Why New EU Regulations Around Cookies Are Wrong
New EU regulations mean websites will have to alert users when a cookie is used http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/18/eu_cookie_monster/
This is crazy. Cookies are basically barcodes, that a website asks your computer to hold on to on the first page that you load, then gets sent the barcode number back each time you ask for a new page. Without it, the web-site would not be able to keep track of whether you are logged in, what you've put in your basket, etc.
Anyone even marginally technical can show that cookies:
a) pose no security risks in themselves
b) are used by every DYNAMIC web-site. In fact, you cannot shop or interact with a modern web-site WITHOUT cookies, so pretty much every single site uses them in one way or another.
So the fear is that this crazy law will pop-up a message on every single site you visit - your default response being frustration, followed by clicking 'accept' - because if you don't you can't use that site you've visited!
What it sounds like to me is "we're concerned about internet security but we don't really know what we're talking about and we've heard about these 'cookie' things so we're going to clamp down on those"
What the EU are TRYING to do is stop web-sites that track your movements then pass that information back to some central service. Well, this won't make any difference because if you're visiting a web-site presumably you want to use it and therefore have to click 'accept' regardless what they do with that data.
WHY IT WON'T HAPPEN
So who is going to generate these pop-ups? It would have to be either the browser itself, or the developer.
BROWSERS: SO - the browser that has this forcibly switched on will be replaced by one in which it is OPTIONAL. Therefore, browser manufacturers aren't going to be keen to put this 'feature in'. Which leaves it up to the:
DEVELOPERS: 'Good' developers might implement it. But will the 'bad' developers who want to place tracking cookies? Nope.
So there you have it - a completely inept, technical EU decision made by people who have no grasp of technology.
This is crazy. Cookies are basically barcodes, that a website asks your computer to hold on to on the first page that you load, then gets sent the barcode number back each time you ask for a new page. Without it, the web-site would not be able to keep track of whether you are logged in, what you've put in your basket, etc.
Anyone even marginally technical can show that cookies:
a) pose no security risks in themselves
b) are used by every DYNAMIC web-site. In fact, you cannot shop or interact with a modern web-site WITHOUT cookies, so pretty much every single site uses them in one way or another.
So the fear is that this crazy law will pop-up a message on every single site you visit - your default response being frustration, followed by clicking 'accept' - because if you don't you can't use that site you've visited!
What it sounds like to me is "we're concerned about internet security but we don't really know what we're talking about and we've heard about these 'cookie' things so we're going to clamp down on those"
What the EU are TRYING to do is stop web-sites that track your movements then pass that information back to some central service. Well, this won't make any difference because if you're visiting a web-site presumably you want to use it and therefore have to click 'accept' regardless what they do with that data.
WHY IT WON'T HAPPEN
So who is going to generate these pop-ups? It would have to be either the browser itself, or the developer.
BROWSERS: SO - the browser that has this forcibly switched on will be replaced by one in which it is OPTIONAL. Therefore, browser manufacturers aren't going to be keen to put this 'feature in'. Which leaves it up to the:
DEVELOPERS: 'Good' developers might implement it. But will the 'bad' developers who want to place tracking cookies? Nope.
So there you have it - a completely inept, technical EU decision made by people who have no grasp of technology.
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