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EU Cookie Compliance, August 2015

The European Union cookie privacy issue became urgent, early this year - and Google provided the CookieChoices cookie advice banner, as a blog / website accessory, in April.

The CookieChoices banner required manual installation, on a blog by blog basis - and some amount of effort, using the Template Editor. Not every Blogger blog owner needs to use the Template Editor - and some should not have done so.

It's possible that some complaints of template corruption, and similar malfunctions, seen recently in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, or Blogger Help Forum: Discuss Layouts & Templates, might not have been necessary, without the owners having to dig into "Edit HTML" when not qualified to do so.

Blogger developed a standard CookieChoices banner, based on Google CookieChoices, and added that to the template, in all Blogger blogs, last month.

The initial install was not very customisable, so blog owners had to accept the limitations. The second Blogger CookieChoices banner, installed earlier this week, uses CSS and JavaScript to provide formatting and content options.

There have been a few problems reported, with the cookie advice banner.

  1. Templates with menu bars at the top of the screen.
  2. Blogs that use cookies, which are incompatible with CookieChoices.
  3. Blog owners and readers, who block cookies and / or scripts, on their computers.
  4. Blog owners who have viewed, and accepted, the notice.

Templates with menu bars at the top of the screen.

Some templates position menu bars at the very top of the screen, where the navbar (and cookiechoices banner) are located - and the banner becomes hidden, by the menu bar. EU lawyers may not appreciate this detail.

There are several different CSS and template tweaks, to eliminate or reposition the banner. Which ever you choose, choose appropriately - and test carefully.

Blogs that use cookies, which are incompatible with CookieChoices.

Any blog owner who tests their blog, and finds the CookieChoices banner does not perform properly, may wish to use a diagnostic tool, such as CookieChecker.

Blog owners will have to adjust or remove any gadgets which are incompatible with the banner - or adjust the banner (when possible), so it will function properly.

Blog owners and readers, who block cookies and / or scripts, on their computers.

Proper operation of the CookieChoices banner depends upon both cookies and scripts being properly permitted by each computer - whether owned by a blog owner, or by a blog reader.

Computers which block cookies may cause the banner to be perpetually visible, when viewed from an EU computer. Conversely, computers which block scripts may not display the banner at all, even when viewed from an EU computer.

Blog owners who have viewed, and accepted, the notice.

This is not actually a problem - but it is a source of some confusion. A blog owner will view the notice, and click "Got It" (or whatever caption is present on the blog). Given that cookies are not being blocked on the computer, the proper cookie will be set, and the cookie notice won't be visible, in that browser, again.

This is actually an indication that the cookie notice banner is operating properly - on that blog, from that browser and that computer. It has been known to perplex some blog owners, however - who may worry, needlessly, that their blogs are not compliant.

If this is a problem with your blog, you can verify cookie notice.


Blog owners are responsible for any issues, when seen in the EU.

Blog owners, who see irregularities, when testing, will be responsible for correcting any which may affect the appearance of the banner, on any EU computer. Websites such as GeoPeeker, will likely be very busy for many months.

Once you have the basic banner operational, spend time researching additional possibilities.

Comments

panda said…
Thank you! I was able to solve my problem (finally!).

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