
Ask HN: Do I need to inform visitors about LocalStorage? - nealrs
So for the past year or so, I&#x27;ve been noticing all these new &quot;we use cookies&quot; banners. Whether regulatory or trend-driven, it &#x27;s nice to see some transparent about what &amp; why sites are tracking me. But, do these same policies apply to Local Storage? Sure, the data is stored on the client&#x27;s machine, but I could still use that data to inform my app  (e.g. sending uuids along with events to google analytics).<p>Is there an expectation that LS is truly private? Should sites be informing users that they will be storing user data in their browser?
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mtmail
In theory is the law applies as well. In practice I've never seen it mentioned
on a website.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_on_Privacy_and_Elect...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_on_Privacy_and_Electronic_Communications)

"The article is technology neutral, not naming any specific technological
means which may be used to store data, but applies to any information that a
website causes to stored in a user's browser. This reflects the EU
legislator’s desire to leave the regime of the directive open to future
technological developments."

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nealrs
OK, it really doesn't matter what tech you're using. You should be asking for
affirmative consent if you're storing data that can affect privacy. Of course,
_everything_ affects privacy these days, so even the exemptions for shopping
cart data are kind of silly.

Cookies is a pretty household term - but distinct from local storage, so I
wonder if sites are using that as a loophole.

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ddgflorida
My sites use local storage and I inform the user - consider the possibility
someone is using a public computer and you've stored locally what they though
was private.

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tedmiston
I feel like it depends on the audience of your product. In a general consumer
product it might actually be more confusing given your user might have no idea
how "any of that stuff" works.

I don't think I've ever encountered an app that's let me know in advance about
its use of localStorage.

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_RPM
I would implement pre mature optimization if I were you.

