EU Cookie Compliance, September 2015

Having spent time during July 2015, setting up the EU Cookie Notice Banner - and more time during August 2015, verifying operation of the banner, some blog owners are curious about banner regulation.

Would the cookie notice have to be visible to the visitor as soon as they click onto the blog?

or

Since I don't live in Europe, should I care about the notice?

Both are valid concerns, from blog owners who don't blindly follow the leader, with no reason.

For immediate answers to both questions, I'd start with the Google CookieChoices website.

For more detail, check out The EU Internet Handbook, or maybe IAB Europe Guidance - or the individual country guidelines, listed in CookieChoices. If you live in an EU country, you should be informed.

Google provides us with a basic structure, and we design the content.

From what I can tell, Google is merely doing us a courtesy, in including the automatic banner, when EU readers surf our blogs. I don't think they''re likely to do anything, on their own - if we don't get the banner working, on our blogs.

It is not difficult to get the Google banner working, on most blogs - so why not just use it, and then research the alternatives and effects?

I don't see Google setting up an array of Banner Check bots (one / EU country), similar to the Blogger spam classification botset - just to ensure that each Blogger blog has the required banner, displayed in each EU country. Some AdSense publishers may be vulnerable, since AdSense has an EU user consent policy.

Google leaves it to each blog owner to determine specific cookie advice.

Google requirements are not very detailed.

What do I put in my consent message?

Unfortunately we can’t tell you what your website or app consent message should say because it will largely depend on your own uses of cookies and other information, and the third party services you work with.

and

Where should 'See details' link?

The link in your message may expand the area that contains the message, to offer more information, or it may open a new page that contains additional detail. That new page might be part of your Privacy Policy, or it might be a dedicated cookie policy.

Again, we can’t tell you what to write by way of detail: it will depend on the cookies and other information you use, the other services you work with, and any opt-out controls made available to users of your site.

Most likely, enforcement of country standards will be the onus of each country.

My suspicion is that Google will leave it up to each EU country, to decide if each Blogger blog (and every other website in the world) is up to their standards. Will any EU country actually check every website (and Blogger blog)? Who knows.

If I were you, I'd just go with the Google banner, for now, until you find out what the issues are. Just verify that the Google banner works, on your Blogger blog. Or, you can try any of several third party banners, listed in CookieChoices, that interest you.

Just start by verifying banner operation, on each blog.

Once you know that a banner is operational on your blog, read the detailed advice. It's most likely that

• The EU country enforcement agencies won't check every blog and website, immediately.
• They will check the more active blogs and websites sooner.
• They will check blogs and websites published from their own country, first.
• They will check blogs and websites published from other EU countries, next.

I don't think any EU country is likely to send a hit squad to other countries, to arrest and deport non compliant blog publishers - then ship them to their country, for detention and trial.

Maybe some countries will get court orders, and have Google block non compliant blogs, in their country. Maybe that's why Blogger expanded their country specific domain list, recently.

I suspect that you'll have months of warning, before any action is taken, if your blog is not compliant - if you follow deleted blog reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue. I'll provide periodic updates on this subject, in this blog.

If you use the Google cookie banner, and if you are not in a EU country, you'll probably get hit by a meteor, before you get a trip to Europe to answer for your crimes.

That said, it's your responsibility for ensuring that the notice works, on your blog. If you make any major changes to the blog, it's not a bad idea to backup the template before and after any changes - and know how to test for a working notice.