You may or may not know that a new EU Cookie Directive is due to become law in England by 26th May 2012. No, Europe have not decided to instruct you on what to do with your biscuits but rather how websites that use cookies need to make the visitor clearly aware and even authorise for cookies to be placed on your PC.
Firstly, What is a web cookie?
A cookie is a small text file that a lot of websites place on your computer. It typically contains a small amount of data specific to you and your visit to that website that allows that site to retrieve information about you when you return. The example most commonly used to explain this is Amazon, if you have ever looked at Amazon before, when you return to their website they display the products that you have previously looked at even if you have not logged in. This is because they are receiving the information they stored about you from a small file that they have placed on your PC to enhance your experience.
Are Cookies dangerous?
Generally, No, the way that they work is that your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) will only send the cookie data back to the web server that set it in the first place? this means that no other website can retrieve the data that is stored about you. Also, all browsers offer you the chance to manage how they deal with Cookies, if requested, We will provide more information on how you can manage and restrict them in a later post. There is a slight exception to this which are tracking cookies.
So what are Tracking cookies?
Lots of websites include embedded adverts from a 3rd party website and it is possible for such adverts to store a cookie for that 3rd party site which contains information fed to it from the containing site. This information may include things like the name of the site, what pages have been visited etc. If you then go on and use a different website which contains a vaguely similar embedded advert from the same 3rd party website, the advertiser will be able to read the cookie and use it to find out some information or your web browsing history. This is how some websites that you have never visited before are able to target adverts at your interests or your recently visited websites.
How does the EU Cookie Directive work?
Basically the rules are different depending on which country in the EU your website is hosted in, but within the UK the decision was made by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) that you have to give all visitors to your website the option to opt-out of recieving cookies from your website.
Conclusion
If you are in the UK and you either visit websites or own a website, take note of the above post and act accordingly! If you require help declaring your cookies or you would like to know more about how to see what cookies are stored on your PC then please contact Us
For more guidence on the EU Cookie Directive please visit the ICO website