Tag Archives: Cookies

Adblocker detection scripts vs. Article 5 (3) of the ePrivacy Directive: A German law take

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It appears that we may be about to experience a new phase in the life of Article 5 (3) of the ePrivacy Directive as amended in 2009, as brief as it may possibly be as a result of the coming Regulation and the revisions that the ePrivacy Directive may be subject to in its wake.

Twitter privacy activist Alexander Hanff has been able to create considerable attention (such as here and here) for his position that client side scripts used by publishers in order to detect AdBlockers used by their (would-be) readers are in conflict with said Article, posting on Twitter a letter from the Günther Oettinger’s team in the EU Commission that, as per him, confirms his position.

https://twitter.com/alexanderhanff/status/722861362607747072

Aside from the slightly amusing twist that the Commission, in making reference in the same letter to add-ons or plug-ins expressing a user’s preference regarding, for example, whether or not he or she does or does not accept the storage of information on his/her “terminal equipment”, appears to overlook that adblockers have to be detected first before they can be “respected” as conveying a preference, we shall have a brief look at how things would play out under German law, as it is in place at this time. Continue reading →

German DPAs: Situation regarding consent for cookies is “unacceptable”

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In February 2015, the German data protection authorities adopted a resolution with the title “Tracking of user behavior on the Internet” (German).

In this resolution, the authorities urge the German government to finally transpose the standards of European directive 2002/58/EC (so called ePrivacy Directive). The authorities are of the opinion that the current German data protection law (especially the German Telemedia Act (Telemediengesetz)) does not correctly implement Art. 5 para 3 of directive 2002/58/EC (in the revised version of directive 2009/136/EC). According to Art. 5 para 3 of the ePrivacy Directive, European “Member States shall ensure that the storing of information, or the gaining of access to information already stored, in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user is only allowed on condition that the subscriber or user concerned has given his or her consent, having been provided with clear and comprehensive information, in accordance with Directive 95/46/EC, inter alia, about the purposes of the processing”. Continue reading →

„Implied Consent“ to Cookies Being Set Suffices in the UK

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Contrary to what had been the understanding before, the ICO in its capacity as data privacy watchdog in the UK has now declared in his guidance (download it here) that implied consent – if actually given – is just as valid a form of consent as explicit consent. That is not to say that website owners can simply continue to as before. When you read through the ICO’s advice on how implied consent may be brought about, it becomes quite clear that there really is not much difference from what the website owner must do to obtain explicit consent. Continue reading →

CNIL’s Sends Second Questionnaire to Google on Google’s New Privacy Policy

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Google’s new privacy policy is not that new, as it “went into force” on March 1. It is still big news in data protection terms, though, at least as far as European data protection authorities are concerned. CNIL, commissioned by the Art. 29 Working Party, has now sent a second rather comprehensive questionnaire to Google. Obviously they were not completely sold on Google’s answers to the first set of questions CNIL had sent in March. Continue reading →

Direct Effect of the “Cookie Directive” in Germany?

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It has been reported that today Mr. Peter Schaar, head of the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, announced at the Data Protection Congress 2012 that is currently held in Berlin that the EU “Cookie Directive” – which has not yet been implemented into German law – has EU law’s “direct effect” (also known as “immediate applicability”), making Art 5 (3) of the Directive directly applicable and effective under German law. He (as reported) added that therefore Art. 5 (3) of the Directive can be applied and enforced by the German data protection authorities in their day to day business. Ooops! Continue reading →

Analytics Cookies to Be Exempt from Consent Requirement in France

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As reported by DataGuidance, the UK Information Commissioner the enforcement of the “cookie law” will be “pragmatic and realistic” in the UK. “Pragmatic” and realistic”: Sounds good doesn’t it? Doesn’t sound very German, though, does it? As explained here, the cookie situation in Germany is still unresolved, largely due to the (my take on the matter) inability to come up with a draft for transforming the Directive’s into German law that provides for a workable solution the problem. It seems that at least the current government feels uncomfortable to pass a law the wording of which would effectively rule out a good portion of how websites work today.

Even more interestingly, in the same DataGuidance post they report that the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) will exempt analytics cookies from the new requirement of prior consent. Continue reading →

On Facebook Fan Pages

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As you may have heard, as per the self-appointedly competent data protection authorities in Germany you may not set up and maintain a Facebook fan page, nor may you embed Facebook plugins into to your web pages (it’s true, read here, here, here, and here). If you do, you’re acting in violation of German data protection law. Continue reading →

EU Cookie Law in Germany

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As we are quickly moving towards Germany’s 1st anniversary of non-compliance with the infamous “EU Cookie Directive“, one would expect the legislator to really make a push to get something on paper, right? Well, not so. In fact, there isn’t even a legislative silver lining anywhere to be seen. We have witnessed one draft of a change to the “Telemedia Act” (the place where any transforming the EU’s wisdom into German law would take place) submitted by the federal state of Hessen last year that no one has really talked much about, and one draft submitted by the current opposition in the Bundestag that has now been rebuffed on committee level without before even getting a proper hearing in parliament – without spoiling us by publishing any reasons for the government’s stance, sadly. That said, that’s all good news, really. Continue reading →