EU tosses Europe's cookies... popups

The EU’s most famous contribution to the internet era could be snuffed out soon, and few will mourn it. As expected, Brussels will no longer mandate that websites receive the user’s consent for placing cookies on their device.

Scrapping the consent form is one of the options floated in the European Commission new public consultation on data processing rules, aka “Building the European data economy” (Portal - Press Release).

The initiative “addresses restrictions on the free flow of data, including legal barriers on the location of data for storage and/or processing purposes, and a series of emerging issues relating to data such as ownership, access, reuse, portability and liability” but does not cover personal data.

It was introduced today by Estonia robo-commish Andrus Ansip, a man so digital he communicates through Word Clouds.

Making the most of #opendata across Atlantic: a new EU-US open-source product. This blog explains more - https://t.co/sXi909azuP #Ansipblogs pic.twitter.com/auhvipjCcO

— Andrus Ansip (@Ansip_EU) December 30, 2016

The emphasis is on data use and reuse, although some consent is still required.

My verdict on #Eprivacy reg: Prior consent still needed (though not for first-party analytics e.g. Piwik). But now #GDPR level fines apply!

— Mike O'Neill (@incloud) January 10, 2017

As before, storage use needs consent, with new exception for 1st party analytics. Special (but ambiguous) rules for IP addresses #eprivacy pic.twitter.com/7pZFg30728

— Valerie O'Neill (@minabird) January 10, 2017

Browsers will have to ask user on installation about preferences re: #DoNotTrack & third-party cookies #eprivacy pic.twitter.com/xhWXBkuYzb

— Valerie O'Neill (@minabird) January 10, 2017

#ePrivacy : "Privacy by design" was scrapped from the text compared to @POLITICOEUTech's earlier draft.

— Laurens Cerulus (@laurenscerulus) January 10, 2017

We’ll have a fuller analysis tomorrow. ®