I bet your company is one of the many violating the new cookie privacy law. The Register reported last week that almost the entire EU is in violation. The main difficulty though is where to begin?

Benefits of Cookies
A cookie is a file placed from the web server to the user’s machine so it can remember something about you later or track where you go. It may remember an IP address, or what you added to a shopping cart or other information.

Cookies allow a web application to respond to you as an individual. By gathering and remembering information about your preferences, the web application can tailor its operation to your needs, likes and dislikes. A cookie will allow web developers to create better web applications, applications that are more personal, easier to use and richer in their degree of interactivity. While some sites do not make use of cookies, they are widely accepted as a way to improve the customer’s web experience.

So what is the law specifically?
In summary, the new Regulations will require UK businesses and other organisations to obtain consent on an opt‐in basis to store, retrieve and use information from users’ visits to their websites and/or how they respond to emails (otherwise known as ‘cookies’ or ‘gifs’). Under the old 2003 regulations users only had to be told that cookies or gifs were being used and given an opportunity to opt-out.

Where to Begin
I’d like to wager another bet, that you might be able to describe some of the cookies you use, but maybe not all? Many companies face issues with trying to identify exactly what cookies they are using. Without this knowledge actually setting up opt-in consent is impossible.

Businesses need to be able to identify pages setting http-cookies, third party http-cookies, expiration http-cookies, document.cookie and input use of cookies with on-click. They also need to be able to evaluate http headers to identify pages that are setting cookies. This is an essential checkpoint for identifying where to begin with the new privacy law.

Financial Penalties
The ICO informed us last week that they will not be enforcing the law for a year, however financial penalties will follow after the consultation period is over. A year seems like a long time now, but it will fly by. Avoid those penalties now by identifying what cookies you are using to put in place the proper opt-in consent.

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