Context
Last November the ICO wrote to 53 of the UK’s top 100 websites, warning that they faced enforcement action if they did not make changes to advertising cookies to comply with data protection law.
Key points to note and next actions
Of the 53 organisations the ICO contacted, 38 organisations changed their cookies banners to ensure compliance and four committed to reach compliance within the next month. Several other firms are working to develop alternative solutions, including contextual advertising and subscription models.
The ICO expect all websites using advertising cookies or similar technologies to give people a fair choice over whether they consent to the use of such technologies. Where organisations continue to ignore the law, they can expect to face the consequences as the ICO continues to contact more firms in relation to their websites.
To assist in the identification of non-compliant websites, the ICO is also developing an AI solution to help identify websites using non-compliant cookie banners. Its advice to all organisations is to take action now to become compliant, rather than wait for the ICO to come knocking.