Cookie law enforcement unit
The European Union Cookie Monster -- Out to Get You!
If you are wondering what this is about--I'm not sure myself!
As far as I know, I don't have a police record, but have a "KTN" (
TSA Pre✓® ) and other credentials. So, I was a bit perplexed to find my book website recently getting (on one day) two dozen-plus visits by the European Union (EU) Cookie Police, i.e. the European Commission's "
cookie law enforcement unit".
Yeah, there is such a thing. It's in the business of making sure you or your internet service provider (ISP) comply with Brussel's edicts about your website's behavior, specifically the placement of "cookies" on your computer when you visit web sites--any--anywhere. And they mean business, threatening fines of "up to EURO 500,000."
Cookies
Apart from those cookies that your dearest or friend bakes for you, there are "computer cookies"--thanks to Bill and cohorts at the MS behemoth. Such cookies are simple computer codes--stored on your computer--that normally allow you to tell a site that you have visited it before, what you may be most interested in and so forth.
The biggest reason for cookies is to mark the pages and links that you have previously used and only have the site refresh them if the material linked-to has changed. That way you always know if there is something new and wonderful for you to see.
Of course, that may have changed since everyone has added "ad-links" to their pages, so there is always a chance that you might want to go to and look at every page since the ads have changed - a practice that probably will have users dropping out since they are interested in the content, not the ads, so if the site is fooling you to see ads, you will probably move on to a similar site that doesn't.
Actually, clicking on the "Cookies" link of that same EU web site, you'll get presented with the following information [excerpt]:
"To make this site work properly, we sometimes place small data files called cookies on your device. Most big websites do this too.
What are cookies?
A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. It enables the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login, language, font size and other display preferences) over a period of time, so you don't have to keep re-entering them whenever you come back to the site or browse from one page to another.
How do we use cookies?
A number of our pages use cookies to remember:
- your display preferences, such as contrast colour settings or font size
- If you have already replied to a survey pop-up that asks you if the content was helpful or not (so you won't be asked again)
- if you have agreed (or not) to our use of cookies on this site."
Do as I Say--not as I Do
Indeed, if properly designed and coded, such cookies are compiled in a particular file on your computer (cookies.... that will not harm your system and are just like little crib-sheets to assist the visited site to provide fast and desired information to you. So far, so good.
Still, I feel a bit miffed by those visits from the bureaucrats in Brussels or wherever because it looks to me like another governmental overreach. That very same "Cookie Police" that was so interested in my web site, appears to have no qualms about placing a "cookie" on my computer without my expressed permission. Could this be a case of "do as I say, not as I do?" In my humble opinion, I fail to see any difference.
Indeed, now that I have visited that EU site (noted above) and checked the contents of my cookies file, sure enough, there is now a line with "cookie-law-enforcement-hh.xyz."
Need more proof?
Probably not.
Besides, I don't need the EU to advise me on or control my monitor display settings, I can manage those settings myself, thanks for the thought. And as to my book and article website (
ConvenientMyths.com), hosted by one of the world's most prominent "outfitters" (
Whois.com): If they can't keep up complying with the plethora of laws (or even ascertain if they are applicable or not to a web site they are hosting), please don't blame me, I'm just the scribe, not the computer specialist.
Frankly, it looks to me like another overreach by bureaucrats who don't know what they are doing.
Dr. Klaus L.E. Kaiser -- Bio and
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Dr. Klaus L.E. Kaiser is author of CONVENIENT MYTHS, the green revolution – perceptions, politics, and facts Convenient Myths
