BUSINESS
Online
CONFUSED ABOUT
COOKIES? Ran Janda takes a bite-sized approach to understanding and using cookies on your own website and protecting your privacy online…
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ON-EDIBLE cookies can quite frankly, be confusing for most of us. Suddenly, we’ve been inundated with questions about whether we accept cookies when browsing a website, but what are cookies and what information can be gathered? Does your own website need a cookie policy? What is the purpose of them and where does the information harvested go to? Let’s break it all down and also look at what you can do to protect yourself and your personal information better when browsing online.
WHAT IS A WEBSITE COOKIE? Cookies are small blocks of data created by a web server whilst a user is browsing a website. They are placed on the user’s computer or device by their web browser. They allow web browsers to track, personalise and save information when
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compliance for websites outlined under the GDPR, due to website cookies being one of the most common ways for personal data to be collected and shared online. It states that every website must announce which cookies are on their website, what data they collect, how that data is used, how they store and protect user’s information and how they can access, migrate and delete any information they hold. In addition, they must give users the option to consent or opt out of cookies that are not strictly necessary for the basic function of their website when they land on your site.
HOW DO I ENSURE I AM COMPLIANT? you spend time on a website. They basically identify you when you visit a new website.
DOES MY WEBSITE NEED A COOKIE POLICY? Yes! If your website receives visitors from the UK or EU, then you need to be compliant with UK and EU laws including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which instructs that it is the legal responsibility of website owners to make sure that personal data is collected and processed lawfully. Cookie consent is part of the
Most practitioners won’t be concerned about collecting information on their website visitors. This is usually more common in larger companies where they want to analyse how their website content is performing and collect data such as where their visitors are from and what their preferences are. However, you still need to remain compliant, and it doesn’t need to be difficult. You can quite simply purchase a “ready-made” cookie policy and install it on your website, which will create a cookie banner for visitors when they first land on your website and will allow users to accept certain cookies for activation rather than others, or to reject all nonnecessary cookies. When you purchase a policy, it will either scan your website for cookies or it will guide you through a set of questions. Either way, it will create a policy based on the information gathered. You will need to know technical aspects around plugins and any analytical software you use, so you might want to get support from your website developer when creating your cookie policy. For example, your website uses a third-party plugin such as a Google map of your location, or if you have a Facebook like or comment section on your site, then you will automatically have cookies from these companies on your website. You are now responsible for third-party cookies, and you need to disclose this in your cookie policy. As the website owner, the legal responsibility for GDPR
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