In a new press release the Information Commissioner has warned British website owners that they will need to re-think the way cookies are used on their websites.

From the 25^th May 2011, a new EU legislation has stated that website owners must gain consent from the user to enable cookie tracking on their computer.

For those who don’t know, cookies (not the edible kind!) are small text files which work behind the scenes on websites. They can store logins and passwords, count the users visits to the website and track the visits of people directed from an affiliate website.

Even though the legislation is to be effective in less than 3 months time, EU governments have yet to decide how the law will be implemented. Due to this, it is unlikely that the legislation will be enforced straight away to give people time to find a workable solution. One of the options being suggested is for new browser versions to be implemented with the opt-in/out functionality built in. Another option would be for website owners to implement a pop up box on their website which prompts users to give their consent for the use of cookies.

The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham says “While the roll out of this new law will be a challenge, it will have positive benefits as it will give people more choice and control over what information businesses and other organisations can store on and access from consumers’ own computers.”

It can be understood why people need the choice of what information is stored about them and also why people would want to protect that information. However, it is also clear to see why people are worried about this new legislation. As the new law only applies to the EU, it could possibly force users to choose American sites rather than British ones as the Americans will not have the disrupting pop ups.

One of the key arguments against this legislation is that it could completely disrupt the user experience of the internet. Old versions of Internet Explorer used to notify the user of cookies being used; this functionality was removed in later versions as people found it irritating.

The most interesting argument against the legislation I have come across, is that for the opt-in pop up to work effectively; the answer (ironically) needs to be stored in a cookie so that the pop up does not appear every time you navigate through the pages of the website.

Personally, I think the last argument speaks for itself. Cookies seem to be an integral part of the user experience: saving us time filling in our username and passwords; displaying advertisements which are catered to our personal tastes; analysing browsing habits; remembering payment details for online purchases… where would we be in this fast paced world of the internet without these time saving devices?

It will be interesting to see how the EU governments tackle these problems but one thing is for sure; this legislation is definitely going to shake up the way we browse the internet.

If you have an opinion on this matter, let us know!