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New European Cookie Laws

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MrMorph:
Thanks :)

But yes, aimed at the big boys for sure and the abusers of useful technology.

JohnS:
Aimed at the big boys...maybe, well intentioned .... perhaps, will it affect how we operate in future... almost certainly. There is no doubt the active rights elements will step on the bandwagon after 26th, they have already had some success in other areas, forcing the big boys to change their ways. The effect of this new law should not be underestimated. It may well take several years for it to become an issue, but become an issue it will. You can already get instant fines for speeding, how about instant fines for using cookies, wild theory or possibility I do not know, if it becomes an easy target for revenue (hidden taxation) then it will happen. It would not be totally impossible under the new law to require ISP's to report those using cookies.
Although the ICO has stated they may not take action at first, this may be taken out of thier hands, they must by law implement the law and if they do not then they and those that have websites using cookies could be taken to the EU courts, who would have no alternative but to apply the EU directive. There is no such thing as EU law, only directives, so they would apply the law of the country in which the offence took place.
I don't think there is cause for instant concern, but I certainly will have a plan in place to meet the law, how this will effect applications like SMF I do not know. From the 26th use of SMF in Europe may break the law, in UK at least it depends whether you can convince the ICO that such cookies are 'strictly necessary' for the operation of the site. whether that is immediate cause for concern I do not know, it will take time for rulings to come down in this regard and at the moment there is no clear guidance.

CoreISP:
As far as I understood, this law only applies to tracking cookies... Cookies that check where you have been on the internet, what you have been doing there, etc.

This does not apply for normal cookies to save your login and that kind of thing o0

On a sidenote, the SMF servers are in the United States. The European laws do not apply.

JohnS:
The law applies to all cookies (at least the UK law does other countries have a slightly less rigid interpretation of the directive), it also prohibits interrogating for cookies, not only placing cookies, without the express permission of the user. The only exception is for cookies that are 'strictly necessary' to the operation of the website. Though there are some guidelines on this there is no definition of 'strictly necessay' so it is not yet clear whether interrogating every visitor to see if they have a cookie set, or placing a session cookie prior to log in is legal. The only thing you can currently rely on is that shop cookies are OK provided they are not used until after the customer has logged in and there must be a clear warning on the log in page.
The law applies to where the website is used or controlled, not to where it is hosted, though how they would implement anything for non EU hosts sites I do not know, but there are ways and Google in Germany have already found out there are ways. You currently risk a $75,000 fine for using Google Analytics in Germany.
The UK law provides for a fine of up to $750,000 for the use of 'intrusive' cookies (again no definition) and ISP's are required by law to advice the ICO where they are being used. Of course what the law says and what happens may be two different things, but it will take a while before any guidelines become definitive.

CoreISP:
Yeah if you host your SMF website in Europe, it could affect the owner of the website.
However, SMF does not store any intrusive cookies or cookies that track what you are doing on the internet.

The cookies stored for login *are* stricly necesarry.
This law wont cause trouble for something like this.


--- Quote ---The law applies to where the website is used or controlled, not to where it is hosted
--- End quote ---

That is not true. If people from Europe visit our website and we would store tracking cookies on their computer, they cant do anything about it as long as it is legal in the united states.
The European laws do not apply to us in the United States, same as the DMCA (as example) does not extend beyond the borders of the USA...
*IF* we would store such cookies and someone from Europe (where it is illegal) would visit our website we cannot be punished nor would we be doing anything that's against the law. Servers in the US, the US laws apply. Not the laws of another continent or country.

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