The Directive All about the EU Cookies Directive

For along time you’ve had to have information on your site about how you use cookies (which I’m sure you do as almost all websites use them).

From the 26th May 2011 however, you not only have to have this information, you also have to get consent from your visitors to use these cookies. No really.

The web community is in a bit of a tizz about this. Many consider it such preposterous legislation that they are simply choosing to ignore it.

That’s not wise though. The government body in charge (the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)) has stated that the time for whinging has been and gone and the time to get off our backsides and make changes is now (or soon at least).

On the flip side they do also admit that there is a lot of confusion over just how compliance is going to be achieved and they have indicated that more leniency will be shown to those website owners that have made an effort to comply compared to those who take an ostrich approach (bury-head-in-sand).

That’s why we think our free cookie audit tool and the suggestions (note: not advice, disclaim, disclaim) we make here could be your “get out of jail free card” (or at least a day or two early).

Further, despite the legislation, we do feel that a bit more transparency and general awareness about cookie isn’t a bad thing,  so coming up with a plan is not a compete waste of time even if you do think the ICO won’t have the time to catch up with you.

Go to the Free Cookie Audit Tool >>

We’ve discussed the directive a bit in our blog so if you are deep into the Directive why not start here:

• Are you ready for the Cookie Directive
• Google Analytics and the Scale of Cookie Naughtiness
• Consensual Sets: Does getting consent for cookies have to be all that onerous?
• Crumbled? Will the 12 months grace kill the EU Cookies Directive?

Other Cookie Directive Related Resources

• The Directive Itself (Regulation 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR))
• Information Commissioner’s Office (UK Government) Guidelines
• The Cookie Collector Project

Go to the Free Cookie Audit Tool >>