Put ‘cookies’ plan back in jar, say firms

Date: 08/11/01

• By Peter Chapman

Advertising firms are warning MEPs to scrap plans to restrict the use of internet 'cookies' in a move the industry claims could cost €302 million a year.

The warning comes as the European Parliament prepares to vote on amendments to a Commission directive on data privacy that would force users to give "explicit, prior consent" each time they come across a cookie on their computer.

Cookies are devices programmed into internet sites that retain data about web-surfers such as passwords, without users having to type them in each time they access a site. They also recognise preferences for websites and search engines.

In addition, cookies cap the frequency that advertisements are flashed on a user's computer screen - making sure that the commercial messages are rotated and not duplicated during a visit to a site.

But MEPs on the civil liberties committee tabled the amendments, warning that cookies could be a way for website owners to cream information about potential customers without their knowledge.

Danny Meadows-Klue, CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an online lobby group, said: "Ill-informed MEPs have branded cookies a spy device. "Without cookies, users would be bombarded by intrusive consent messages and advertising, and are likely to end up paying for content."

The cookies row is the latest issue to spark controversy over the draft directive, launched last year by Commission telecoms chief Erkki Liikanen. MEPs have so far opposed the Finnish commissioner's proposal that e-commerce firms seek prior approval from would-be customers before they can send them commercial e-mails.

Meanwhile, it emerged last week that the US wants the law strengthened to force industry to retain data on customers in a bid to combat terrorism.

Advertising firms are warning MEPs to scrap plans to restrict the use of internet 'cookies' in a move the industry claims could cost €302 million a year.