Evidon

With all the speculation surrounding the EU’s Directive on Online Privacy it’s easy to lose perspective about getting compliant and forget that all we are being asked to do is talk to consumers about what we do, how we do it and why.

It is the manner in which we ask permission to continue using cookies and other tracking technology that is up for discussion.  No one is suggesting there is a one-size-fits-all solution. The onus is clearly on the website owner to become more transparent.

New Year, fresh start, and for online marketers in the UK, that includes finalising preparations for a market where the ePrivacy Directive is actually enforced.  The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) initially granted a 12-month reprieve from enforcement to give us time to ‘get our houses in order,’ but the reprieve will be a distant memory when it expires on May 25^th.  Did I just spoil your day?  The good news is that consensus is beginning to emerge on first steps that you can take, and more importantly, the ICO has not demanded that the market go opt-in.

When it comes to the ePrivacy Directive, the first step towards getting compliant will be in admitting that you have a law to deal with and it's not going away.

Evidence of innovation on your part with regard to transparency - doing something meaningful to advance dialogue with your consumers, explaining how and why you are using their data - will put you in a strong, defensible position come the deadline for compliance in May 2012.

If you operate a business that uses cookies - for example, to track and target online behaviour - and you’re located within the EU, now is the time to get educated on the ePrivacy Directive. It’s a law, and compliance with it will start being enforced soon. In the event this is all news to you, let me explain.

The ePrivacy Directive stipulates that businesses must gain consumer consent before collecting or using their data. It applies broadly to cookies used for third party behavioural advertising and virtually any other ad-related purpose including analytics, optimisation and attribution. The scope is wide enough to implicate every site and every ad delivered in the EU.