EU e-Privacy
Posted on August 30, 2011 by Emma Thomson
In 2009 the EU e-Privacy Directive was issued and on 26th May 2011 it was brought into effect as a law in the UK. This law limits the files that a UK website can install on a user’s computer without their expressed consent or permission. The majority of these files are ‘cookies’ which are used to track user’s browsing behaviour and storing preferences.
The implementation of this law effectively makes every UK website currently illegal so the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) has given UK website owners a year to implement the new rules, which effectively means they need to find a way to gain user consent.
The ICO currently use the following consent form on their site:
However, results have shown that the consent form had an enormous effect on the website’s ability to track users, with 90% of user’s declining to give consent to the site to allow it to store their cookies (http://chinwag.com/blogs/sam-michel/cookiepocalypse-implementing-new-law-drops-use-90).
The real issue that website owners, designers, developers etc face is how to make their site compliant with the new regulations without affecting their ability to track users (in essence ensuring that user’s opt-in the majority of the time).
The video below explains the new regulations really well and the problems it raises for website owners across the UK.
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