New EU cookie law

[dc9-32]

Effective today apparently but where will I find some software that allows me to place the "warning" message on the home page when someone visits the site ? Is a piece of free HTML code available ?

[mixture]

dc9-32,

My understanding :

You run a website. You want to display a cookie warning message on the homepage.

My answer :

Sorry if I'm missing the obvious, but why not just enter the text on there like you would any other update to your website ? Or if you want it to stand out just create a graphic with a coloured background and the text you want ?

Its not rocket science, and you certainly don't need a third party to produce "free HTML code" or anything else for you !

[BOAC]

As mixture says - request is odd!

Why do you use cookies on your site?
How is your site constructed eg Wordpress, Joomla, add as appropriate

[dc9-32]

yes but most sites I've seen need the viewer to tick a box to say they accept.

The Information Commissioners Office stated the following:

The ICO's Dave Evans said yesterday:
We’ve been saying that we expect organisations to be on the path to compliance – which means that UK websites must provide visitors with sufficient information to make a decision on whether they are happy for a cookie to be placed on their device and obtain consent before placing a cookie.

[Milo Minderbinder]

simple answer is, if you need to ask the question here, then you don't understand cookies - and don't need them on your site.
Disable them. They are intrusive unneeded intrusions on privacy

[mixture]

Suggest you re-read the guidance dc9.

See the guidance PDF linked to from this page (http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies.aspx).

I also suggest you look around more. For example, look at the Egg Banking website, note how they've done it. Look at the John Lewis website, note how they've done it.

But as Milo said, now might be a good time to reconsider whether cookies are actually still needed on your website.

[green granite]

The EU governed by idiots for idiots, since every browsers have a 'don't accept cookies' option why don't they just get the browser people to set 'don't accept' as default? Instead they use their power for the sake of it, the sooner we tell these power crazed loonies to foxtrot oscar the better.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

simple answer is, if you need to ask the question here, then you don't understand cookies - and don't need them on your site.
Disable them. They are intrusive unneeded intrusions on privacy
I rather suspect that the owners of very many web sites have no idea whether or not their site uses cookies.

One might guess for example that if your site uses third party services such as Google advertisements or Google Maps there may be some cookies involved ... but how would you know, and how would you control them? Is it be the responsibility of the third party service provider, wherever they are in the world, to provide features to cope with the new law, or is the only safe way to stop using these third party services? What if you do actually manage to check, and discover that the third party service provider doesn't use cookies ... but in eighteen months' time they start using them, and don't tell you?

Etc etc. It will be interesting to see what does and doesn't end up in the courts.

[Milo Minderbinder]

"I rather suspect that the owners of very many web sites have no idea whether or not their site uses cookies."

Then they need to learn quickly, or hire someone who does understand to run their sites for them

If you need cookies for business purposes then you need someone in charge who understands ALL the legal ramifications - including data retension, privacy and financial safety
If you don't need cookies for business purposes- then you don't need cookies at all

[Mike-Bracknell]

You may want to read this then...

m.guardian.co.uk (http://m.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/26/cookies-law-changed-implied-consent?cat=technology&type=article)

[dc9-32]

Baffled to say the very least.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Then they need to learn quickly, or hire someone who does understand to run their sites for them
Yeah right, they've bought a cheap packaged site for £5, implemented using who knows what version of which software, from a hosting organisation that doesn't answer tech support calls (well, obviously; how could they at that price) ...

[Milo Minderbinder]

welcome to the real world.

Ignorance of the law is no defence

[riverrock83]

I quite like how the Information Commissioner's website appears broken until you find the message at the top of the screen and agree to allow their cookies... Some parts of the website work, others don't.

Essentially, you need consent unless the cookie is technically required to do what the user wants your website to do. Therefore a nice greeting (saying "Welcome Back") needs consent as its not essential, but a shopping basket (where you have forward and back buttons) you don't need explicit consent for. If you log into a website, the terms and conditions you "OKed" when you registered probably already cover consent.
The companies with the biggest problems are the site advertisers which use one cookie across multiple websites, allowing them to track which websites you visit.