EU Cookie Directive Update -

With the deadline of the 26^th of May drawing nearer, after which the new cookie laws will begin to be enforced, we wanted to look at how different websites are adhering to the changes in legislation:

The new cookie law states that:

“Those setting cookies must:

• Tell people that the cookies are there,
• Explain what the cookies are doing, and
• Obtain their consent to store a cookie on their device.”

Whilst there has been considerable debate as to what is an acceptable way to address these changes in the law there appear to be three solutions commonly being implemented:

To simply have a prominent link to your privacy policy on your home page and to provide detailed information within the policy regarding what cookies your site uses, what they do and how the user can adjust their settings regarding what cookies are allowed to be placed on their computer.
This seems to be quite a popular solution as it is the least disruptive to the browsing experience for the user.
Examples: http://econsultancy.com, http://www.waitrose.com and http://www.dominos.co.uk/
An ‘opt-out’ setup whereby the user is prominently informed on the home page that cookies are being used and given a link where they can opt-out of the cookies being used (or in some cases select what sort of cookies they want to allow).
These also include links to a detailed privacy policy.
Examples: http://www.magiq.com/, http://www.bt.com/ and https://www.gov.uk
A full opt-in plugin. In this case cookies are disabled by default and the user must choose to opt-in to enable them. This also includes a link to the privacy policy with details of what cookies will be used if the user does choose to opt-in.

While the third approach appears to most strictly comply with the ICO guidelines it is also the most disruptive and it has been suggested that it may not be necessary if your site is only using cookies for purposes such as analytics.

However, if your website has more complex cookie functionality such as, for example, a login then the second or third approach may be more appropriate.

At Ezone Software we can provide the following 4 step solution:

1. An audit to see which cookies are running on your website.

2. The creation of a privacy page on your website (or alteration of an existing privacy page) – to state what these cookies are and explain what they do.

3. (Optional) The addition of a free third party solution to allow the site user to give informed consent that refers/links the site user to your privacy page (or which has this information on screen as part of its functionality) so that the user can make an informed choice.

4. A report will be provided on the audit findings and work done.

As an alternative to step 3 we can work with you to supply a bespoke solution developed at Ezone Software along the same lines of the third party solutions but more befitting the branding of your website.

If you would like us to carry out this 4 step EU Cookie Directive Audit or if you would like more information please contact [email protected].