new privacy law in holland to come, will affect all

By Marisa Taylor

The Council of the European Union has approved new legislation that would require Web users to consent to Internet cookies.

Cookies, small programs that can be used to track Web movements, have come under fire as consumer groups, including the Federal Trade Commission, have sought to regulate companies that engage in targeted behavioral advertising.

While the current EU telecom law states that cookies are allowed if Internet users are notified of them and have an opt-out option, in practice, the law has been interpreted more loosely. In the United Kingdom, for example, the information commissioner?s office issued a directive emphasizing that sites should clearly direct users to a page where they can opt out.

But once the law goes into effect, users must provide consent to cookies being stored on their computers, meaning that they could be bombarded with annoying pop-ups or pages asking for permission. The new legislation does offer an exception for when a cookie is ?strictly necessary? ? for example, if a user is shopping online, a cookie can go from a product page to the checkout page without the need for consent.

The law could have broad repercussions for online ads. ?Almost every site that carries advertising should be seeking its visitors? consent to the serving of cookies,? wrote Struan Robertson, a lawyer specializing in technology at Pinsent Masons and editor of Out-Law.com. ?It also catches sites that count visitors ? so if your site uses Google Analytics or WebTrends, you?re caught.?

The legislation is part of a draft telecom law that the EU Council recently approved and will be signed into law within the next 18 months. Its main purpose, which the Council spent months debating, was to strike a balance between cracking down on illegal downloading and broad rights to Internet use.

The Council struck down a so-called three strikes law, which would have allowed authorities to cut off Internet access to repeat online-piracy offenders. Instead, it ensures that Web users engaging in illegal downloads must be given a trial that guarantees the ?right to be heard? before Internet access is shut off.

Mr. Robertson said, however, that the bigger argument over three strikes caused the new cookie provisions to go unnoticed. ?The consent standard is surely closing the loophole we?ve all been exploiting,? he wrote in an op-ed last month. He said the law will tempt businesses to break the rules and that ?to legislate against the technology is unnecessary, short-sighted and destined to fail.?