Best practice for cookies

IAB guide designed to "demystify" cookies

Digital marketing body the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has relaunched and expanded its online resources to provide information and advice about the use of cookies for e-commerce and marketing.

The IAB said that the AllAboutCookies.org site is designed to demystify the process of cookie tracking - where web browsing information is stored on the user's hard disk for later reference - and to reassure consumers that cookies need not infringe their privacy.

The site also serves as an important resource for web publishers and marketers to help them keep up to date with data protection and other privacy legislation, according to the IAB's European chief executive, Danny Meadows-Klue. It provides guidance and templates for cookie policies to enable firms to comply quickly and easily with relevant legal guidelines, he added.

"There is often a gap between the legalese and the practicalities," he said. "This site is about bridging that gap; the reality is that everyone in IT must be aware of the fact that if they use cookies in any of their web products, they must write clear, accurate marketing policies."

Meadows-Klue said the IAB decided to relaunch the web site because UK companies have a growing need for advice and information, especially on complex legal guidelines such as the 2003 European Electronic Communications Directive and the UK Data Protection Act.

"Key elements of data protection laws have become quite complex for many organisations in the past couple of years [and they] are finding it difficult to understand the exact implications of what they do and how they do it," Meadows-Klue explained.

When used effectively, cookies can "unlock the memory of web sites", and provide information that enables marketers to put together more relevant, targeted communications, he added.