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A New privacy law relating to the way websites gather information about their visitors comes into effect on May 26th 2012.

It's been dubbed the 'Cookie Law' as it seeks to make the use of cookies - these are tiny text files used to store temporary data on a web user's computer - more clearly understood. The EU instigated the law last year and gave EU members time to adopt it. Here in the UK that time has come and organisations that "seriously breach" the law could be liable to a very hefty fine.

But don't panic. While the UK Information Commissioner's Office has stated that they have every intention to actively implement the new EU directive, they are extremely unlikely to bring any prosecutions in the near term. Larger companies will likely need to implement the new privacy measures faster than small to medium size organisations. The important thing is to be aware of the law and to begin acting on it, and we are here to help our clients with advice and practical solutions to ensure your website is legal.

One of the main requirements is that everyone who visits a website that places cookies on the visitor's computer to track their progress through the site (remembering what they place in a shopping basket, for example), will need to give their explicit permission to allow cookies to be stored on their computer - it's no longer enough to assume they allow it just because their web browser has not been set to block cookies. An example of how this can be done is already active on our own site at www.doliadesign.co.uk.

Over the next few weeks, we will be getting in touch with clients to chat about inexpensive packages that will implement the necessary updates to your website. If your website isn't already showing a privacy policy, that should ideally be part of the update too!