Nothing to do with biscuits - changes to the EU law on website cookies
Elizabeth McMahon | 9 June 2011
Gareth Beck, our Search Engine Marketing Manager, discusses the recent changes to EU law that affect the way you use website cookies... but it's nothing to do with biscuits.
In May of this year the law in the EU regarding cookies changed and website owners now have a 12 month period to apply the new rules.
Firstly, what's a cookie?
'A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers downloaded on to a device when the user accesses certain websites. Cookies allow a website to recognise a user’s machine.' http://www.ico.gov.uk/news/current_topics/new_pecr_rules.aspx
And while it can also be biscuit related or a monster. This blog isn’t about them, which is a shame.
In short, a cookie contains your preferences for a website and ensures that they are available the next time you visit that site.Until May 2011, cookies were 'opt out' with information about the sites cookies, and how to opt out, generally being kept in each website's privacy policy.
The big change is that cookies are now 'opt in' and a website will need user consent before setting certain cookies. They've allowed a year for website owners to implement the changes and site owners need to look at which cookies they’re using as the legislation doesn't cover those that are 'strictly necessary' for the running of the site. For example, cookies for 'add to basket' and 'proceed to checkout‘ aren’t included.
Currently, there is no single way that this should be implemented, only suggestions on how this could be done. The Information Commissioners Office (the ICO) has used a box at the top of the site to allow users to opt-in to cookies, screenshot below.
In terms of what PracticeWEB are doing, we are looking at what the best solution for this is and will roll this out before the new legislation comes into force.
The ICO advice on the new guidelines can be found here:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/news/current_topics/new_pecr_rules.aspx
As usual, if you have any more questions about anything search engine related contact search@practiceweb.co.uk You can find out more about how we can help you use Search Engine marketing to drive more traffic to your website, visit our website.
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