EU Cookie law comes into effect May 26th

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
if i was you i would put something in your footer about cookies at least then if they come by your site they will see you have taken some steps and are more likely to warn you to sort it out.

Now that's definitely a good suggestion - thanks for the thought ;)
 

Admin

You there; behave!
Staff member
...if i was you i would put something in your footer about cookies at least then if they come by your site they will see you have taken some steps and are more likely to warn you to sort it out.
Now that's definitely a good suggestion - thanks for the thought ;)
That's no good, according to the post in the OP:


It’s not enough to simply update your privacy policy or terms and conditions. A user must explicitly accept cookies in order for you to legally use non-essential cookies on your website.

:(
 

Darren

Well-Known Forumite
No it is not good enough but it will show that an attempt has been made and may give you some time to implement a solution,
rather than not doing anything that could result in an instant fine.
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
Well, I have decided to bite the bullet and put a cookie warning on all 11 of my websites! Wasn't too difficult to implement a javascript acceptance which i'm sure will now mean that I am fully legal. Just hope I don't lose any business because of it, but I'll certainly sleep easier now.

On that note if anyone wants a copy of the script I've used (which is quite simple to re-word), feel free to PM me for a copy.
 

Darren

Well-Known Forumite
There doesn't seem to be an opt-out option, from what i remember the cookie control you are using should have an option that will re-direct to a page with instructions on how to remove cookies from your browser, i also believe that it is not strong enough to comply with the law due to this.
 

Toble

Well-Known Forumite
A rethink is perhaps in order.
As the cookies I use are what I would call essential, but others might not, its a confusing thing.

The biggest problem I have is that my site uses a image button to track visitors to sites, and stops them registering to hit counts on a ranking table if they visit twice within an hour. So their IP address is logged in a database which flushes ever 7 days.
Now, explain that on a 110x30px image!
 

Fonzie-NL

Well-Known Forumite
There doesn't seem to be an opt-out option, from what i remember the cookie control you are using should have an option that will re-direct to a page with instructions on how to remove cookies from your browser, i also believe that it is not strong enough to comply with the law due to this.

An opt-out option with a redirect to a page with instructions is also not that easy as it sounds
It will be neccesary then to have this page on a completely different site and not on the same site.
No use having someone clicking the "No" button, and then have them redirect to a page on the same site with the instructions.
where they will receive a cookie anyhow. (as the whole site works with cookies.........)
And I'm not even starting on session cookies which are made whenever someone opens a site....

People must also be aware of some cookie accept scripts that you can find on the Internet.
Some of them remove ALL cookies from the computer of a visitor when someone opens "your" site.
Even those cookies that have no relation whatsoever with "your" site.... (how legal is that?)
When the visitor accept cookies the script then places a control cookie on the computer.
Next time they visit the same site the scripts checks if this control cookie is still there.
If yes, it does nothing.
If not..... it again removes ALL cookies.
 

MyCult

SEO to the FACE
By far the most ridiculous thing about all this: in order to opt out of allowing a site to leave cookies on your machine the site has to drop a cookie signalling you've opted out.

9yBWQ.jpg


This is the kind of legislation that is created when the people writing the laws haven't got a farking clue about what they are legislating.
 

Fonzie-NL

Well-Known Forumite
Most people will first need to have a very good explanation what cookies are.....
On the other hand, for too many cookies you can always go to weightwatchers.
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
I've made my notice as little daunting as possible, but I've just set the opt-out option to redirect to google. Hopefully it says all it needs to though to comply - I'll set the opt-out to a cookie information page in the near future.
 

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
There is some new law coming that has something to do with cookies......

.....as far as I'm concerned that has more to do with the biscuit isle of Tesco than anything that affects my business.

Only now I have been advised by the lovely Mr WMR that my website (and his) now needs to have a disclaimer attached to it.

There is a thread already in the computer section but I was hoping to get the opinions of forum users like myself who don't tend to venture into that particular area of this website.

What I really want to know is..... if you click on a website that has a screen pop up saying you must agree to sharing your cookies (or something like that - I'm not 100% sure what it says because after you agree once it doesn’t come up again) or it redirects you to Google - are you then likely to head back to Google and click straight on the website of a competitor who doesn’t show this warning to you?

It's apparently a half a million quid fine for not complying but I'm worried that won’t matter too much if people are too wary of looking at our website and we don't get any business.




Admin Edit: Threads merged.
 

Bob

Well-Known Forumite
Diclaimer below copied from another website but I think mine pretty much says the same thing!

"In order for this site to work correctly, small files called cookies have to be stored on your computer.

Almost every website in the world does this, however since 25th May 2011 a new European law states that your permission is required for us to do this. We assure you that no personally identifiable information is collected and your privacy is of the greatest importance to us.

By agreeing to this you will allow cookies for our website and you will be able to browse the site as before. If you choose not to agree then you will be unable to use this website, so we'll redirect you to Google."
 

Admin

You there; behave!
Staff member
There is a thread already in the computer section but I was hoping to get the opinions of forum users like myself who don't tend to venture into that particular area of this website.

What I really want to know is..... if you click on a website that has a screen pop up saying you must agree to sharing your cookies (or something like that - I'm not 100% sure what it says because after you agree once it doesn’t come up again) or it redirects you to Google - are you then likely to head back to Google and click straight on the website of a competitor who doesn’t show this warning to you?

I have merged the threads as they are regarding the same topic, but I understand what you are trying to achieve. Perhaps start a new thread in General Banter with the subject along the lines of "Would this put you off visiting a web site?" or something like that, and then pose the question from a less technical perspective? I'm interested to know the answer myself, as clearly it may have an impact on Stafford Forum!

You could even make it a Poll, if you wanted. :)
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Any warning about things that they don't understand will make many people play 'safe'. I know some people that still won't even use Direct Debits...
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
The bottom line for me is that it's LAW. Whether or not it deters visitors is another matter entirely. I hate having to do this to my own websites, but I'd rather not find myself in court either. The next few weeks should be an eye opener when we see how many UK websites comply. Legally they have until 26th of this month, but I'm noticing little progress myself as of yet.

In reality it's a ridiculous law I know. What next?.... "Please note that when you install our program it will extract thousands of files to a temporary directory on your computer which are required for the installation to take place. In theory these should be removed at the end of the installation but you need to accept that a few hundred files may still remain, otherwise you can't continue".
Or maybe... "To view the photo's on this webpage, these files are actually being downloaded to your computer. Click to accept". What!? Really??

Websites have worked like this for years - but tell your customers that and they suddenly jump a mile. I'd say 70% of my customers don't have a clue that viewing something IS downloading it.

Anyway, yup, the worlds gone mad! ;)
 
Top