Yikes. I'm generally in favor of web privacy, but with unemployment numbers like theirs, that seems like the last thing Spain needs right now.
Spain begins disciplinary proceedings against site for violating Cookie Law
11–20 of 81 posts
Re: Spain begins disciplinary proceedings against site for violating Cookie Law
#12Sorry for submitting a Google Translate link. It's not doing a perfect job on a legal text but I didn't find any source in English. This is a blogpost of the lawyer taking this case, and the client name is unknown yet. Here's my summary of some facts (IANAL!): - The cookies being investigated are from Google Analytics, Google Maps, YouTube, Adsense and WordPress. - The website was setting the cookies in the browser a…
This is interesting. Is it clear in the law that no cookies shall be set until the user has accepted the warning, or is that an open interpretation in this particular case? My initial reaction is that this seems fair. The fine is substantial, but not deadly to an enterprise, so it would serve as a warning without being catastrophic for them. I'm not a EU citizen - but presumably the EU's rather strict laws re: cookie…
> Is it clear in the law that no cookies shall be set until the user has accepted the warning, or is that an open interpretation in this particular case?
This is a very liberal translation of the relevant part of the law[0]:
"Those who provide services will be allowed to use storage devices in remote computers, provided that the owners have given their consentment AFTER [my emphasis] they have been informed clearly and completely about the utilization of the private data".
[0]: http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Admin/l34-2002.t3.h..., article 22.2.
Re: Spain begins disciplinary proceedings against site for violating Cookie Law
#13Actually, most warning implementations punish those users that disable cookies in their browsers by forcing them to see the obnoxious warning every time they visit the site.
This is arguably worse than the previous situation.
Re: Spain begins disciplinary proceedings against site for violating Cookie Law
#14Sorry for submitting a Google Translate link. It's not doing a perfect job on a legal text but I didn't find any source in English. This is a blogpost of the lawyer taking this case, and the client name is unknown yet. Here's my summary of some facts (IANAL!): - The cookies being investigated are from Google Analytics, Google Maps, YouTube, Adsense and WordPress. - The website was setting the cookies in the browser a…
This is one of the most stupid and anti-user laws on the books. Worse, it's probably the only law I've ever seen have an instant and devastating effect on the UX of a swathe of websites. Hopefully they are going to start suing people regularly (unlike the inaction being taken in the UK) so that business wakes up to this stupid law and finally gets it repealed, the sooner the better.
Can it really be repealed by the Spanish government if they're required to enact such a law as a result of an EU Directive? They could take the UK's approach of turning a blind eye, but I tend to feel it's wrong for a country to pick and choose which laws to enforce.
Re: Spain begins disciplinary proceedings against site for violating Cookie Law
#15Sorry for submitting a Google Translate link. It's not doing a perfect job on a legal text but I didn't find any source in English. This is a blogpost of the lawyer taking this case, and the client name is unknown yet. Here's my summary of some facts (IANAL!): - The cookies being investigated are from Google Analytics, Google Maps, YouTube, Adsense and WordPress. - The website was setting the cookies in the browser a…
This is one of the most stupid and anti-user laws on the books. Worse, it's probably the only law I've ever seen have an instant and devastating effect on the UX of a swathe of websites. Hopefully they are going to start suing people regularly (unlike the inaction being taken in the UK) so that business wakes up to this stupid law and finally gets it repealed, the sooner the better.
I find it really annoying as a non-EU citizen using a site in a non-EU country but still having to dismiss these warnings even on mobile devices (where it can be much harder to hit the link/button).
The Internet doesn't care what country I'm from, so why are we designing it that way? The same goes for non-US content restrictions as well.
Re: Spain begins disciplinary proceedings against site for violating Cookie Law
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is interesting. Is it clear in the law that no cookies shall be set until the user has accepted the warning, or is that an open interpretation in this particular case? My initial reaction is that this seems fair. The fine is substantial, but not deadly to an enterprise, so it would serve as a warning without being catastrophic for them. I'm not a EU citizen - but presumably the EU's rather strict laws re: cookie…
> Is it clear in the law that no cookies shall be set until the user has accepted the warning, or is that an open interpretation in this particular case? This is a very liberal translation of the relevant part of the law[0]: "Those who provide services will be allowed to use storage devices in remote computers, provided that the owners have given their consentment AFTER [my emphasis] they have been informed clearly a…
That sounds like technically the consent has to come after being informed, not the storage.
Re: Spain begins disciplinary proceedings against site for violating Cookie Law
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is one of the most stupid and anti-user laws on the books. Worse, it's probably the only law I've ever seen have an instant and devastating effect on the UX of a swathe of websites. Hopefully they are going to start suing people regularly (unlike the inaction being taken in the UK) so that business wakes up to this stupid law and finally gets it repealed, the sooner the better.
I find it really annoying as a non-EU citizen using a site in a non-EU country but still having to dismiss these warnings even on mobile devices (where it can be much harder to hit the link/button). The Internet doesn't care what country I'm from, so why are we designing it that way? The same goes for non-US content restrictions as well.
> The Internet doesn't care what country I'm from, so why are we designing it that way? The same goes for non-US content restrictions as well.
Because the two other options are either to have no laws around the internet, or to designate one organisation (or one country) to define and enforce laws.
Re: Spain begins disciplinary proceedings against site for violating Cookie Law
#18Actually, most warning implementations punish those users that disable cookies in their browsers by forcing them to see the obnoxious warning every time they visit the site. This is arguably worse than the previous situation.
... This isn't some "punishment" this is how the internet works. If you opt out of being tracked and cookies... how would that be remembered? That is really a sign it's working. This is part of why this is such an amazingly defective law
Re: Spain begins disciplinary proceedings against site for violating Cookie Law
#19Yikes. I'm generally in favor of web privacy, but with unemployment numbers like theirs, that seems like the last thing Spain needs right now.
I'm from Spain and I've been running a webdev shop for 6 years now.
Things are getting worse here and the government if anything is actually just making things more difficult for everyone.
I agree with those trying to protect their privacy but for the sake of practicality they should look for a pragmatic approach.
BTW, making individuals and companies responsible for tracking cookies installed by third party platforms like Facebook, Tumblr, etc. because of this law doesn't really help us being more competitive either [sarcasm sign].
Re: Spain begins disciplinary proceedings against site for violating Cookie Law
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Is it clear in the law that no cookies shall be set until the user has accepted the warning, or is that an open interpretation in this particular case? This is a very liberal translation of the relevant part of the law[0]: "Those who provide services will be allowed to use storage devices in remote computers, provided that the owners have given their consentment AFTER [my emphasis] they have been informed clearly a…
That sounds like technically the consent has to come after being informed, not the storage.
But they may only use the storage once consent has been given, which can only happen after a warning has been issued.
The two clauses seem to indicate that consent must be before storage, and warning before consent, hence there must be a warning /before/ the storage on the remote machine.