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I’ve been aware of the EU Cookie Laws for some time, notwithstanding because I have been doing a diploma in digital marketing and this subject has been brought up occasionally.
Unfortunately it was not discussed in detail, so I felt it was my duty to find out more and pass this knowledge onto my readers.
From the 26 May 2012, all website users will have to provide their visitors the option to approve the use of cookies on the website. This will mean a separate page or pop-up is required to provide the opt-in or opt-out mechanisms for each visitor’s access to the website.
The problem is the cookies, or to be more accurate, the applications on my website that use my visitors’ information. The EU Cookies Law is all about preserving customers’ right to impart their details, e.g. maintaining their privacy rights.
This is Enchilada Digital‘s definition of a cookie:
A Cookie is a text file that browser places on your computer’s hard drive on behalf of the website being served. The Cookie usually contains information, such as a user or session ID, that allows the website to remember who you are across multiple page views or browsing sessions. Most websites have 10 or more cookies. See this website for more information on cookies.
Now I use cookies (unwittingly until I found out recently) to track my visitors’ activities to Google Analytics. This is not a horrible use of technology, and it certainly doesn’t provide me with intimate details of those who read my posts. Apparently I also use cookies to request sharing of my posts on social media, as this is also a form of tracking user behaviour – again hardly intrusive into my follower’s lives.
Of course many websites use cookies as part of the running or function of the website, such as e-commerce or payment systems for products and goods. This use of cookies is considered OK, as the website would not be able to exist without them. But if you wanted to participate in CRM (customer relationship marketing) with your readers, then you’d have to ask their permission to use cookies first.
The biggest problem business will have is that a huge proportion of website visitors will not know or understand about cookies. Even if they realise it refers to the innards of a website, because it is technical the alarm bells will immediately start to ring. This mass misunderstanding will reduce the amount of visits, and even if my readers are compliant with access procedures, the statistics that are allowed into the analytic programmes will be severely disrupted.
Now I could take away my Google Analytics application and not track my visitors, but then I wouldn’t have vital information on what my readers liked or didn’t like, and how to improve my website to make it better for them in the future. I also could remove the share buttons, but then I wouldn’t know how many kind people liked what I have written and have showed their appreciation by sharing my information with their friends and followers, severely limiting the amount of new audiences I could reach, which allows me to spread my messages further afield.
I will be activating a plugin for the EU Cookie Laws regulation just before 26 May. Hopefully it will adequately explain why the visitor needs to approve the use of cookies, so you will click ‘yes’ and continue to enjoy this website. And hopefully this action will become second nature to all website visitors, unless the powers that be see sense and review the law accordingly.
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I use firefox with adblock plus, noscript, and better privacy, enabled I havent seen a cookie on my computer in years. At least I have seen them but they only last one session as even the flash cookies are wiped on closedown or a 1 hour schedule. I accidently ran my browser without the plugins enabled and my word, what a horrible experience that was. Adverts everywhere, sites cross scripting to other sites, and the amount of tracking cookies was mind numbing. I think the government is right to act but I dont think they’ve thought it through as all this ticking boxes on every site is going to get VERY annoying.
What they should have done is to enforce better browser controls on people like microsoft, google, and mozilla, so that cookies could be dealt with in a much more robust way. however, with firefox I sometimes put in a confuser plugin that changes referrer to something made up. Infact I doubt many sites have ever had any real details off me. Ironic, isnt it that a cookie will determine what cookies can do