The Cookie Law is a piece of privacy law that requires websites to obtain approval from individuals to save or retrieve any information on a computer, smartphone, or tablet. It was developed to protect internet privacy by making customers aware of how information about them is collected and used on the web and providing them with an option to allow it or not.
The Cookie Law is a piece of privacy law that requires websites to obtain approval from individuals to save or retrieve any information on a computer, smartphone, or tablet. It was developed to protect internet privacy by making customers aware of how information about them is collected and used on the web and providing them with an option to allow it or not.
It began as an EU Directive that was adopted by all EU states in May 2011. The Directive gave individuals the right to refuse the use of cookies that compromise their privacy. Each country then updated its laws to comply. In the UK, that meant an update to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.
Almost all websites use cookies or small data files to store information in people’s web browsers. Some websites contain hundreds of these. There are other technologies, such as Flash and HTML5 Local Storage, that do similar things, and these are also covered by the laws. However, as cookies are the most common technology in use, it has been called the Cookie Law.
If you have a website, you will need to ensure it complies with the law, and this typically means making a few adjustments.
If you do not comply, you risk enforcement actions from authorities, which in the UK means The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). In exceptional cases, this may result in a fine. However, non-compliance can also have other, potentially more serious consequences than enforcement. There is plenty of evidence that customers avoid engaging with websites where they believe their privacy is at risk, and there is generally a low level of trust about internet tracking by the use of cookies.