[Chapter-delegates] cookies

[Jozef Halbersztadt]

Dear Colleagues,

In Poland we are in process of updating privacy regulations, which were amended by European Union in 2009. My question is about cookies provisions, their implementation is your countries. New directive demands 'opt-in', industry would strongly prefer 'opt-out' set up, that was allowed till now. A few sentences on the UK situation you can find here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_on_Privacy_and_Electronic_Communications#Cookies

Are you aware how problem was solved in your country? Are information in the table correct?
http://www.ffw.com/pdf/cookie-consent-tracking-table.pdf

Is cookies consent problem debated in non-European countries, especially the USA?

The UK Government commissioned PriceWaterhouseCoopers to conduct research into the potential impact of cookies regulation. PWC conducted an online survey of over 1000 individuals in February 2011. http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/consultations/PwC_Internet_Cookies_final.pdf

Main findings:

Despite the report acknowledging that the most intensive internet
users are overrepresented in the sample, the results illustrate that
significant percentages of these more ‘internet savvy’ consumers have
limited understanding of cookies and how to manage them:

- 41% of those surveyed were unaware of any of the different types of
cookies (first party, third party, Flash / Local Storage). Only 50%
were aware of first party cookies.
- Only 13% of respondents indicated that they fully understood how
cookies work, 37% had heard of internet cookies but did not understand
how they work and 2% of people had not heard of internet cookies
before participating in the survey.
- 37% said they did not know how to manage cookies on their computer.
- The survey tested respondents’ knowledge of cookies, asking them to
confirm if a number of statements about cookies were correct or not.
Out of the sixteen statements only one was answered correctly by the
majority of respondents.

Those who use the internet less regularly, or have a generally lower
level of technical awareness, are even less likely to understand the
way cookies work and how to manage them. The report concluded that
‘broader consumer education about basic online privacy fundamentals
could go a long way toward making users feel more comfortable online
and also enable them to take more control of their privacy while
online’ and that ‘online businesses will need to evolve their data
collection and usage transparency in order to illustrate to consumers
the benefits of opting-in.’

Best regards,
Jozef Halbersztadt

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'JotHal' jozef [dot] halbersztadt [at] gmail [dot] com
Internet Society Poland http://www.isoc.org.pl