Unless you are an affiliate who can afford to pay a fine of about £500,000 ($616,173 US at time of writing), you should read this. 🙂
The EU ePrivacy Directive passed last year went into effect on May 26th, 2012. Sites that are not in compliance are subject to the fine — and that doesn't just affect affiliates in EU countries.
A site in the U.S. that targets U.K. consumers will also have to comply with the new policy.
Basically, that means:
- Users must be given the option to opt-in if your site uses cookies.
- You must inform visitors of the type of information the cookie captures and how long that information is kept.
How to comply
You will need to run javascript or install a WordPress plugin specifically for this purpose. Currently, there are 3 sources that I can recommend:
- Cookie Control Plugin a mechanism for obtaining a user's explicit consent for the use of cookies on their computer for WordPress from CivicUK
- Cookillian Provides extensible support for EU/UK compliance of the EC Cookie Directive (2009/136/EC), based on a visitor's location.
- EPrivacy Plug-in for Publishers from Affiliate Window (more complex than the other 2)
I was running Cookie Control on this website for purposes of example (see graphic below) and will HAVE to run it on my book sales site ASAP.
Although these directives are not currently mandated in North America and other regions, doesn't mean that you should consider implementing the practice.
Visit the ICO website for more information about the ePrivacy Directive and the new rules on cookies.
Ros
1, Ain’t the ‘cookies’ for ‘vendors/merchants to be concerned about and not ‘publishers’ in Affi-Marketing?
2. EU-cookies, by the way, are seemingly ‘gluten-free’…Greece, Spain and Portugal are still kicking & do not show signs of stomach trauma or convulsions..
3. How, When and really Why did this thread start…the conclusive ‘verdict’ must be ‘Who really cares?’.
New as I am here… I really start to like some of the respondents comments I can read on your blog…wow/
Thank you all.
Be well …all!/Johan
I am new to Affiliate Marketing. Aren’t the cookies installed on a visitor’s computer by the merchant’s website when they click on a link on my website? Since the merchant is the one collecting the information, would this still apply to us? Thank you for all of the great information and with helping new affiliates!
Hello D.
If you use Google Analytics on your affiliate site, a cookie is being installed on your visitors’ computers.
And yes, the merchant also installs one, but you can write your cookie policy to let your visitors know that too.
Check mine out at https://rosalindgardner.com/blog/terms-of-use/cookie-policy/
Cheers,
Ros
Thanks for the heads-up on this, Ros.
Yeah, I’ve had this on the back of my mind since they announced it 1-2 years ago. The law seems so darn tedious. Cookies are such an integral part of web surfing; I can’t believe they’re making a stink of this.
2 questions come to mind:
1) Is anyone (webmasters, companies, affiliates, etc.) really taking this seriously?
2) If a website owner and their website/server reside outside the EU, then aren’t they outside of the jurisdiction of this law? How can any fine be legally applied outside the EU? (Can I come up with my own law and fine them back?)
Hi Jay,
By the number of opt-in forms already in use, it seems folks are definitely taking this seriously.
As to your second question — good question — and for which I really don’t have an answer. But I do like your idea! 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
See below for more details…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/26/cookies-law-changed-implied-consent
Hi Ros,
Just to confuse things slightly ( typical with all EU legislation- might as well herd a posse of cats)
Here in the UK , at the last minute, the legislation was changed slightly to the assumption that every one knows about cookies and there is no need to provide opt ins.
The French have taken their standard Gallic view voted for the law and then ignoring it ;-).
Having said that you can assume that cookies will become an optin option in the longer term.
Regards
Nick
Hi Nick,
Thanks for letting me know. Weird therefore that so many sites (including the ICO) are running those optin forms.
Thoughts?
Cheers,
Ros
Hi Ros,
I was sitting enjoying my morning coffee when my wife said there is a new law on cookies from the EU and if you don’t obey its a €50,000 fine.
Cue 5 minutes of $%%^&** Brussels Buearocrats and then diving onto the internet to find out what it was all about. This was the result – http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/26/cookies-law-changed-implied-consent
As it was only altered 48 hours before the deadline I suspect most of the sites had committed to it and the thinking was probably well it wont do any harm so leave it. Also most of the large sites ICO, Amazon etc would have run it past shedloads of committeees – Lega, IT to name a few and trying to change it would be like revering an oil tanker.
I have added a line for all future blogs saying cookies will be loaded. Question is if you are marketing via YouTube or static Facebook pages what do you do then.
To my mind this is a little like SOPA a law devised by people who don’t actually earn their living on the internet.
Nick
Nick,
You didn’t actually say $%%^&**, did you? 🙂
Ros
The dog covered her ears with her paws and wimpered in the corner. 🙂
Nick,
Too funny that you said that — I had thought to add “hope there were no dogs in the room” when I asked. LOL
Ros
IT WOULD BE GREAT TO TOUCH BASE RE YOUR AFFILIATE PROGRAM….CLICKBANK.
Where can I pick up a ticket and get an appointment communicate with you?
Johan
Thanks for the “heads-up”, Ros! Which of the 3 Plugins is easiest to use?
Hi John,
You’re welcome!
The Cookie Control plugin was the easiest to use, but I just de-activated it on this site after receiving unusual load complaints. The Affiliate Window javascript was the most complicated. No doubt there will be a slew of new plugins made available in the near future, however.
Stay tuned!
Cheers,
Ros
We’ll see how soon this happens in America. What with all of the info that is collected on us on a daily basis w/o our consent ?
And how boldly will they advertise this little gem of information BEFORE they start collecting the dough ???
Hi Rosalind,
Thank you for your valuable post.
I am not really aware of this and will check it out on your blog for further details.
Cheers, you are the best.
osman A.
thanks.
got anything on seo’s ?
Just wanted you to know that the new cookie plugin is possibly keeping your page from loading. I [tried to] send you a reply to your email to let you know. I did finally get the page and my comment to finally load by stopping the load and refreshing the page…. but newbies might not know to do this? [You can delete this comment once you’ve read this].
Thanks for the heads up, Carolyn. I’ve de-activated the plugin for now and added a picture to the post of how the plugin rendered.
Guess I’ll be looking for a new one! 🙂
Cheers,
Ros
“A site in the U.S. that targets U.K. consumers will also have to comply with the new policy.”
I am not sure I understand what you mean by this Ros. For example, my site targets all women who wear makeup, care about aging, and their skin care, whether they’re in the US, the UK, or elsewhere. (as well as other content)
But I don’t specifically target women in the UK.
So this is a little confusing for my little head. LOL
Could you expand your comment.
Thanks as always!
Hi Carolyn,
Keep in mind that I am not a lawyer, but my take on ‘targeting UK consumers’ is for merchants who sell products directly from their sites, not affiliates.
No doubt more will come to light about this policy in the coming weeks. I’ll do my best to keep you posted.
Cheers,
Ros