Mmmm...Cookies...
You may have noticed a lot of talk about cookies recently and whilst you are hoping they are packed
full of chocolate chips and have just the right consistency, chances are, it’s new privacy legislation
that people are talking about!
We’ve put together this quick guide and gathered some links to other useful online resources so that
you can make some informed choices on how it will affect affiliate marketing and more importantly
your website.
Hopefully this brief guide will help to explain more about what these changes mean for you and
what you need to do to work towards complying with the new regulations.
What you may not know is that this legislation is actually almost one year old! The new Cookie
legislation became Law on May 26th 2011. However, following a year to get you prepared, the new
legislation will become actively enforced from May 26th 2012.
First question... so what IS a cookie?
As stated above... unfortunately we’re not talking about the biscuits here!
Instead we are talking about a piece of technology. A cookie is, essentially, a small file of letters and
numbers downloaded on to your computer when you access certain websites. Cookies allow a
website to ‘recognise’ a user’s computer. Cookies themselves do not require personal information
to be useful and, in most cases, do not personally identify internet users. Cookies are used in a
variety of ways. This can be to remember what items you have placed in your shopping basket,
through to helping with behavioural advertising to identify users who share a particular interest so
that they can be served more relevant adverts.
What does the revised law mean?
The Cookie Law means that websites will need to get consent from customers to store or retrieve
any information on a computer or any other web connected device, such as a smartphone or tablet.
With most websites using cookies and similar technologies, if your business has a website, you will
need to look at making changes to it in order to adhere to the law.
EVERY website uses cookies in some way and what you need to do is get your house in order and
start making progress towards full compliance.
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