Only six months left to comply with cookies regulations

Paul Dancey on 29/11/2011

The law regarding the use of browser cookies changed earlier this year, but organizations were given 12 months to make sure their websites complied with the new regulations.

Cookies are small text files that some websites store on your PC, so that you can be identified when you next visit that website, and things like user preferences can be set automatically to enhance your viewing experience.

In the past, depending on your browser security settings, cookies were usually downloaded automatically in the background so visitors may not always have been aware that this was happening.

This is no longer allowed under the new regulations, and unless the storing of a particular cookie on a visitors hard drive can be shown to be essential, a mechanism must be provided to seek permission from the visitor before storing the cookie.

So if you haven't already reviewed the use your website makes of cookies, please remember that there are only six months left before enforcement of the new regulations commences, and you may find that the changes required to ensure compliance are more extensive than you thought.

For further information please download a copy of the Information Commissioner's Office advice on the new cookie regulations, and the changes and the steps you needed to ensure compliance.

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