Growth occurs as a series of jolts: your first kiss, your first
drink, your first pay packet. As the technology industry matures,
it's no different. But just as in real life, some people aren't too
good at dealing with change.
For the best part of two years now, parts of the online media
industry have been complaining about EU Directive 2009/136/EC,
which requires users to consent before web sites harvest data from
them.
After the government's year-long pause on enforcement, in the
wake of a highly successful industry-led campaign for common sense
enforcement, implementation is now only days away. In the UK, the
new rules kick in on Saturday 26th May.
Yet the moaning continues. Some still view the Directive as an
infernal doomsday machine that will "kill online sales" and
" kill the internet". Robert Bond of the law firm Speechly
Bircham describes the effects as "far-reaching and
incredibly onerous" for "all UK companies." Simon Davis of Privacy
International argues that proper enforcement would
"destroy the entire industry".
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