EU Privacy Directive

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   Anna Gambierposted 13 years ago

   Hi all, this is a question regarding European members of HubPages, especially those from the UK (because that's where I'm based).
   
   A couple of days ago I came across the EU Privacy Directive, which among other things affects webmasters who use stats programmes like Google Analytics.  Basically, the law changed on 25th May 2011 so that if you run analytics you must first ask visitors if they consent to your collecting their data, where before you just had to tell them you were collecting data.
   
   Although Hubpages is U.S.-based, from reading what various techies have said about this law, I think that European Hubbers who use Analytics will be responsible in regard to the Directive because they are the ones collecting and storing data. 
   
   My question is, I know that I don't have any way of asking visitors for permission to place a cookie on their computer for Analytics use as far as HubPages goes, so will HubPages be bringing in this functionality for their European members in the next few months, or will I need to disable my analytics linked to HP? 
   
   I'm not very active on HP at the moment, so the stats loss won't affect me greatly, but for future reference if I decide to become more active, and for more prolific European Hubbers, can anyone shed some light on what action we need to take to comply?
   
   The new rules on cookies can be found here: http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations … epare.aspx

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2. 75

   Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

   This should cover it:
   
   http://hubpages.com/help/privacy_policy

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      Anna Gambierposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Uninvited Writer, but that's my point - privacy pages like that no longer cover what's required under EU law: any webpage that places a non-essential cookie (and this specifically includes any webpage running stats programmes like Google Analytics) now must, by law, obtain the consent of the visitor before doing so - i.e. the visitor must actively click a 'yes, I consent' button before data can be collected.

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3. 73

   IzzyMposted 13 years ago

   The EU is a bureaucratic nightmare!
   
   I would ignore them. How are they going to force through a ruling against a US site anyway?
   
   I liked this that someone sent me in email.
   
   
   This is the brave new world of the EU!!!
   
   
   
   Pythagorean theorem: ............................................24 words
   
   
   Lord's prayer:......................................................... 66 words
   
   
   Archimedes' Principle: ........................................... 67 words
   
   
   10 Commandments: ............................................. 179 words
   
   Gettysburg address: .............................................. 286 words
   
   
   US Declaration of Independence : ...................... 1,300 words
   
   US Constitution with all 27 Amendments: ........... 7,818 words
   
   EU regulations on the sale of cabbage:....... 26,911 words.

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      EmpressFelicityposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Gotta love the EU - interfering useless barstewards that they are. I mean they've got draft endless, pointless and impossible-to-enforce regulations, otherwise they wouldn't be worth their six-figure salaries would they?

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         IzzyMposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         It is quite ridiculous how much the EC is costing us, and for them to make even more stupid regulations is just teeth-grindingly annoying.
         
         Remember that stuff about bananas having to be straight and all sorts of totally useless rules about the shape of fruits and vegetable permitted to be sold?
         
         No mention of important stuff like taste, or lack of poisonous pesticides or sensible things.
         
         Bunch of fat cats, that's all they are. At least cats are useful.

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