What is the Cookie Law?
Love it or hate it the cookie law is here to stay. It became law in the UK on the 26th May 2012.
Cookies are small files that are stored in your browser and help sites remember pages visited. They store information about what the visitor is viewing, they are used to collate data around visitor behavior and help build customer profiles for advertising.
The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) provide a comparison between cookies that are used to improve website functionality and gathering website traffic information for tracking like Google Analytics to those that use advanced tracking for advertising.
Those that use cookies to gather the information for advertising must clearly visualise the purpose on the website with an opt in banner displayed for visitors to choose whether to continue. Those that fail to comply under the new law from May 2012 face a penalty of £500,000.
The law refers to business website, e-commerce site and any that carry advertising. A Facebook page, where data is gathered can be used by companies to profile customers for advertising purposes, like a website the page must:
- Provide clear messages easily identified as Cookie Law information
- Tell people that the cookies are there
- Explain what the cookies are doing
- Obtain their consent to store a cookie on their device with an opt in process
Agenci and the Cookie Law
The minimum requirement by the ICO is a Cookie Law Audit. Agenci Information Security will help you to meet your legal obligations with a Cookie Law Audit and:
- Help you understand the Cookie Law and the cookies on your website
- Find out what these cookies are for and whether you need to get consent (there are some exemptions)
- Outline the compliance requirements and what happens if you don’t comply
- Create the process with clear messages and an opt in clause as a banner
- Help improve customer relations with an honest and open website
- Reduce the threat of legal action and penalties
Agenci Information Security are delivering Cookie Law compliance solutions and Cookie Law audits for some of the largest UK brands. Utilising an experienced and qualified audit model from Data Protection and Legal and Regulatory Compliance experts.
Contact a member of the Agenci Information Security team to find out what cookies are doing on your website and how you can meet current legislation on 0113 366 2037.
“Agenci have been extremely useful, dedicated and proficient in large and small audits on a range of digital projects for the top brands we work on. They have been and continue to be a pleasure to work with.” Richard Max, Billington Cartmell