New "Cookie Law" Update

A couple of days ago we posted a synopsis of the new "cookie law" that comes into effect on Saturday 26th May, which outlined the "analytics or no analytics" dilemma facing website owners.

However, today (25th May) the ICO rendered our original article somewhat pointless with the issue a further set of guidelines (the eve of the legislation taking effect is perhaps a little late), with an accompanying video explaining their approach to enforcement. In essence these notes considerably reinforce their stance of not expecting to take any action against websites using tracking cookies, the expectation that website owners need only make the least intrusive changes to comply, a U turn on their stance on explicit v implied consent, and that the focus of their attention will be on targeting the worst 3rd party cookie offenders that the legislation was originally intended to attack in the first place.

To read the ICO the blog post and watch the video, CLICK HERE. We particularly liked the line: "The Information Commissioner is responsible for enforcing the law, and can’t change the legislation which was passed by the EU, and later implemented by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)." In other words, don't blame us for this stupid law, we didn't make it!

To check out the new ICO guidance notes, CLICK HERE