Part 2 of GDPR and more
You, loyal reader of The Legal Genealogist, were warned.
Yesterday, in fact.
You’re going to be hearing a lot this week about the GDPR — the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation that goes into effect on Friday, May 25.
As noted:
Just about every website you use, every list you’ve ever signed up for (including a whole bunch you’ve probably long forgotten) and every service you’ve ever used that has a web presence is going to be sending you one of those “We’ve Updated Our Privacy Rules” emails and asking you to do things because of the GDPR.
And The Legal Genealogist, as a web information provider, is no exception.1
So… today, let’s talk about cookies.
Not the kind you eat, the kind that ends up on your computer: “A small text file (up to 4KB) created by a website that is stored in the user’s computer either temporarily for that session only or permanently on the hard disk (persistent cookie). Cookies provide a way for the website to recognize you and keep track of your preferences.”2
And if a cookie has information that can identify an individual, like an IP address the person is using when accessing the website, it’s the kind of information the GDPR is trying to regulate.3
So… here’s the deal here at The Legal Genealogist: yes, this website uses cookies. The Privacy Policy explains:
A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. The website doesn’t use cookies for tracking purposes, but does use the cookies that are part of the WordPress blogging platform to:
• Understand and save your preferences for future visits.
• Let you share blog posts with social networks like Facebook or Twitter.
• Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions.
You can change your browser settings to warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can turn off all cookies. That may impact some ways the site works for you (you can’t post a comment if you turn off cookies, for example), but you’ll still be able to read the website content.4
You’ll be asked, now, when you access the site, to agree to the use of these cookies, with a banner that looks like this:
Your choices are to agree, or to go ahead and read the content without agreeing, but with the understanding that there are some things you won’t be able to do if you don’t agree, such as post a comment.
That banner will disappear if you agree, but it’s not forever — it’ll pop up again down the road to make sure you still agree then.
Got that?
Good… because, yeah — sigh — there’s more.
Tune in tomorrow…
Note: The blogs this week on what this website is doing about the GDPR and compliance are not intended as legal advice. I can’t even say that taking these steps will make this site fully compliant, so I certainly can’t say that following the same or similar steps will make any other website compliant. Do your research, use your best judgment and maybe do the one other thing we’re all doing right now: cross your fingers…
SOURCES
- See generally Judy G. Russell, “The GDPR, you & me,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 21 May 2018 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 22 May 2018). ↩
- PC Magazine Encyclopedia (https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/ : accessed 21 May 2018), “cookie.” ↩
- See generally Recital 30, “Online identifiers for profiling and identification,” GDPR via Intersoft Consulting (https://gdpr-info.eu/ : accessed 21 May 2018). ↩
- “Privacy Policy: Use of Cookies,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 17 May 2018 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 21 May 2018). ↩
Will ignorance of this law serve as a viable defense?
Asking for a friend…
Um… no. (Answering for the EU, which I should never ever do, but…) 🙂
I literally have more than 100 PWs. I cannot remember them. I can’t even remember the ones for sites that I use daily such as Ancestry. I have a Rollodex full of these PWs. Nothing is more frustrating for me than to go to a site I use regularly and have that site ask for my PW. I have a Cat. The Cat loves the Rollodex. I do not keep that Rollodex at hand because the Cat has a Field Day with it. I use a Laptop and that is literally in my Lap. I cannot get out from under the laptop to go after the Rollodex which is hidden from the Cat. Every time a Web site asks for my PW, that is a site I cannot visit because I cannot get up to fetch the Rollodex that I have hidden from the Cat. I have consistently been unable to use several sites that I visit daily because they now refuse to “Remember” my PW and User Name. This is the third day in a row I have been unable to access my Home page because they no longer “recognize” me. Yes, I should have that PW tattooed on my arm but I do not find it attractive. besides, with all of the new securities, some Web site may require the removal of my arm. Yes, I realize that these sites are “Protecting” me, I suspect though that most are only “Protecting” me from myself – Whopee!
Trust me, I know only too well how you feel… Sigh… 🙁
Report them all to the EU Ministry of Silly Walks in Brussels.
🙂
Total bummer. I’m getting notifications from WikiTree’s messaging system about actions I need to take, but when I click the link to take the necessary action I get bounced to the login page and can’t get back to the target page to perform the action. grrrr.
To make matters worse I’m getting spammed by impersonators of every website I never visited (including some I have) telling me to click the link to review their new privacy policy.
Be careful out there folks. Be sure to check the full header for anything that looks suspicious (like a mismatch between the sender’s name in “…”and the domain name in — i don’t think Ancestry.com has got somebody sending out official communications from a personal AOL or Yahoo account.)
In the past, FF kept my PWs but recently it has not done so. Norton has a “Vault” that keeps them too but I forgot my PW and can’t open the “Vault” – Lol!
Barbara, you need a password app like Dashlane or Last Pass that syncs across all devices. It will both remember and fill in your log in credentials, and generate safe passwords if you do choose. All you need to remember is one master password.