The European Parliament may outlaw internet cookies on the grounds that they infringe privacy.
Cookies are software tags that are put on your computer by websites to allow them to identify you when you revisit. They are undoubtedly useful, but MEPs are concerned that surfers might unknowingly give away personal information.
鈥淐ookies can be used to track the surfing history of the internet user, and can be used to build profiles of the user concerned,鈥� says Dutch MEP Wim van Velzen, who made the proposal. 鈥淭his profile can contain much more than a login and password.鈥�
Advertisement
Under the new proposal, cookies count as being part of the 鈥減rivate sphere鈥� of the user and so are afforded human rights protection.
Web bugs
The proposal equates cookies with spyware, web bugs, hidden identifiers and other similar devices, stating: 鈥淭he use of such devices should therefore be prohibited unless the explicit, well informed and freely given consent of the user concerned has been obtained.鈥�
The proposal has provoked an angry response from web businesses, not least because cookies already require such consent. 鈥淏ut these regulations will require that you give consent each and every time you visit that site,鈥� says Danny Meadows-Klue, CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau UK.
He says hundreds of web businesses could be in the firing line if the measure is approved. He claims that in Britain alone internet companies could lose 拢187 million in advertising revenues if cookies are restricted. And a recent poll by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising found that 75 per cent of online purchases rely on cookies, he says.
Making life easier
The IAB has launched a 鈥淪ave our Cookies鈥� campaign to raise awareness. 鈥淚ll-informed MEPs at the European Parliament have branded cookies as a 鈥榮py device鈥�,鈥� says Meadows-Klue. 鈥淚t will undermine confidence, confuse users and slow the internet down. Cookies are there to make life easier for the user.鈥�
Without cookies, web surfers will have to re-register or re-enter their preferences every time they visit particular websites. By insisting that users give explicit and prior consent they could also be bombarded with consent emails.
If the proposal is passed by the European Parliament on 13 November it will be passed to the European Council of Ministers for approval. If successful there, it could become a European directive within six months, requiring European member states to implement it within two years.