrote: »

I've been using Civic's Cookie Control it's free and works. They've updated to the latest interpretation of the rules which is

1) Implied consent should be good enough if the cookies in question are unobtrusive enough and documented in a privacy policy or similar.
2) Implied consent probably wouldn't be good enough for more intrusive cookies,like the third party cookies set by behavioural advertisers.


Look on the civicuk website for guidance

http://www.civicuk.com/cookie-law/index

Looks good, many thanks. I'll study it in more depth, but it could be more sosphisticated than what I'm after. Something like the banner at the top of MSE is, I think, what I'm looking for.

societys_child wrote: »

Another stupid law thought up by someone who hasn't a clue.

Too true. I can't see the law serves any purpose in reality at all. A complete waste of time and money. Political Correctness gone mad.

Rav3n

I've had to implement this into the website for the company I work for. It's absolutely ridiculous. We've been without warnings for cookies for over 20 years without issue.

What makes it worse is that the vast majority will see this warning and decline cookies because they have absolutely no idea what a cookie is, therefore reducing the functionality of the website.

To be perfectly honest with you, the ICO who implemented this law have a long track record of never enforcing the laws that they make.

bazster

I don't think anyone's really got a clue how this is going to be interpreted/enforced. I'm currently relying on implied consent with a clear site usage policy (session cookies only).

Dave_C_2

Stupid, stupid law.
An EU law for the WORLD wide web!
And to think my taxes go to this crowd of idiots!

Dave

Mista_C

When implementing this ridiculous regulation on the sites I currently manage I've gone with implied consent for things like shopping carts, comments and general functionality. Everything else, i.e. Analytics and social media interactivity requires consent via clicking a button.

The downside to this is the Analytics data is now virtually non-existent meaning I have no idea whether the content and layout are the most relevant to the visitor majority, I have no clue as to an accurate bounce rate and the sites I maintain could end up becoming barren husks of what they currently are simply because I am unable to tell what puts visitors off without specifically asking them with some form of questionnaire.

I was reading a similar set of results on another site just last week. The blog author had calculated that analytics results were now only produced on 1 in 5 visitors.

The problem is when those who don't understand see a big button asking for consent they mistakenly believe they're going to sign away their soul if they hit it.

paulstar

Mista_C wrote: »

When implementing this ridiculous regulation on the sites I currently manage I've gone with implied consent for things like shopping carts, comments and general functionality. Everything else, i.e. Analytics and social media interactivity requires consent via clicking a button.

...

The problem is when those who don't understand see a big button asking for consent they mistakenly believe they're going to sign away their soul if they hit it.

Interesting. I've just been looking at the ICO site which seems to suggest that implied consent is OK but then goes on to suggest opt-in is required for Analytics type cookies. And then it says:

"It should be remembered that the intention behind this Regulation is also to reflect concerns about the use of covert surveillance mechanisms online. Here, we are not referring to the collection of data in the context of conducting legitimate business online but the fact that so-called spyware can enter a terminal without the knowledge of the subscriber or user to gain access to information, store information or trace the activities of the user and that such activities often have a criminal purpose behind them."

Surely it could be demonstrated in a Court of Law that Google Analytics does not have a criminal purpose and therefore is not something the Regulation was designed to prevent, i.e. criminal activity. Perhaps we could encourage Google to take a test case to whatever kangaroo court rules on absurd EU legislation and obtain an opt-out from the opt-in requirement.

And MSE's banner reads: "We use 'cookie' files to help make your use of this site faster and easier. From this point, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on MoneySavingExpert.com. More Info/Change Settings" which looks like implied consent to me and does not require the user to opt in. I'm assuming MSE uses analytics or something similar.

As bazster says, nobody - not even the experts - knows for certain what is actually required. What chance have guys with one-man-and-a-dog websites got!

I think I'll be voting for UKIP from now on!

paulstar

In the video on the ICO site, Dave Evans says it's difficult to imagine a situation in which a monetary penalty would ever be levied for non-compliance with the UK cookie law. He goes on to say that an enforcement order would be the most likely sanction, i.e. a communication from ICO saying you really ought to at least have a plan for how you propose to comply.

He also says the UK have "gone first" in implementing the EU Directive into UK Law. Most EU states have no such law in place. IS THE UK GOVERNMENT MAD!!!???

WilliamO

These kind of laws are rarely followed. Take the 'display of company name' (Companies Act) - http://www.out-law.com/page-9419

Many companies don't display their details as outlined above. Even on their website, where the following details should be displayed - http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1073788946&r.i=1073788944&r.l1=1073858805&r.l2=1085151439&r.l3=1073859929&r.s=sc&r.t=RESOURCES&type=RESOURCES

WilliamO