No, not those delicious biscuits, but cookies used for websites.
Definition of a cookie
For those who don't know what a cookie is, it is something that is on most websites that you visit and they are used to gather information about your visit.
This clearly has privacy implications which is why the EU are regulating their use.
However, cookies can be extremely helpful if you are, for example, visiting an online shop and you want them to remember your delivery details. It saves you time filling in the same data over and over again.
Cookies are also used by Google Analytics to track visitor behaviour so that website performance can be monitored and improved.
What do website owners need to do about this EU regulation?
This is still open to clarification, but the EU have now published guidelines which are expertly summarised by Paul Boag in this article. He has also provided a link to the full guidelines.
He advises you, or your web designer (could be me!), to find out what cookies are being used on your website.
All the websites I design have Google Analytics which do store cookies. It looks as though you might not need to ask for people to positively accept this via a potentially annoying pop up, but you may need to advise your visitors that the website does indeed have these cookies.
I will keep an eye out for any further clarifications and post them on this blog.
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