Category: Cookies
6. August 2019
The French data protection authority CNIL as well as the British data protection authority ICO have revised and published their guidelines on cookies.
The guidelines contain several similarities, but also differ in some respects.
Both France and the UK consider rules that apply to cookies to be also applicable to any device that stores or accesses information. In addition, both authorities stress that users must give specific, free and unambiguous consent before cookies are placed. Further scrolling of the website cannot be considered as consent. Likewise, obtaining consent from T&Cs is not lawful. This procedure violates Art. 7 (2) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to which the request for consent shall be presented in a manner which is clearly distinguishable from the other matters, in an intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language. In addition, all parties who place cookies must be named so that informed consent can be obtained. Finally, both authorities point out that browser settings alone are not a sufficient basis for valid consent.
With regard to the territorial scope, CNIL clarifies that the cookie rules apply only to the processing of cookies within the activities of an establishment of a controller or processor in France, regardless of whether the processing takes place in France. The English guideline does not comment on this.
Cookie walls are considered non-compliant with GDPR by the French data protection authority due to the negative consequences for the user in case of refusal. ICO, on the other hand, is of the opinion that a consent forced on the basis of a cookie wall is probably not valid. Nevertheless GDPR must be balanced with other rights. Insofar ICO has not yet delivered a clear position.
Regarding analytic cookies, CNIL explains that a consent is not always necessary, namely not if they correspond to a list of cumulative requirements created by CNIL. ICO, on the other hand, does not exempt cookies from the consent requirement even in the case of analytic cookies.
Finally, CNIL notes that companies have six months to comply with the rules. However, this period will only be set in motion by the publication of a statement by the CNIL, which is still pending. CNIL expects this statement to be finalised during the first quarter of 2020. The ICO does not foresee such a time limit.
3. July 2019
On 29th June, the French data protection authority CNIL published its 2019-2020 action plan, which aims to set rules for targeted online advertising and guide companies in their compliance efforts.
The Action Plan consists of two main steps. First, new cookie guidelines will be published in July 2019. The last cookie policy dates back to 2013, for which CNIL stated that the policy is no longer valid and will be repealed due to the stricter approval requirements of the GDPR. In order to comply with the new cookie guidelines, companies will be given a transitional period of 12 months. During this period, it will still be possible to define further browsing of a website as consent to the use of cookies. However, CNIL requires that during this transition period Cookies will be set only after consent has been obtained.
As a second major step, working groups composed of CNIL officials and stakeholders from the adtech ecosystem will be formed to develop practical approaches to obtain consent. The draft recommendations developed on the basis of this discussion will be published by CNIL at the end of 2019 or at the latest at the beginning of 2020 in order to make them available for public consultation. CNIL will then implement the final version of the recommendations after a period of six months.
The reason for preparing the Action Plan was that CNIL received numerous complaints about online marketing practices from individuals, non-profit organisations, organisations and associations. In 2018, 21% of complaints related to these issues. At the same time, CNIL received numerous questions from industry professionals trying to better understand their GDPR obligations.
7. May 2019
Google has announced on its blog that it will introduce an auto delete feature for web tracking history.
So far, users have the option to manually delete data from Google products such as YouTube or Maps. After numerous requests, however, Google follows other technology giants and revised its privacy settings. “We work to keep your data private and secure, and we’ve heard your feedback that we need to provide simple ways for you to manage or delete it,” Google writes on it’s blog.
Users will be able to choose a period for which the data should remain stored, lasting a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 18 months. At the end of the selected period, Google will automatically delete the data on a regular basis. This option will initially be introduced for Location History and Web & App Activity data and will be available over the next few weeks, according to Google.
Google’s announcement came the day after Microsoft unveiled a set of features designed to strengthen privacy controls for its Microsoft 365 users, aimed to simplify its privacy policies.
On the same day, during Facebook’s annual developer conference, F8, Mark Zuckerberg announced a privacy roadmap for the social network.
25. March 2019
On 21 of March Maciej Szpunar, Advocate General of the European Court of Justice, delivered his Opinion in the case of Planet24 GmbH against Bundesverband Verbraucherzentralen und Vebraucherverbände – Verbaucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V. (Federal Association of Consumer Organisations). In the Opinion, Szpunar explains how to obtain valid consent for the use of cookies.
