Cookie law set to come into force

[Line Ball]

Taken from BBC website - just wondering does this apply to the Gaaboard?


Thousands of UK websites are expected to be in breach of a law that dictates what they can log about visitors.

European laws that define what details sites can record in text files called cookies come into force on 26 May.

Cookies are widely used to customise what repeat visitors see on a site and by advertisers to track users online.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it would offer help to non-compliant sites rather than take legal action against them.

Action plan

The regulations say websites must get "informed consent" from users before they record any detailed information in the cookies they store on visitors' computers.

Among websites that have complied with the law, getting consent has involved a pop-up box that explains the changes. Users are then asked to click to consent to having information recorded and told what will happen if they refuse.

UK firms have had 12 months to prepare for the change and the ICO has spent much of that time reminding businesses about their obligations.

The ICO has also updated its policy to allow organisations to use "implied consent" to comply. This means users do not have to make an explicit choice. Instead, their continued use of a site would be taken to mean they are happy for information to be gathered.

However, it was a "concern" for the ICO that so many sites were not yet compliant, said Dave Evans, group manager at the ICO who has led its work on cookies in the last 18 months. However, he added, it was not necessarily easy for companies to comply with the laws because of the amount of work it involved.

On busy sites, he said, an audit of current cookie practices could take time because of the sheer number of cookie files they regularly issue, monitor and update.

Mr Evans said the ICO was expecting sites that were not compliant to be able to demonstrate what work they had done in the last year to get ready.

Fines for non-compliance were unlikely to be levied, he said, because there was little risk that a non-compliant site would cause a serious breach of data protection laws that was likely to cause substantial damage and distress to a user.

It was planning to use formal undertakings or enforcement notices to make sites take action, he said.

"Those are setting out the steps we think they need to take in order to become compliant and when we expect them to be taking those steps," he said. "If they comply with one of those notices or sign one of those undertakings they are committing to doing this properly and that's the main point."

As well as advising firms, the ICO has also issued guidance to the public that explains what cookies are, how to change cookie settings and how to complain if they are worried about a site's policy.

[ziggysego]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udd8y2MsNQc&sns=em

[Lar Naparka]

Taken from BBC website - just wondering does this apply to the Gaaboard?


Thousands of UK websites are expected to be in breach of a law that dictates what they can log about visitors.

European laws that define what details sites can record in text files called cookies come into force on 26 May.

Cookies are widely used to customise what repeat visitors see on a site and by advertisers to track users online.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it would offer help to non-compliant sites rather than take legal action against them.

Action plan

The regulations say websites must get "informed consent" from users before they record any detailed information in the cookies they store on visitors' computers.

Among websites that have complied with the law, getting consent has involved a pop-up box that explains the changes. Users are then asked to click to consent to having information recorded and told what will happen if they refuse.

UK firms have had 12 months to prepare for the change and the ICO has spent much of that time reminding businesses about their obligations.

The ICO has also updated its policy to allow organisations to use "implied consent" to comply. This means users do not have to make an explicit choice. Instead, their continued use of a site would be taken to mean they are happy for information to be gathered.

However, it was a "concern" for the ICO that so many sites were not yet compliant, said Dave Evans, group manager at the ICO who has led its work on cookies in the last 18 months. However, he added, it was not necessarily easy for companies to comply with the laws because of the amount of work it involved.

On busy sites, he said, an audit of current cookie practices could take time because of the sheer number of cookie files they regularly issue, monitor and update.

Mr Evans said the ICO was expecting sites that were not compliant to be able to demonstrate what work they had done in the last year to get ready.

Fines for non-compliance were unlikely to be levied, he said, because there was little risk that a non-compliant site would cause a serious breach of data protection laws that was likely to cause substantial damage and distress to a user.

It was planning to use formal undertakings or enforcement notices to make sites take action, he said.

"Those are setting out the steps we think they need to take in order to become compliant and when we expect them to be taking those steps," he said. "If they comply with one of those notices or sign one of those undertakings they are committing to doing this properly and that's the main point."

