Contractors who work in web design could find themselves in demand over the next few weeks as the deadline looms for the implementation of new data protection rules.
According to research by KPMG, 95% of organisations with a website are not ready for the changes even though the UK secured a 12-month deferment on the EU cookie-related requirements.
Nearly all UK firms are running the risk of receiving a penalty, which could be as much as half a million pounds, if their websites do not ask visitors for permission to use cookies to monitor their online habits. However, it is not enough just to update their cookie usage policy, the EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications expects more than that.
Stephen Boner, a partner at KPMG, explained that even though enforcement occurs on the 26th of May, most UK organisations still have a lot of work to do to make their websites compliant. During the course of KPMG’s analysis, the company only discovered one website that specifically asked visitors if they opted-in to the cookie policy and that’s surprising considering it’s the main requirement of the EU directive. Even more surprising was to find a couple of sites that did not use cookies at all. Some sites are using thousands of cookies, but the average per site was between 5 and 10.
Mr Boner went on to say that time was running out and organisations should be focusing on analysing the cookies they already use and drawing up a plan to make sure they comply with the new directive.
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Image: Cookies by zingyyellow…wish I could bend space/time
