This story is sponsored by BetfairBetfair and William Hill are among 75 companies that have received a letter from the UK’s data protection watchdog asking them to prove their compliance with the EU’s cookie directive.
Following the implementation of 2009/136 into UK law on 26 May last year, UK-facing companies were given a year-long moratorium to bring their websites into compliance with the new directive, which only allows for the storing of cookies on a website user’s computer if “the user has given his or her consent, having been provided with clear and comprehensive information.”
With the stay-of-execution period due to end tomorrow, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent regulatory office charged with overseeing the implementation of the new cookie law, has written to 75 of the UK’s “key stakeholders in the national and regional implementation of these changes” requesting they “demonstrate the action your organisation has taken to comply with the revised rules for cookies.”
As well as Betfair and William Hill, other companies that have received warning shots across their bows from the ICO include Amazon, Apple, the BBC, eBay, Google, Facebook, the National Lottery and Tesco.
The ICO has given companies 28 days to provide details of their roadmap to compliance with the new law. “If your organisation has not yet achieved compliance, please provide an explanation about why it has not been possible to comply within time, a clear timescale for when compliance will be achieved, and details of specifically what work is being done to make that happen.”
The ICO also outlined its options for taking formal action against companies that do not provide evidence they are working towards complying with the new cookie law within a reasonable timeframes. These include fines of up to £500,000.
Cookies are used by many websites, including online gambling sites, to track users’ online activity across numerous websites. The cookie directive amended the 2003 E-Piracy Directive on data protection and privacy, that governs confidentiality of information, treatment of traffic data, spam and cookies on the internet. The ICO, that reports directly to Parliament, is the independent regulatory body charged with ensuring companies’ compliance with this and other related laws, such as the Data Protection Act 1998.
All websites will eventually have to featuring a notice stating that they use cookies, a link to its policy governing their use and a check box for users to opt-in to accepting cookies from that particular website.
