

Cookie warning on bbc website - wr1472
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

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dchest
Can't miss the opportunity to plug my Compliant Website Template -
<http://www.dchest.org/comply.html>

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sdfjkl
Scary.

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Shish2k
Not just the BBC - new laws say that this has to happen on _every_ website
that's based in or serves the UK :-(

More examples -->
[https://twitter.com/alexmuller/status/205605081662504960/pho...](https://twitter.com/alexmuller/status/205605081662504960/photo/1/large)

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bentruyman
EU Cookie Directive in action. [http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/online-
privacy-eu-cooki...](http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/online-privacy-eu-
cookie-law-death-digital/234950/)

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sageikosa
When you outlaw cookies, then only the outlaws will have cookies. I tend to
hold the belief that consumer protectionism laws don't really protect
consumers, in that it lulls consumers into an inattentive stupor when it comes
to things they best educate themselves on instead.

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deno
So I thought the EU directive 2009/136/EC only affected cross-site tracking
cookies, the type of cookies that AD networks use. Is this not the case or
it’s just BBC that goes the extra mile?

Anyway, it seems ridiculous to ask for consent to use basic cookies (e.g. to
remember the preferred language or the region to use in weather widget) on
every _single_ website hosted in EU.

Optimally, browsers should just send your preference like they do with DNT
headers:

    
    
        Cookie-Preference: (None|Essential|All)
    

Something in that manner — I didn’t really think it through.

Actually, wasn’t P3P supposed to be used for something like that? Maybe it’s
time to reinvent it… :)

From the Wikipedia page about P3P:

> As an example, a user may store in the browser preferences that information
> about their browsing habits should not be collected. If the policy of a
> Website states that a cookie is used for this purpose, the browser
> automatically rejects the cookie.

That’s even better, because you don’t have to rely on the site to follow law.
If something like P3P was widely used by all the major sites, you could set
your browser to reject all cookies that don’t include necessary privacy policy
along with them. Persistent, tracking cookies could be rejected by default,
_unless signed_ by a trusted agency, that would make sure that necessary
policies are followed (and it’s not just rogue site that wants to infect you
with their cookies). That way AD networks could continue to work seamlessly.

P3P might have had some problems, but the core ideas appear to be sound.

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ColinWright
I get no cookie warning - can you explain what you thought I should see?

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PhilRae
Are you in the UK? Maybe they don't use cookies for uk users as we aren't
shown adverts since we pay via the license fee.

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russgray
I'm in the UK - I still get the message, but no mention of advertising.

"We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.
If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are
happy to receive all cookies on the BBC website. However, if you would like
to, you can change your cookie settings at any time."

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mike-cardwell
I have cookies disabled by default. I don't want to see this alert every time
I visit the BBC website. So I just created a quick greasemonkey script which
removes it with a simple:

    
    
      el = document.getElementById('bbccookies');
      if( el ) el.style.display='none';

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andyking
This is going to get quite annoying, fairly fast, for those of us who browse
on-and-off in incognito mode.

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jrockway
Ironically, they use a cookie to store your preference regarding cookies.

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DLarsen
As I understand it, most of the ad networks do the same thing in their opt-
outs. You're not opting out of being cookied. You're just opting out of
"personalized" advertising. Most non-technical users who "don't want cookies
on my computer" would probably dislike a truly cookie-less web.

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nulluk
I thought you had to get explicit opt in? Simply hitting the page once and
refreshing sets the cookie so you will never see the message again doesn't
sound like explicit opt in to me?

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azolotov
These laws make me doubt the future of the industry in Europe. I respect
users' privacy and all - but this is atrocious for user experience.

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bhaile
Don't see a value in this warning since the average person won't know what but
glad they put up a page to explain it.

Also, to change your cookie settings for BBC, you can do it at
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/privacy/cookies/managing/cookie-
setting...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/privacy/cookies/managing/cookie-
settings.html)

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Karunamon
_sigh_

This is absurd. Do the legislators in GB really have nothing better to be
spending their time on?

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marshray
There are some pretty massive businesses built on tracking cookies. Clearly
they're not worthless or irrelevant.

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Karunamon
I don't mean the concept of cookies, I mean this sudden rush to legislate
them. I don't want to be bothered every time I visit a new website for them to
ask if they can use cookies or not. It's a pain in the ass and it's a UX
nightmare.

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marshray
I agree that it's a questionable law, but you said "have nothing better to be
spending their time on" and I'm just saying that its not an inherently
wasteful thing to spend time being concerned about.

