Closed petition Review the EU Cookie law issue clear guidance

Closed on 8 August 2012

The EU Cookie legislation that became law on the 26th May 2011 is a shambles and requires clarification.

The DCMS (Dept for Culture, Media and Sport) handed this half-baked legislation onto the Information Commissioner's office and the population at very short notice. The resultant guidance is poorly defined and unclear. At the time of writing I was unable to find any government website that was compliant.

As this law stands most websites are in fact illegal. The ICO now has the ability to fine up to £500000 making this poor legislation more scary. The ICO has granted 1 year for site owners to be compliant; are we going to have to wait for prosecutions before the law is clarified?

The CO guidance is here: http://goo.gl/KxDUq

We the undersigned accept legislation may be necessary, we request the DCMS/ICO look again then issue accurate, clear, proper guidance to website owners. Alternatively that steps are taken to ensure prosecutions under this law are not forthcoming.