Internet advertisers: New cookie laws approved |
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| Sales and Marketing | |
| Written by Roberta Murray | |
| Friday, 13 November 2009 | |
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Claims that users will be bombarded with pop-ups seeking permission to accept the cookies. The European Union has approved a package of new telecoms reforms, including a law requiring internet users to provide consent to online advertisers and publishers to allow the use of cookies on their computers. The new legislation could have huge implications for online advertisers, many of which use cookies for targeting ads and audience segmentation.The current EU telecom law allows the use of cookies if web users are notified of them and are able to opt-out. In the UK, the information commissioner’s office issued a directive stating that web sites should clearly direct web users to a page where they can opt out of the use of cookies. However, when the new law is introduced internet users will have to provide consent to cookies being stored on their computers. This could result in them being bombarded with pop-ups seeking their permission to accept the cookies. There is an exception to the new legislation – when a cookie is “strictly necessary”, for example, when shopping online a cookie is allowed to go from a product page to the checkout page without the user’s consent. The text of the amendment to article 5 (3) of the 2002 European Communities Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications states, in part, that “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/her consent”. The new legislation is part of a draft telecom law that will come into effect within the next 18 months. The EU said the main purpose of the new legislation is to strike a balance between clamping down on illegal downloads and broad rights to internet use.
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