As well as advising firms, the ICO has also issued guidance to the public that explains what cookies are, how to change cookie settings and how to complain if they are worried about a site's policy.

Great. About time something was done about tracking cookies.
Google uses them to present you with what it takes to be adverts you might be interested in, based on sites you recently visited. If Google can do this, my fear is that others can make use of this information also.
I use a PC Tools anti virus program to erase tracking cookies and, without fail, the numbers are much higher when I visit a games or porn site or the likes.
I shouldn't have to doo this as I don't want them in the first place.
I don't see any problem with Gaaboard. I expect one will be asked to accept cookies always from a p\articular site.

[93-DY-SAM]

This is a farce of a law which while there is no question that it has good intentions at it's core it is simply ill thought out by EU bureaucrats who you would think in the current climate had nothing better to be at.  It is ill thought out in terms of the technical aspects of the directive, for example it is not only tracking cookies that are covered but all cookies.  The directive states that sites must have explicit opt-in from users to user cookies unless it is strictly necessary.  Here's the problem there is no definition of what cookies are 'strictly necessary'.  Cookies are used for many purposes on a website other than tracking including giving visitors to a website a better user experience such as remembering a customised view on a website so you don't have to keep setting it each time you visit the site.  These are not 'strictly necessary' but useful none the less and sites must get permission from the user to accept these cookies. 

In addition when small business are struggling in the current economic times they are faced to comply with silly directives like this and face additional unnecessary costs to comply with the law.  It's just extra red tape strangling already struggling small business. 

All browsers already have the ability to block cookies so educating users on how to use their browsers properly would have been a more sensible solution as the mechanism is already in place, unknowingly to many users. 

It's just another law that is going to be impossible to enforce and police.

[Onion Bag]

This guy will sort it

[ziggysego]

This guy will sort it

Check the first reply :p

[93-DY-SAM]

Least they all have something in common.  They are all muppets.

BTW. It does effect the board.  The site needs to explain to users what cookies are set, what they are used for and seek permission from users to use them. 

[Onion Bag]

This guy will sort it

Check the first reply :p

Sorry zig, never noticed it

[ziggysego]

This guy will sort it

Check the first reply :p

Sorry zig, never noticed it

I get that a lot lol

[Milltown Row2]

Taken from BBC website - just wondering does this apply to the Gaaboard?


Thousands of UK websites are expected to be in breach of a law that dictates what they can log about visitors.

European laws that define what details sites can record in text files called cookies come into force on 26 May.

Cookies are widely used to customise what repeat visitors see on a site and by advertisers to track users online.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it would offer help to non-compliant sites rather than take legal action against them.

Action plan

The regulations say websites must get "informed consent" from users before they record any detailed information in the cookies they store on visitors' computers.

Among websites that have complied with the law, getting consent has involved a pop-up box that explains the changes. Users are then asked to click to consent to having information recorded and told what will happen if they refuse.

UK firms have had 12 months to prepare for the change and the ICO has spent much of that time reminding businesses about their obligations.

The ICO has also updated its policy to allow organisations to use "implied consent" to comply. This means users do not have to make an explicit choice. Instead, their continued use of a site would be taken to mean they are happy for information to be gathered.

However, it was a "concern" for the ICO that so many sites were not yet compliant, said Dave Evans, group manager at the ICO who has led its work on cookies in the last 18 months. However, he added, it was not necessarily easy for companies to comply with the laws because of the amount of work it involved.

On busy sites, he said, an audit of current cookie practices could take time because of the sheer number of cookie files they regularly issue, monitor and update.

Mr Evans said the ICO was expecting sites that were not compliant to be able to demonstrate what work they had done in the last year to get ready.

Fines for non-compliance were unlikely to be levied, he said, because there was little risk that a non-compliant site would cause a serious breach of data protection laws that was likely to cause substantial damage and distress to a user.

It was planning to use formal undertakings or enforcement notices to make sites take action, he said.

