Cookie Law 25 May

Yes Dietriffic the UKIP is a relevant threat in politics now.

So here's a few points that anyone who cannot be bothered to go click anything to find out anything I have taken a few key points out for you to consider:


Only vague recommendations have been given, and the law is ambiguous.
The UK government copied the confusing EU directive word-for-word without adding any clarification on any issues. They‟ve also intentionally chosen to avoid giving specific recommendations on how to comply with the law18:
"... we do not think there is any rationale for Government to specify the technical measures needed to obtain consent.
The theory is that industry will figure out the best solutions themselves over time, but currently the industry remains confused.
Information Commissioner's Office
The ICO are regulators. They police and enforce the laws.
Tens of thousands of organisations could be affected, but the risk of prosecution or a penalty is low.
The ICO say they will only enact financial penalties which affect a large number of people: This presumably rules out the majority of small businesses and websites
"The monetary penalty powers will apply only to the most serious breaches, such as cases where a large number of individuals have suffered distress"

Under even the most permissive legislation, cookies used for targeted advertising are almost certain to be strictly prohibited.
To clarify for those outside the EU:
We're outside of the EU, are we affected?
Only if you have operations in the EU.
If your organisation falls under the jurisdiction of the EU then it is subject to this law. The regulators who enforce it are based in the member states of the EU. So if your organisation is - say - located solely in the US, but sells to EU customers, we don‟t foresee this causing problems for you.
If on the other hand you have offices in the EU, or other legal entities, they may be subject to the law29:
"If you are a multinational company headquartered in the US, you should be doing something to comply with this directive"

1. A user must explicitly request a service.
2. Cookies must be strictly necessary to provide that service.
So if cookies are set for a service the user did not specifically request, they‟re not allowed. And if the service they did request didn‟t need those cookies, they‟re not allowed.
Analytics, behavioural advertising and conversion tracking therefore seem clearly excluded.
Login, adding items to a basket and most user preferences appear to be allowed.
If in doubt, remember the spirit of the law is to protect the privacy of users; if necessary at the expense of website owners
Isn't this just going to all be ignored?
By small companies, possibly. But services you depend on will likely be affected, and you might be compelled to act.