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Publishers and online marketers welcome new internet user-friendly provisions on cookies in the ‘Telecom Package’.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
New provisions within the European ‘Telecom package’ - a general review of the rules governing electronic communications - have been welcomed by publishers and the digital advertising industry, due to strengthening security and privacy for internet users. Eliminating legal uncertainty in this area, the ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC) within the Package provides a solid legal basis for cookie management tools in browsers and other applications, recommending a more user-friendly approach and putting increased choice into the hands of consumers.
Cookies enhance the internet user’s experience by allowing a website to recognise a user’s preferences and storing these settings – for example language, authentication details, previous purchases or shopping cart contents and other relevant data. As such they improve and customise the content and advertising for consumers online.
The European Parliament rejected its earlier ‘opt in amendment’ for cookies that would have disrupted the internet experience of users, by requiring repeated pop-up windows, or other intrusive virtual labels upon every web page visited by a user.
Nick Stringer, head of regulatory affairs at the IAB said: “We welcome the revised ePrivacy Directive which offers enhanced user privacy without jeopardising the effective functioning of the internet. It will ensure that the UK and Europe maintain their leadership in digital advertising which helps pay for the majority of services, applications and content we all enjoy online.”
In its Article 5(3), the ePrivacy Directive outlines strong safeguards to protect users from unwanted software such as adware, junk, or even viruses and spyware, requiring software vendors to seek their consent. For cookies, the legislation’s preamble specifically states that the control settings in a web browser are sufficient to comply with the consent requirement in the legislation. Even for cookies that cannot be controlled by web browsers, the new law recognises that the settings of specific control panels satisfy the consent requirement.
The preamble also gives greater emphasis to the need for user-friendly, clear and comprehensive information. By providing transparent information about cookies, users will be in a position to make informed choices; for example by managing their use of cookies via browser settings.
The law now clarifies that websites can rely on browser controls and similar applications to define the acceptance of cookies. Publishers and online marketers support this approach because greater transparency, user-friendly information and easy cookies-management will increase consumer trust and confidence.
“The EU legislator kept the existing opt out regime for cookies and improved it to the benefit of Internet users. Importantly, business now has a solid legal basis to rely on the browser settings when deploying cookies. This recognises the established practice that web users set their cookie preferences in their settings managers.” said IAB Europe Vice President Kimon Zorbas.
Lee Baker, Director of the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) said: “The key to legislation in this area is that it provides consumers with adequate protection while at the same time not jeopardising the consumer’s browsing experience or threatening existing and future legitimate online business models. For AOP members, trust and the reputation of their brands are key and they would never act in a manner that would threaten their relationship with their users and communities by misusing consumer information.”
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Tuesday, 24 November 2009
New provisions within the European ‘Telecom package’ - a general review of the rules governing electronic communications - have been welcomed by publishers and the digital advertising industry, due to strengthening security and privacy for internet users. Eliminating legal uncertainty in this area, the ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC) within the Package provides a solid legal basis for cookie management tools in browsers and other applications, recommending a more user-friendly approach and putting increased choice into the hands of consumers.
Cookies enhance the internet user’s experience by allowing a website to recognise a user’s preferences and storing these settings – for example language, authentication details, previous purchases or shopping cart contents and other relevant data. As such they improve and customise the content and advertising for consumers online.
The European Parliament rejected its earlier ‘opt in amendment’ for cookies that would have disrupted the internet experience of users, by requiring repeated pop-up windows, or other intrusive virtual labels upon every web page visited by a user.
Nick Stringer, head of regulatory affairs at the IAB said: “We welcome the revised ePrivacy Directive which offers enhanced user privacy without jeopardising the effective functioning of the internet. It will ensure that the UK and Europe maintain their leadership in digital advertising which helps pay for the majority of services, applications and content we all enjoy online.”
In its Article 5(3), the ePrivacy Directive outlines strong safeguards to protect users from unwanted software such as adware, junk, or even viruses and spyware, requiring software vendors to seek their consent. For cookies, the legislation’s preamble specifically states that the control settings in a web browser are sufficient to comply with the consent requirement in the legislation. Even for cookies that cannot be controlled by web browsers, the new law recognises that the settings of specific control panels satisfy the consent requirement.
The preamble also gives greater emphasis to the need for user-friendly, clear and comprehensive information. By providing transparent information about cookies, users will be in a position to make informed choices; for example by managing their use of cookies via browser settings.
The law now clarifies that websites can rely on browser controls and similar applications to define the acceptance of cookies. Publishers and online marketers support this approach because greater transparency, user-friendly information and easy cookies-management will increase consumer trust and confidence.
“The EU legislator kept the existing opt out regime for cookies and improved it to the benefit of Internet users. Importantly, business now has a solid legal basis to rely on the browser settings when deploying cookies. This recognises the established practice that web users set their cookie preferences in their settings managers.” said IAB Europe Vice President Kimon Zorbas.
Lee Baker, Director of the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) said: “The key to legislation in this area is that it provides consumers with adequate protection while at the same time not jeopardising the consumer’s browsing experience or threatening existing and future legitimate online business models. For AOP members, trust and the reputation of their brands are key and they would never act in a manner that would threaten their relationship with their users and communities by misusing consumer information.”
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