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UK "No Tracking Law" Now In Effect
Fluffeh writes "The British Gov might have more cameras up on street corners than just about anywhere else in the world, but it seems that the Gov doesn't want anyone else stepping on the privacy of their folks. In what the media have dubbed the 'Cookie Law' all operators of websites in Britain must notify users of the tracking that the website does. This doesn't only cover cookies, but all forms of tracking and analytics performed on visitors. While there are potential fines up up to 500,000 pounds (Over US$750,000) for websites not following these new rules, the BBC announced that very few websites are ready, even most of its own sites aren't up to speed — and amusingly even the governments own websites aren't ready."
because atm, ghostery reports 10 diffrent tracking entities.
The whole focus of this has been towards helping people protect their 'privacy'. But look at the implementation on sites and you will know at once that there is no explicit consent. a) They have a pop-up box that allows you to opt out (disappears after 20s) b) There is a link to their 'Cookie page' c) The consent is bundled with other site functionality (i.e. ability to use FB/Twitter with marketing cookies) indirectly forcing users to accept all cookies. Companies are spending thousands of £s on a whole array of solutions since the EU directive and the UK law are still so broad. I think making the non-savvy users aware is the only way forward. At the same time people must realise that the livelihood of hundreds if not thousands of people depends on data gathered from sites.
Why is killing ad-tracking "blowing it up"? Are you sure it is not you that is illiterate? Try reading up on the subject...
They did not ban cookies. They are banning tracking. Not the same thing.
Cookies are ok when necessary for the functionality of the website. Login cookies, webhops and so on are all ok.
I've seen UK based sites start to implement this, but there's no chance that Facebook, Google etc will follow suit - so if the tracking actually does have monetary value, we've just guaranteed that only non-European companies can benefit from it. Woohoo.
Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
Eh? The UK is a member of the EU. That's that. Being in the EU is one thing - membership in the EU. Once that's achieved, the country is a "full" member of the EU. I seriously don't know what you're on about.
The UK is in Europe, however it doesn't use the Euro and people in the UK consider Europe to be 'them', not 'us'.
The UK government happily breaks EU laws on stuff like DNA retention and tobacco imports every day. People take the UK government to the European court and win nearly every time yet the UK carries on ignoring EU law.
People need to actively accept that you are tracking them. Just showing such text somewhere is not enough.
Actually, the ICO seems to have pulled a complete U-turn with 48 hours to go, and now says that implied consent can be enough.
Whether that will stand up to the seemingly inevitable legal challenge in the European courts remains to be seen, but I suspect even the ICO think this is a dumb law behind the scenes, and their language has been softening substantially in recent weeks relative to their early advice.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
ICO are clearly morons. They write this about their use of Google Analytics:
"These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited."
I am sure this is all correct. But what about _Google_?! What are THEY using the data for? This is also the responsibility of the site owner (ICO).
The fact that the government is breaking the law does not change the law.
The danish government is a bit more knowledgeable. The danish version of these rules are very clear and easy to understand and there is no implied consent bullshit. And I think the UK version does not have implied consent either in the actual law.