Chippiewill
28-05-2012, 12:50 AM
A few high-profile U.K. websites have in the past few days started to warn its visitors that it uses cookies on their sites.
You had until today to comply with the new European cookie law.
The E.U.’s “e-Privacy” Directive, which first came into force in 2002, was amended in 2009. Each of the E.U.’s 27 member states were told to bring the Directive into their own member state’s law by this time last year, including the United Kingdom.
The U.K.’s amended Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR) Act 2011 was brought into force on May 26, 2011. The law stated, amongst other things, that companies operating in the E.U. and the U.K. must obtain the consent from its website users.
The Directive dictates that users should be aware of which kind of cookie is being set, varying from “essential” cookies, such as those used to remember which goods are in your e-shopping cart, to “non-essential” cookies that can be used to track user behaviour.
Correct. The E.U. Directive contains only a portion relating to cookies, but also targets “non-essential tracking”, regardless of whether a cookie is involved or not.
Arguably it has distracted many from the wider implications of the Directive. Website and Web application operators need to determine whether third-party trackers — such as advertisers and analytics — are used on their sites.
U.S.-based companies with a presence in the European Union, no matter how small, are still liable to E.U. laws, regardless of whether your website or Web application is hosted in the E.U. or elsewhere. Mobile application developers are also subject to the E.U. laws (see below).
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/uk-8216cookie-law-takes-effect-what-you-need-to-know/4910
I may very well regret posting this here (Hi Dan!) but this has got to be the dumbest law I've seen in a while. Website owners shouldn't have to look after their users, users already have all the necessary tools to deny cookies that they don't want. All this is going to do is lead to confusion and increased costs (Sounds familiar from something coming from the EU). The most ludicrous part is that the EU seems to think it has some right to impose it's law on other countries (Although the US does behave in kind), it seems today that we have to obey the laws of every country, not just the ones we live in.
You had until today to comply with the new European cookie law.
The E.U.’s “e-Privacy” Directive, which first came into force in 2002, was amended in 2009. Each of the E.U.’s 27 member states were told to bring the Directive into their own member state’s law by this time last year, including the United Kingdom.
The U.K.’s amended Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR) Act 2011 was brought into force on May 26, 2011. The law stated, amongst other things, that companies operating in the E.U. and the U.K. must obtain the consent from its website users.
The Directive dictates that users should be aware of which kind of cookie is being set, varying from “essential” cookies, such as those used to remember which goods are in your e-shopping cart, to “non-essential” cookies that can be used to track user behaviour.
Correct. The E.U. Directive contains only a portion relating to cookies, but also targets “non-essential tracking”, regardless of whether a cookie is involved or not.
Arguably it has distracted many from the wider implications of the Directive. Website and Web application operators need to determine whether third-party trackers — such as advertisers and analytics — are used on their sites.
U.S.-based companies with a presence in the European Union, no matter how small, are still liable to E.U. laws, regardless of whether your website or Web application is hosted in the E.U. or elsewhere. Mobile application developers are also subject to the E.U. laws (see below).
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/uk-8216cookie-law-takes-effect-what-you-need-to-know/4910
I may very well regret posting this here (Hi Dan!) but this has got to be the dumbest law I've seen in a while. Website owners shouldn't have to look after their users, users already have all the necessary tools to deny cookies that they don't want. All this is going to do is lead to confusion and increased costs (Sounds familiar from something coming from the EU). The most ludicrous part is that the EU seems to think it has some right to impose it's law on other countries (Although the US does behave in kind), it seems today that we have to obey the laws of every country, not just the ones we live in.