Legal Matters: Beware of the Cookie Monster

The UK Relaxes User Consent Requirement
The U.K. has been in the vanguard of jurisdictions proceeding with implementation of the EU Directive. Although initial rules came into force on May 26, 2011, website owners were given a 12-month "grace period" to comply before facing enforcement action. Just as the May 26, 2012 deadline for implementation approached, the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued a formal "Guidance" regarding the use of cookies on websites. The ICO announced that explicit consent wasn't necessarily required. The ICO Guidance addressed the most controversial and confusing aspect of the EU Directive — what measures will be viewed by regulators as being sufficient to obtain "consent" to the installation of cookies on users' devices. The EU Directive defines "consent" as "any freely given specific and informed indication of … agreement to personal data … being processed."