Data protection and privacy laws are particularly important for online businesses which handle personal electronic data or use cookies.
- Make your Data protection policy
- Get started
- Answer a few questions. We'll take care of the rest
Data protection considerations
The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) is designed to regulate the use of personal data by businesses and other organisations. The DPA is the main legislation implementing the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in the UK.
Anyone processing personal data must ensure that it is:
To protect your privacy on the web, you need to learn about the cookie controls provided in your browser. You should also investigate some specialized tools that can control all cookie types. Unfortunately, however, even if you do make the effort to control cookies, there is little that you can currently do to protect against cookie-less. Get unmatched data protection on the release cadence that suits your organization. Firefox Reality Strap on your goggles and step into the immersive web with Firefox Browser for VR. Protect yourself and your business. Not following the laws and regulations can expose you and your business to liability in a number of different ways. Our service can help you keep your cookie policy current and compliant with the latest government and legal requirements. Information Google collects. We want you to understand the types of information we collect as you use our services. We collect information to provide better services to all our users — from figuring out basic stuff like which language you speak, to more complex things like which ads you'll find most useful, the people who matter most to you online, or which YouTube videos you might like. Analytics cookies. We use analytics cookies to understand how you use our websites so we can make them better, e.g. They're used to gather information about the pages you visit and how many clicks you need to accomplish a task.
used fairly, lawfully and in a transparent manner;
collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes;
adequate, relevant and its collection limited to what is necessary;
accurate and kept up to date;
kept in a form that enables identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary;
handled according to the data protection rights of individuals;
kept secure and not transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA) without adequate protection.
From 25 May 2018, organisations that determine the purpose for which personal data is processed (i.e. data controllers) must pay the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) a data protection fee unless they are exempt. To find out more about the data protection fee, see the guidance on the ICO's website.
Cookies are files stored on a computer's browser by websites which can be used for various purposes, often related to marketing or advertising.
GDPR
If you use cookies to uniquely identify a device or the person using that device, it is considered personal data under the GDPR. This means that cookies used for analytics, advertising and functional services come within the ambit of the GDPR. To be compliant, you'll need to stop collecting cookies that uniquely identify individuals or find a lawful ground to collect and process that data, for example, consent.
Such consent must be:
given through a clear affirmative action, such as clicking an opt-in box or choosing settings or preferences on a settings menu. Simply visiting a website doesn't count as consent.
given freely and genuinely
It must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it. This means that if you want to tell people to block cookies if they don't give their consent, you must make them accept cookies first. You must also give people the option to change their mind, i.e. by providing an opt-out option. This is especially important if you wish to implement the 'soft opt-in' option.
Cookie 5 9 2 – Protect Your Online Privacy Screens
Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) set out certain online marketing obligations and govern the use of cookies (also known as the Cookie Law).
Under the PECR, websites cannot use 'non essential' cookies unless the consent of the user is expressly given - in other words, users must first opt-in before such cookies can be deployed.
Non-essential cookies are those which are used for analytical purposes or to assist with advertising. Even cookies which customise a website (such as providing a greeting message) are deemed to be non essential.
Essential cookies are generally those which enable an online checkout process to work properly - or if required for technical or security purposes.
- Make your Data protection policy
- Get started
- Answer a few questions. We'll take care of the rest
Data protection considerations
The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) is designed to regulate the use of personal data by businesses and other organisations. The DPA is the main legislation implementing the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in the UK.
Anyone processing personal data must ensure that it is:
To protect your privacy on the web, you need to learn about the cookie controls provided in your browser. You should also investigate some specialized tools that can control all cookie types. Unfortunately, however, even if you do make the effort to control cookies, there is little that you can currently do to protect against cookie-less. Get unmatched data protection on the release cadence that suits your organization. Firefox Reality Strap on your goggles and step into the immersive web with Firefox Browser for VR. Protect yourself and your business. Not following the laws and regulations can expose you and your business to liability in a number of different ways. Our service can help you keep your cookie policy current and compliant with the latest government and legal requirements. Information Google collects. We want you to understand the types of information we collect as you use our services. We collect information to provide better services to all our users — from figuring out basic stuff like which language you speak, to more complex things like which ads you'll find most useful, the people who matter most to you online, or which YouTube videos you might like. Analytics cookies. We use analytics cookies to understand how you use our websites so we can make them better, e.g. They're used to gather information about the pages you visit and how many clicks you need to accomplish a task.
used fairly, lawfully and in a transparent manner;
collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes;
adequate, relevant and its collection limited to what is necessary;
accurate and kept up to date;
kept in a form that enables identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary;
handled according to the data protection rights of individuals;
kept secure and not transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA) without adequate protection.
From 25 May 2018, organisations that determine the purpose for which personal data is processed (i.e. data controllers) must pay the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) a data protection fee unless they are exempt. To find out more about the data protection fee, see the guidance on the ICO's website.
Cookies are files stored on a computer's browser by websites which can be used for various purposes, often related to marketing or advertising.
GDPR
If you use cookies to uniquely identify a device or the person using that device, it is considered personal data under the GDPR. This means that cookies used for analytics, advertising and functional services come within the ambit of the GDPR. To be compliant, you'll need to stop collecting cookies that uniquely identify individuals or find a lawful ground to collect and process that data, for example, consent.
Such consent must be:
given through a clear affirmative action, such as clicking an opt-in box or choosing settings or preferences on a settings menu. Simply visiting a website doesn't count as consent.
given freely and genuinely
It must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it. This means that if you want to tell people to block cookies if they don't give their consent, you must make them accept cookies first. You must also give people the option to change their mind, i.e. by providing an opt-out option. This is especially important if you wish to implement the 'soft opt-in' option.
