Some may feel that cookie compliance was yesterday’s news. But with even Google giving ground recently and the looming possibility that somebody is going to be made an example of, pour encourager les autres, it is old news with a very powerful resonance for the future.
The SCL London Group and the Privacy & Data Protection Group are grappling with cookies again on 13 May – and a very forward-thinking approach that will be taken.
Leading targeted advertising specialist, Sam Barnett, is speaking. Ex-lawyer Sam started his personalised-advertising startup Struq with £2,000, and now has 350 clients from 19 countries, including Nike, Adidas, Hilton Hotels and Topshop and £19.5 million in revenue (2011). Struq clients want to target their ads at you based on your interests and Struq gives them the software to do it. Is it innovative and a vital service to consumers thus spared from drowning in a sea of irrelevant advertising? Or is it the essence of invasion of privacy and likely to fall foul of regulators?
Dave Evans from the ICO, another participant in the event, might not give the answer to that question that you might expect from a former compliance officer. He is now Group Manager of the Business and Industry Group at the ICO and has a vital role in policy and liaison. The ICO has shown a certain lack of enthusiasm for enforcement of the ‘cookie law’ so it will be interesting to hear the latest on their position. Will EU grumblings force them to toughen up? The ICO has recently revealed that it has written to several hundred companies about their lack of compliance – one of your clients (or potential clients) may be among them.
Richard Cumbley is also speaking at the cookies meeting. He is a well known Technology, Media & Telecoms Partner at Linklaters LLP. He advises large companies on complex data protection and information management issues and is listed as a leading expert by Chambers & Partners in the field of Data Protection. Richard is too streetwise to dismiss cookie compliance as a passing fad but, in the inviting environment of an SCL meeting, he is sure to share his best advice.
For full details of the meeting, click here.