In the case in question, Planet24 GmbH has organised a lottery campaign on the internet. When registering to participate in the action lottery, two checkboxes appeared. The first checkbox, which did not contain a pre-selected tick, concerned permission for sponsors and cooperation partners to contact the participant in order to inform him of their offers. The second checkbox, which was already ticked off, concerned the consent to the setting of cookies, which evaluate the user’s surfing and usage behaviour.
The Federal Association held that the clauses used infringed german law, in particular Article 307 of the BGB, Article 7(2), point 2, of the UWG and Article 12 et seq. of the TMG and filed a lawsuit in 2014 after an unsuccessful warning.
In the course of the instances, the case ended up at the German Federal Supreme Court in 2017. The German Federal Court considers that the success of the case depends on the interpretation of Articles 5(3) and 2(f) of Directive 2002/58, read in conjunction with Article 2(h) of Directive 95/46, and of Article 6(1)(a) of Regulation 2016/679. For that reason, it asked the European Court of Justice the following questions for a preliminary ruling:
(1) Does consent given on the basis of a pre-ticked box meet the requirements for valid consent under the ePrivacy Directive, the EU Data Protection Directive and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR)?
(2) What information does the service provider have to provide to the user and does this include the duration of the use of cookies and whether third parties have access to the cookies?
According to the Advocate General, there is no valid consent if the checkbox is already ticked. In such case, the user must remove the tick, i.e. become active if he/she does not agree to the use of cookies. However, this would contradict the requirement of an active act of consent by the user. It is necessary for the user to explicitly consent to the use of cookies. Therefore, it is also not sufficient if one checkbox is used to deal with both the use of cookies and participation in the action lottery. Consent must be given separately. Otherwise the user is not in the position to freely give a separate consent.
In addition, Szpunar explains that the user must be provided with clear and comprehensive information that enables the user to easily assess the consequences of his consent. This requires that the information provided is unambiguous and cannot be interpreted. For this purpose, the information must contain details such as the duration of the operation of cookies, as well as whether third parties have access to the cookies.
11. March 2019
The Dutch data protection authority, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, clarified on 7th of March 2019 that the use of websites must remain accessible when tracking cookies are not accepted. Websites that allow users to access only if they agree to the use of tracking cookies or other similar means to track and record their behavior do not comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR.
The Dutch DPA’s decision was prompted by numerous complaints from website users who no longer had access to the websites after refusing the usage of tracking cookies.
The Dutch DPA noted that the use of tracking software is generally allowed. Tracking the behaviour of website users, however, must be based on sufficient consent. In order to be compliant with the GDPR, permission must be given freely. In the case of so-called cookie walls the user has no access to the website if he does not agree to the setting of cookies. In this way, pressure is exerted on the user to disclose his personal data. Nevertheless, according to the GDPR a consent has not been given voluntarily if no free or no real choice exists.
With publication of the explanation the Dutch DPA demands organizations to make their practice compliant with the GDPR. The DPA has already written to those organisations about which the users have complained the most. In addition, it announced that it would intensify its monitoring in the near future in order to examine whether the standard is applied correctly in the interest of data protection.
14. January 2019
The Austrian Data Privacy Authority (“DPA”) decided on a complaint, lodged by an individual, concerning the compliance of the cookie consent solution of an Austrian newspaper with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).
The complainant argued that the consent was not given voluntarily, since the website was no longer accessible after the revocation of consent to marketing cookies. Further use of the website required payment. Therefore, according to the complainant, provision of the service depends on consent to the processing of personal data.
The Austrian newspaper grants users free access to the content of the website, provided that they agree to the use of cookies for advertising purposes. If this consent is revoked, the website will no longer be usable and the window for giving consent will reappear. Alternatively, in the same window, users can choose to subscribe to a paid subscription. For currently 6 euros per month users get access to the entire content of the site, without data tracking.
The DPA explained that consent is only given involuntarily if a disadvantage is to be expected if consent is not given. Referring to Article 29 Working Party’s Guidelines on Consent, the DPA stated that such a disadvantage arises when there is a risk of deception, intimidation, coercion or significant adverse consequences. Yet there is no such disadvantage here. In fact, after giving consent, the user of the website even gains an advantage because he gets full access to the newspaper’s services. Furthermore, if the user does not wish to give his consent, he can still use another online newspaper.
