EU Cookie Directive - is it ALL cookies (and other questions)?

[AndyHall]

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I'm trying to get my head around the new directive before I finalise some code for a client, but there seems to be alot of conflicting opinions about and it's written in a way that makes my eyes bleed.


Q: Will it cover ALL cookies or just 3rd party cookies, or just tracking cookies, or just 3rd party tracking cookies or...(any other types of cookie you can think of)

Q: Does it only cover plain text cookies or are all forms of data storage on a users machine included? (E-Tags, Flash cookies etc)

Q: If it only covers 3rd party cookies, does that put the onus is on the 3rd party?

Q: Are browser settings REALLY enough (like the IAB claims) or is it more like Out-Law claims: Changes to cookie laws | OUT-LAW.COM by Pinsent Masons LLP

Q: Who do I trust? The IAB (looking to keep us all making the money) or the Lawyers (looking to make money from those of us who cock up)?

Q: Will we really have to do things like this: EU “Cookies” Directive. Interactive guide to 25th May and what it means for you
(fun question)

Q: Who REALLY won the war? (rhetorical question)

[Hero]

to answer your questions:
we don't know, we don't know, we don't know, probably not, the IAB.

We're on standby for the clarifications that will be issued shortly after the 25th May.
Last week's NMA had a nice piece on what cookies are served on each vertical, made for an interesting analysis. They used a weird breakdown of cookies:

*advertising cookies: set by on-site ads such as banners
*Functional cookies: First-party cookies that include authentication or personalisation of a website. Most will be excluded from the legislation as they're used to set specifically requested services
*Social cookies: Set by 3rd-party social media technologies for sharing content
*Tracking cookies: Used by analytics tracking software
*Session cookies: Stored temporarily for a single wen session. Excluded from the results as tehy're less likely to be impacted by the legislation
*Marketing cookies: Set by promotional activities such as search marketing or email. They weren't included in the study
*Flash cookies: Set by Flash objects to track behaviour. Not included in this study.

The vast majority of online activity obviously falls under the marketing cookie category.

[AndyHall]

Thanks for the reply Hero.

The only thing that's clear to me is that this is going to be a bloody minefield for everyone.

It's interesting that the clarifications won't be available until AFTER it becomes law. In the meantime I'm playing it cautious with my coding. Any cookie that I control for onsite tracking set without logging in is wrapped in:

if($theIABandEUAgreeThatThisCookieIsntAffected == true){

//set cookie
} 

With the above, I just have a switch that'll turn it on or off. Last thing I want to do is recode everything when some tool in power decides he thinks he knows what hes talking about.

To be honest, from what I've read pretty much everywhere, no-one with any sway knows what the hell they're talking about. It smacks of that 1999 tabloid scare that cookies will melt your face (or some other ill-educated scare-mongering garbage).

I wish the EU would stick to straightening cucumbers and bending bananas...