UK cookie law

[Frances_iom]

the new UK law re requiring explicit consent to cookies etc came into force today - also (eg for those who haven't already blocked google analytics in their Hosts file) notification of such sharing of user info with others - I saw a brief message from FF is the site compliant?

[french frank]

the new UK law re requiring explicit consent to cookies etc came into force today - also (eg for those who haven't already blocked google analytics in their Hosts file) notification of such sharing of user info with others - I saw a brief message from FF is the site compliant?

I'm meaning to put a link to that message in the sidebar. We have to make a code addition to the software program (which I don't know how to do!) to include an opt-in before people are allowed to register which would make us fully compliant but I'm taking Russ's view that a site like this won't be a prime target of the authorities. The cookie policy will be displayed prominently (just below the House Rules) and will be visible to visitors before they join. We pay for this software which has no advertising and there's no commercial tracking. As I said in my draft message, statistical data is collected for our private benefit, some of which uses cookies, but it doesn't provide any data relating to individual users.

I think Russ's view is that for the moment an attempt to be transparent about the extent to which cookies are used, and the use to which they are put should satisfy the authorities and, I hope, users. Members can raise any concerns with me and I'll try to find the answer if I don't already know it.

[Thanks for the reminder - it was interrupted business.]

Add: Thanks for the point about sharing information (we don't).

[Frances_iom]

Add: Thanks for the point about sharing information (we don't).

agree you don't but the google analytics cookie/access does ! in that it tracks your IP address across those sites using google analytics - you didn't think google was offering a public service did you ?

[Ariosto]

I forgot to take my cookies out of the oven and they are now burnt to a cinder. Best thing really ...

[french frank]

agree you don't but the google analytics cookie/access does ! in that it tracks your IP address across those sites using google analytics - you didn't think google was offering a public service did you ?

I'm not sure what you know and what you suspect about the service.

This is their description.

"Google Analytics sets or updates cookies only to collect data required for [your] reports. Additionally, Google Analytics uses only first-party cookies. This means that all cookies set by Google Analytics for your domain send data only to the servers for your domain. This effectively makes Google Analytics cookies the personal property of your website domain, and the data cannot be altered or retrieved by any service on another domain."

If they are found to be in contravention of this declaration and illicitly forwarding our data to other parties we would stop using them.

[Frances_iom]

If they are found to be in contravention of this declaration and illicitly forwarding our data to other parties we would stop using them.

Google are not sharing the info with anyone other than themselves ! - they are the ones doing the matching of IP addresses - agree they don't give you the details derived from other sites but their database cross-links IP addresses using for3 with say Daily Wail accesses thus that IP address is unlikely to be served adverts for say the Grauniad

[french frank]

But according to Google this is not cookie based.

"if you visit a gardening site, Google can determine the content of the site and may automatically show ads related to gardening to all visitors without using a cookie."

I can't say that I've noticed any ads relating to classical music which would be expected if they connected this forum to such an interest.

[Dave2002]

agree you don't but the google analytics cookie/access does ! in that it tracks your IP address across those sites using google analytics - you didn't think google was offering a public service did you ?

Frances

Presumably you've seen the reports from the US of what happened when some search data was published - in large volumes. A journalist was able to identify and locate a woman from the searches, and then go and interview her. The point was that virtually none of the individual searches would have identified the woman, but taken altogether it was easy to pin that person down. It was also possible to make inferences, though some were incorrect. One inference might have been that she had cancer, but this would not have been valid. It turned out she was searching for information for a friend. I think the point of the various articles about this case is that although the journalist managed to find just one person based on the search data, in principle he could have identified very many more people. It wasn't that that particular woman was an easy case. He did manage to find a lot out about her though, based on the search data, before he met her.

[Frances_iom]

Frances

Presumably you've seen the reports from the US of what happened when some search data was published - in large volumes.

there are many such stories - this I think derives from Yahoo who gave an anonymised database to researchers to investigate types of queries - I have a website that includes transcipts of pre 20th C material (census, parish records, land records etc) - it is remarkable how much one can piece together from such data - those who sign into google (+ esp Facebook) make it trivially easy for an advertising company to build up a complete picture (+ recall the net doesn't forget so teenage stupidities will come back to haunt many in a few years)- once the NHS is privatised in a year or so watch the insurance companies mine the archives for uninsurable pre-conditions - already you have seen refused admittance to US of someone who cracked a British joke on twitter that was misinterpreted by the paranoid American police state.

[french frank]

Am I right that this is more about privacy laws/policies than cookies or GA data?

[Ariosto]

there are many such stories - this I think derives from Yahoo who gave an anonymised database to researchers to investigate types of queries - I have a website that includes transcipts of pre 20th C material (census, parish records, land records etc) - it is remarkable how much one can piece together from such data - those who sign into google (+ esp Facebook) make it trivially easy for an advertising company to build up a complete picture (+ recall the net doesn't forget so teenage stupidities will come back to haunt many in a few years)- once the NHS is privatised in a year or so watch the insurance companies mine the archives for uninsurable pre-conditions - already you have seen refused admittance to US of someone who cracked a British joke on twitter that was misinterpreted by the paranoid American police state.

They did them a favour, who wants admittance to that zoo?

[Beef Oven]

EU cookie law actually - as all laws are these days, it seems.

[Pabmusic]

EU cookie law actually - as all laws are these days, it seems.

Slight exaggeration, perhaps.

Contrary to popular opinion, all laws in the UK are UK laws, passed by our various governments. Many of them do stem from EU Directives, and represent the UK's chosen ways of implementing decisions from Brussels (I've no idea about the cookies law, but it seems the right sort of thing). But most UK laws don't stem from Brussels at all; they're dreamt up by our various governments. In any event, Brussels does not interest itself with non-treaty issues (the treaties being mostly about commerce and trade, and the free movement of EU citizens). That doesn't stop the EU being a convenient target of blame because officious, bureaucratic things like the implementation of health and safety laws become conflated with the EU. I'm slightly surprised the proposed tax on hot pasties wasn't blamed on the EU - I still think it might join the 'straight bananas' in the mythology eventually.

[Beef Oven]

Slight exaggeration, perhaps.

Contrary to popular opinion, all laws in the UK are UK laws, passed by our various governments. Many of them do stem from EU Directives, and represent the UK's chosen ways of implementing decisions from Brussels (I've no idea about the cookies law, but it seems the right sort of thing). But most UK laws don't stem from Brussels at all; they're dreamt up by our various governments. In any event, Brussels does not interest itself with non-treaty issues (the treaties being mostly about commerce and trade, and the free movement of EU citizens). That doesn't stop the EU being a convenient target of blame because officious, bureaucratic things like the implementation of health and safety laws become conflated with the EU. I'm slightly surprised the proposed tax on hot pasties wasn't blamed on the EU - I still think it might join the 'straight bananas' in the mythology eventually.

What a sweet and naive fellow you are Stick to music and avoid things that you don't understand.

[Pabmusic]

What a sweet and naive fellow you are Stick to music and avoid things that you don't understand.

Am I supposed to tug my forelock to you?