The EU legislation is pointless A statement from Michael Ross, Director of eCommera, on the recent EU Cookie Law

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: The EU legislation is pointless A statement from Michael Ross, Director of eCommera, on the recent EU Cookie Law.

Finally, last Thursday, the ICO issued their updated guidance on the cookie policy - to say there was a last minute change of heart would be an understatement. The whole premise of the cookie regulation has moved from requiring "informed prior consent" to now accepting that "implied consent" will suffice for most situations. It is a banal end to a year of stress and anxiety for commercial players online where the only people to benefit have been the lawyers. 

 
The banality of the ICO's approach is embarrassing.  They appear to have decided that it is important for consumers to understand the intricacies of cookies before they are safe to use the internet.  Really?  It is like expecting people to understand the basics of quantum mechanics before they can buy a microwave. I have worked in the online world for 18 years and, whilst I understand what cookies enable, I have little understanding of how they work in practice.  And why cookies?  What about HTML5?  What about browsers?
 
The reality is that consumers want things to work and they want to make sure that their information is not abused.  How that happens in practice is the job for intelligent legislators and regulators. It is shameful that the UK is kaotaoing to pointless EU legislation at a time when we should be positioning the UK as a global internet hub.