New European law on use of cookies looms

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It’s not long until new European privacy laws come in to force in the UK and, to prepare businesses for what is being described as challenging task, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued compliance guidelines (.pdf).

The deadline for businesses to comply with the new law is just two weeks away. On that day – 26 May – consumers will be given more power over what information websites gather about them.

The amendment to the European Union’s Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive will require that websites in the UK get “informed consent” from visitors to store and retrieve information on users’ computers.

“The ICO recognizes that cookies perform a number of legitimate functions. We also recognize that gaining consent will, in many cases, be a challenge,” said the ICO in its report.

“Complying with the new rules will allow you to be confident that your users have a better and clearer understanding of what you do and how you do it.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristina Knight-1
Kristina Knight, Journalist , BA
Content Writer & Editor
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Kristina Knight is a freelance writer with more than 15 years of experience writing on varied topics. Kristina’s focus for the past 10 years has been the small business, online marketing, and banking sectors, however, she keeps things interesting by writing about her experiences as an adoptive mom, parenting, and education issues. Kristina’s work has appeared with BizReport.com, NBC News, Soaps.com, DisasterNewsNetwork, and many more publications.