The New EU Cookie Law and How it Affects Web Designers
Web designers in Glasgow have had their work cut out with a new directive that was recently passed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in May this year. Given a deadline of 26th May 2012, website owners and website designer have had to rethink the use of cookies on their website and to give users more control over what happens with regards to their browsing experience.
Failure to comply with the new EU Cookie Law, as it has become known, can result in a hefty fine. But hold on, whilst cookies might be bad for your waistline, surely they aren’t bad for you online. Let’s take a closer look at the law and why it was introduced.
If you’re familiar with what cookies do then you’ll know they are there to enhance the user experience and also give web owners a guide as to what users get up to on their website. Cookies have actually been in use for 15 years so why they are suddenly being classified as bad is anybody’s guess, but it seems some users got up in arms about being ‘spied’ on whilst browsing and the result was a new law.
The ICO has requested that any website using cookies display a warning message when visitors first reach the site giving them the option of enabling or disabling cookies. By default cookies should be disabled. The problem with this is that every time users come back to the site they will be deemed a new visitor so settings they may have set such as ‘remember password’ or ‘shopping basket contents’ will be wiped clear. There is also a problem for web designers as they won’t be able to track user activity using Google Analytics or a similar web analysis tool.
We think the ICO may have jumped the gun somewhat in their approach to cookies. Whilst we agree users should have the ability to turn cookies off, they can actually set this functionality in their browsers already and have total control over what happens during their browsing. Having to click on a warning message on every single website is going to hinder the online experience, not help it. In truth, most people don’t understand what cookies do and neither do they care.
Just a Lot of Hot Air
One thing we have noticed is that the ICO doesn’t seem to be too serious about its fining system. We have heard of only one website (quite a big name) being fined over non-compliance with the cookie law. In fact, many web designers in Glasgow are still holding back and have yet to comply with the law and yet they haven’t fallen through a trapdoor or been taken away by men in dark sunglasses. We’re thinking we might just have a nice cup of tea (with a cookie of course) and wait for it all to blow over.
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