"Those are setting out the steps we think they need to take in order to become compliant and when we expect them to be taking those steps," he said. "If they comply with one of those notices or sign one of those undertakings they are committing to doing this properly and that's the main point."

As well as advising firms, the ICO has also issued guidance to the public that explains what cookies are, how to change cookie settings and how to complain if they are worried about a site's policy.

Great. About time something was done about tracking cookies.
Google uses them to present you with what it takes to be adverts you might be interested in, based on sites you recently visited. If Google can do this, my fear is that others can make use of this information also.
I use a PC Tools anti virus program to erase tracking cookies and, without fail, the numbers are much higher when I visit a games or porn site or the likes. I shouldn't have to doo this as I don't want them in the first place.
I don't see any problem with Gaaboard. I expect one will be asked to accept cookies always from a p\articular site.

Stay off the porn sites then!

[Olly]

Reminds me of that time..

I was on a train to Portadown and went to get myself a newspaper to do the crossword, a cup of coffee and a packet of cookies. I went and sat at a table.

Here's the table, the Irish News, cup of coffee, packet of cookies. There's a fella from Keady sitting opposite me, perfectly ordinary-looking lad wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase.

It didn't look like he was going to do anything weird. What he did was this: he suddenly leaned across, picked up the packet of cookies, tore it open, took one out, and ate it.

Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the northern Irish are very bad at dealing with. There's nothing in our background, upbringing, or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight has just stolen your cookies.

You know what would happen if this had been Dublin or Cork. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming in, RTE, you know. . . But in the end, I did what any red-blooded Ulsterman would do: I ignored it. And I stared at the newspaper, took a sip of coffee, tried to do a clue in the Irish News, couldn't do anything, and thought, what am I going to do?

In the end I thought, nothing for it, I'll just have to go for it, and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was already mysteriously opened. I took out a cookie for myself. I thought, that'll sort him. But it hadn't because a moment or two later he did it again. He took another cookie.

Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow even harder to raise the subject the second time around.

We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole packet, I mean there were about 30 cookies and it felt like a lifetime. He took one, I took one, he took one, I took one. Finally, when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away.

Well, we exchanged glaringly hateful looks, then he walked away and I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back. A moment or two later the train was coming in to Portadown, so I tossed back the rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the Irish News were my cookies.

[ziggysego]

  You're a lunatic Olly

[orangeman]

Reminds me of that time..

I was on a train to Portadown and went to get myself a newspaper to do the crossword, a cup of coffee and a packet of cookies. I went and sat at a table.

Here's the table, the Irish News, cup of coffee, packet of cookies. There's a fella from Keady sitting opposite me, perfectly ordinary-looking lad wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase.

It didn't look like he was going to do anything weird. What he did was this: he suddenly leaned across, picked up the packet of cookies, tore it open, took one out, and ate it.

Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the northern Irish are very bad at dealing with. There's nothing in our background, upbringing, or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight has just stolen your cookies.

You know what would happen if this had been Dublin or Cork. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming in, RTE, you know. . . But in the end, I did what any red-blooded Ulsterman would do: I ignored it. And I stared at the newspaper, took a sip of coffee, tried to do a clue in the Irish News, couldn't do anything, and thought, what am I going to do?

In the end I thought, nothing for it, I'll just have to go for it, and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was already mysteriously opened. I took out a cookie for myself. I thought, that'll sort him. But it hadn't because a moment or two later he did it again. He took another cookie.

Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow even harder to raise the subject the second time around.

We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole packet, I mean there were about 30 cookies and it felt like a lifetime. He took one, I took one, he took one, I took one. Finally, when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away.

Well, we exchanged glaringly hatful looks, then he walked away and I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back. A moment or two later the train was coming in to Portadown, so I tossed back the rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the Irish News were my cookies.

Brilliant  - some crack had he chinned you - you'd have been really messed up then ! 

[Onion Bag]

How did you know he was from Keady, Brilliant story, well told

[ziggysego]

Did you ask if he knows KeadyChick?