With its decision, the Austrian DPA set a welcome signal for other online newspapers that finance themselves through advertising revenues.
10. February 2017
On January 10, the European Commission published a proposal for an ePrivacy Regulation. After the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’), a new ePrivacy Regulation would be the next step in pursuing the European Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy (‘DSM’).
If adopted, the ePrivacy Regulation will replace both the ePrivacy Directive (2002/58/EC) and the Cookie Directive (2009/136/EC). In contrast to a Directive that has to be implemented into national law by each EU Member State, a Regulation is directly applicable in all Member States. Thus a Regulation would support the harmonisation of the data protection framework.
What’s new?
Since 2009, when the ePrivacy Directive was revised last, important technological and economic developments took place. In order to adapt the legal framework to the reality of electronic communication, the scope of the proposed Regulation is widened to apply to the so called ‘over-the-top’ (‘OTT’) service providers. These OTT providers, such as WhatsApp, Skype or Facebook, run their services over the internet.
By ensuring the privacy of machine-to-machine communication, the Regulation also deals with the Internet of Things and thus seems not only to consider the current situation of electronic communication, but also to prepare for upcoming developments within the information technology sector.
Electronical communications data (metadata as well as content data) cannot be processed without complying with the requirements of the Regulation. Metadata can be processed, if necessary for mandatory quality of service requirements or for billing, calculating interconnection payments, detecting or stopping fraudulent, or abusive use of, or subscription to, electronic communication services.
Content data can be used for the sole purpose of the provision of a specific service to an end-user, if the end-user or end-users concerned have given their consent to the processing of his or her electronic communications content and the provision of that service cannot be fulfilled without the processing of such content or if all end-users concerned have given their consent to the processing of their electronic communications content for one or more specified purposes that cannot be fulfilled by processing information that is made anonymous, and the provider has consulted the supervisory authority.
Regarding the use of cookies, the end-users’ consent is still the basic requirement, except for first party non-privacy intrusive cookies. These cookies can now be used without the consent of the end-user. The proposed Regulation furthermore allows to use browser settings as consent.
In contrast to the draft of the Regulation leaked in December 2016, the official proposal does not contain the commitment to ‘Privacy by default’, which means that software has to be configured so that third parties cannot store information on or use information about a user’s device.
The Commission’s proposal of the Regulation just demands that software must offer the option to prevent third parties from storing information on or using information about a user’s device.
ePrivacy Regulation and GDPR
Both the ePrivacy Regulation and the GDPR are part of the above mentioned ‘DSM’. Several commonalities prove this fact. For instance, the fines in both Regulations will be the same. Furthermore, the EU Data Protection Authorities responsible for the enforcement of the GDPR will also be responsible for the ePrivacy Regulation. This will contribute to the harmonisation of the data protection framework and increase trust in and the security of digital services.
What’s next?
After being considered and agreed by the European Parliament and the Council, the Regulation could be adopted by May 25th, 2018, when the GDPR will come into force. It is to see whether this schedule is practicable, considering how long the debate about the GDPR took.
30. June 2016
The Belgian DPA sued Facebook about a year ago for tracking the online activities of non-users who visit the Facebook´s sites in Belgium without their consent.
In the first instance, the Court ruled that Facebook should stop tracking non-users without their consent or to face a fine of 250,000 euros per day. Facebook appealed this sentence to the Brussels Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal has now stated that the Belgian DPA has no jurisdiction over Facebook Inc. The Belgian DPA will appeal to the Court of Cassation, which cannot deliver new sentences but throw out previous judgements.
In the meanwhile, Facebook has confirmed that it will not track non-users without their consent when they visit Facebook sites or click the “like” button.
Moreover, Facebook stated that only the Irish DPA has jurisdiction regarding data protection issues that involve Facebook´s use of EU citizens’ personal data, as this is where the European Headquarters are located.
After the decision of the Court of Appeal, the Belgian DPA said that the decision “simply and purely means that the Belgian citizen cannot obtain the protection of his private life through the courts and tribunals when it concerns foreign actors”.
