Latest cookie Legislation

[redbird]

There was a lot of talk about all the latest cookie legislation and what you had to do to comply a year or so ago and then it all seemed to die down and people seemed to be ignoring it and going with the implied consent...

Tried to find out what the current position is so I can decide what if anything I need to do. There seems to be so much confusing info around I'm just not sure anymore.....

Appreciate any clarity on the following (for UK sites, if it makes a difference)

1. What "should be done"?
2. What do you do in practice?

Many thanks

Dave

 

[MikeJDS]

I agree it is confusing..
It was typical merky EU law nonsense!

As far as I am aware it does still stand.
I don't think it has died down as such. From what I see most of the websites I visit do seem to make an attempt to comply.

You prompted me to have a quick look on Eur-lex which publishes EU law.
Whilst I couldn't make any sense whatsoever out the documents, I did notice a pop-up on their website which requested 'cookie consent'.
That's the best clue I got

At the end of the day, it doesn't take too much effort to try and comply, plus I think most users are now familiar with the notice, so it probably doesn't have too much of a negative affect anyway.
At the moment I'm still providing a notice on my sites.

 

[tifosi]

There have been a number of changes and recommendations since the f*&ked up EU directive came into force in 2011. Some by the eu people and some by the ico in the uk.

Notably these have been around implicit usage and implied consent. The main areas I see are in products in which non personal-data type cookies and session data are implicit to the functioning of the site. In general ecommerce and site-flow come into these.

The recommendations are that they are exempt from the regulations and their usage is implied. In saying that a clearly defined privacy policy should define their usage.

Some links:
http://www.out-law.com/articles/201...e-cookie-policy-to-recognise-implied-consent/
http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations...ions/the_guide/cookies?hidecookiesbanner=true
http://www.ecommerceadviser.co.uk/privacy-cookie-policy/

In reality this 'directive' has served it's purpose to make users aware of cookies and their usage. No one has been prosecuted, only a handful have been reprimanded. 99% of sites still break the regulations. Who is going to police or monitor this?

 

[murph]

I read somewhere that we didn't need to bother, so I haven't! I am seeing quite a few sites with the annoying cookie accept boxes etc so was wondering this myself.

 

[redbird]

I read somewhere that we didn't need to bother, so I haven't! I am seeing quite a few sites with the annoying cookie accept boxes etc so was wondering this myself.

Many thanks for the replies

I have tended not to bother on my own sites as I was under the impression also that I didn't "need to", but was asked by a client the other day what the position was and thought I really ought to know, hence my original post.

My clients sites are ecommerce sites and Tifosi's answer goes a long way to answer my query but still welcome more replies on what people are doing as deciding to not bother on my own sites is one thing, but on clients sites is something else especially when asked the question.

 

[tifosi]

I think the JohnLewis (http://www.johnlewis.com/) site is used as a general example of current practice for ecommerce, albeit being a bit cookie overzealous!

They don't have a popup or banner, but a clearly defined cookie policy link. The overzealous bit is pretty much ocd'ing on what each cookie is/does.

Common consensus is similar but to tone down the cookie description.

I do the same and for clients with ecom sites I've recommended this route.

Would be interested in other sources of info. Will be writing a blog post about it eventually.

 

[murph]

I've really noticed an up take of cookie banners etc in the last week or two. Discovered this: "starting in October, the CNIL will be proactively scanning websites and analysing compliance with the cookie laws." http://www.cookielaw.org/blog/2014/7/16/automated-cookie-law-checks-confirmed-in-france/ Think they're just targeting sites aimed at French

 

[aZooZa]

I've really noticed an up take of cookie banners etc in the last week or two. Discovered this: "starting in October, the CNIL will be proactively scanning websites and analysing compliance with the cookie laws." http://www.cookielaw.org/blog/2014/7/16/automated-cookie-law-checks-confirmed-in-france/ Think they're just targeting sites aimed at French

They're targeting all purveyors of fine cheese as a start.