Cookie 5 9 2 – Protect Your Online Privacy Screens
Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) set out certain online marketing obligations and govern the use of cookies (also known as the Cookie Law).
Under the PECR, websites cannot use 'non essential' cookies unless the consent of the user is expressly given - in other words, users must first opt-in before such cookies can be deployed.
Non-essential cookies are those which are used for analytical purposes or to assist with advertising. Even cookies which customise a website (such as providing a greeting message) are deemed to be non essential.
Essential cookies are generally those which enable an online checkout process to work properly - or if required for technical or security purposes.
Failure to comply with the Cookie Law can lead to fines of up to £500,000. There are also smaller penalties, such as being sent an information notice or an enforcement notice.
A website privacy policy helps to reassure visitors that their personal data is protected and can assist in compliance with the GDPR and the Cookie Law.
- Make your Data protection policy
- Get started
- Answer a few questions. We'll take care of the rest
Cookies Anyone?
There is one particular issue that relates specifically to the web and your surfing, buying and e-mailing habits. You should know by now that every site you visit can place a 'cookie' on your hardrive which will record a few crumbs of information about you.
This is harmless enough at first glance when all they seem to care about is the time, date, length of stay and pages you visited at their site. But when you know that advertisers that serve ads from the sites you visit can also track your visit, link it to other stored data about you gathered at other sites and finally to any other information they have stored about you, how do you feel?
This means that the harmless little 'session number' or 'state data' gathered about you from every site you've ever visited, every product you've ever purchased online and every banner you've ever clicked on is stored in the database of the ad server and distributed to it's clients!
To learn how to disable cookies on your computer, click here.
Information provided by the largest cookie bakery on the web, DoubleClick
It is possible to set your browser to the 'Do Not Accept Any Cookies' option. I recommend you try it once, if only for the enlightenment about how many sources are collecting information about you. Some web pages will send as many as a dozen requests for cookies and many web sites tell you flatly that in order to use their online service 'cookies must be enabled on your browser' to use the site.
It gets tiring and frustrating clicking the 'OK' button in the warning box that appears each time your browser detects a request to set a cookie on your hard drive, if you've checked the 'notify me' option in preferences.
If you want to get a clearer picture of how cookies can be used to invade your privacy, I recommend an amazing demonstration of how you can be followed around the web without your knowledge. Privacy.net has set up a demo at:
http://www.privacy.net/track/
You'll see how providing information in bits and pieces to multiple web sites creates a cumulative database on your travels, habits and preferences online. Prepare to be mildly miffed or fully outraged, depending on your level of concern with invasion of privacy.
It is becoming increasingly complex to keep your private information to yourself. The biggest advertisers online have created a method which involves cookies which stop new cookies. You must get yourself a set of 'No Cookies For Me' cookies from a group set up by this online advertising brain trust. Now ya gotta have a new cookie to avoid getting any more cookies. No really, I couldn't eat another bite, please! If you'd like to follow this recipe for avoiding advertiser spying on your surfing habits, visit the Network Advertising Initiative web site and go to the OPT OUT page, which gives you the option to tick boxes to opt out of cookies served by the largest six online ad servers,
- DoubleClick
- Engage
- 24/7 Media
- Matchlogic
- Avenue A
- L90 Inc.
OK, now you're outta there, right? No, not necessarily. You've opted out but you use your wifes' computer or you use a different browser to visit sites that serve the cookies you don't want, so you have to visit the OPT OUT page again and check off those boxes for every computer and every browser you use. This could get a bit tedious! Most surfers don't know that the browser launched by their service provider might be different from the built-in browser launched by their operating system on start-up by the system. The ISP provided browser is yet another version. Which one are you using now and on which computer and did you visit the OPT OUT page with this one?
Fortunately, the NAI has set up a way for you to tell by going to the verification page, which looks for those opt-out cookies and verifies that you have them for each of the participating ad networks. If you don't, you can go back to the OPT OUT page and get new OPT OUT cookies. If that still doesn't work, you can go complain to someone set up to police the activity of these cookie monsters. Guess who arranged for this compliance service? Those same advertisers. HMMMM. Well it's better than nothing. Just visit the Arthur Anderson site called AndersonCompliance
Now you've filed a complaint and you can feel all better about it right? Well only if they get a volume of complaints that suggests a 'significant' problem has occurred based on the number of complaints filed, then they'll conduct an investigation. Man that's a relief! I wonder if those ad networks will keep paying these guys to tell them when they've gotten a significant number of complaints? I wonder how much they pay for this service and who monitors the people they are paying to tell them what they'd like to hear? They'd probably stop paying me if I played this role, because I'd be telling them every time a single complaint was lodged.
Here's a GREAT tool to get off the junkmail lists that is automated and easy. I've just stumbled across the single most useful online tool I've seen for easing junk mail and spam! By visiting the following URL and entering your name and mailing address, you can auto-generate letters including that information, along with any additional required stuff form individual companies, into printable letters directly from your browser that provide mailing addresses to dozens of marketing, credit reporting and other organizations preconfigured and merged into a personalized letter from yourself to those companies and organizations requesting to opt-out from junkmail! In ten clicks of the 'next form' letter, I was able to request removal from a raft of lists and it's possible to do more if you like by returning and choosing different companies from the online form!
https://www.newdream.org/junkmail/form.html
The site is a joint project with Center for a New American Dream, and the Center For Democracy in Technology cooperatively using technology to better facilitate Operation Opt-Out. I love it! If I could generate automated labels to affix to my envelopes and online postage, I'd call the tool remarkable! I will stop short of that and say this is extremely useful.
Cookie 5 9 2 – Protect Your Online Privacy Fence
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Cookie 5 9 2 – Protect Your Online Privacy Concerns
