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Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
There are now only six months (162 days) left until 25th May 2012 to ensure that if your website asks for cookies there is an opt-in policy for your site visitors to accept any cookies your website places on their computers.
UK is one of only 5 countries requiring website owners to conform to this EU Directive – the others are Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden. Many other countries have also passed the legislation for the ‘cookie law’ (in particular, Article 5(3) of the e-privacy directive) but are not enforcing opt-in.
The article states:
‘3. Member States shall ensure that the storing of information, or the gaining of access to information already stored, in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user is only allowed on condition that the subscriber or user concerned has given his or her consent, having been provided with clear and comprehensive information, in accordance
with Directive 95/46/EC, inter alia, about the purposes of the processing. This shall not prevent any technical storage or access for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network, or as strictly necessary in order for the provider of an information society service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user to provide the service.’;
It is a LEGAL requirement for all sites using cookies to understand the full reach of the law and ensure their sites are compliant. The Information Commissioner has said this week that websites must try harder, and has published updated guidance on how to comply. Depending on the amount of information requested, and the level of ‘tracking’ that a cookie may seek from a user’s activities, the penalty for non-compliance could be severe – up to £500,000 for a serious breach.
There is a whole host of information about making your website and collection of data compliant with the new law before May on sites such as Cookielaw.org. This website includes a DIY Cookie Audit as well as Cookie Toolkit to help you resolve any issues that your website may face under the new law. There are also ebooks, FAQs, and much more information, online.
You will need to check every page that your visitors will visit, and try out all functionality. If your company has a large website, this may take a few people to ensure a full check has been carried out. It also gives you an ideal opportunity to check that all your forms etc are functioning as you would expect them to. Unless some kind visitor lets you know that part of your website is malfunctioning, you may not realise unless you have Objectives and Goals set up in Analytics and notice a sudden drop-off of completions of goals.
The use of cookies is sensitive – for some privacy advocates, cookies are an intrusion. For companies looking to gather additional marketing information, they are simply a tool to do a job. For instance, Google, Amazon, Facebook and most online ad agencies and brokers use cookies to target and push information to users based on the tracking information gathered.
Whichever side of the fence you sit on about cookies, as a website owner you will need to comply with the law so check out the Cookie Law on the Information Commissioner’s website today.
Tags: compliance, cookie, e-privacy, eu directive, law, may 2012, websites
Posted in Blog, SEM Industry, Small Business Resources, Website Usability
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Friday, June 13th, 2008
Word of Mouth marketing has been gaining ground for some time, and a new UK law will shortly come into force that has implications for marketers adopting the practice.
As discussions about ethical marketing continue to dominate many of the leading IM forums, blogs etc, it is vital that any UK marketer looking to adopt WOM as a practice for clients not only behaves ethically, but also adheres to the law.
Buzz marketing and marketing on social networking sites both fall under the legislation, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations and practioners need to be fully aware of this legislation which came into effect on May 26th 2008 and its impact on already common practices. The effect for clients otherwise could, potentially, be disastrous.
The British Institute of Practioners in Advertising issued a warning to all marketers, who are strongly advised to read about the new law, and to assess whether any of their actions could fall under the remit of this legislation BEFORE the law comes into force.
Further details can be found in this article and for members there is a full briefing on the IPA website.
Tags: law, wom, word of mouth
Posted in SEM Industry, Social Media
