EU May Outlaw Cookies

Millennium writes: "According to Yahoo News, The European Commission is considering a privacy directive which, among other things, completely bans the use of cookies. Forgive me for saying so, but considering all the legitimate uses of cookies, isn't banning them outright going just a bit too far?" Update: 10/31 19:21 GMT by M : The submitter's write-up is wrong. Read the story. Keep in mind, as usual, that a "news" story whose sole source is an executive with an agenda to push is unlikely to portray the situation accurately.

Comments

Browser...

[arson1]

Since just about every major browser allows you to accept/deny/view/modify/delete coolies... what's the big deal? Banning X10 ads... now that's something worth considering.

they don't know the user can disable 'em?

[kisrael]

But the sticky point about cookies is that they often store data without a users' explicit approval. The Commission has been debating whether individuals should have the last word (lawmakers call this the ``opt in'' method) on what bits of personal information are collected on them while online.

Jeez. We already have that. Almost every browser in the world offers the ability to decline all cookies. It may make using any dynamic website an impossible task, but the Commission's inability to realize that this option is already there speaks to their poor understanding of the technology.