Topic ID 6552
08/05/2012 by Admin
EU Privacy and Communications Directive
We have recently updated clause 5 of our Acceptable Use and Privacy Statement, adding the text shown in green.
5. Cookies must be turned on in your browser to participate as a user in these forums. Cookies are used here to hold your username and password and viewing options, allowing you to login. They are also used for analytical purposes, allowing us to compile information on how many people are visiting the site, what operating systems and browsers they are using, their location, and other information. All of this is done anonymously and none of the information is shared. We use Google Analytics to provide this functionality.
More information about The EU Directive can be found at
www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies.aspx
A more digestible article can be found at
www.cookielaw.org/the-cookie-law-explained.aspx
There's also a Q&A with the ICO's Dave Evans on the subject at
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/9610-q-a-the-ico-s-dave-evans-on-eu-cookie-law-compliance
Reply ID 87750
09/05/2012 by Admin
quote:
Originally posted by Woody
Please could you be more specific in what you mean by "other information" - perhaps give examples?
Yours, Paranoid of Hertford. [:)]
Some of the data hoovered up by Google Analytics includes:
1. Type of user agent (web browser) used, software manufacture and version number.
2. Type of operating system
3. Screen colors (color processing ability of the users screen)
4. Javascript support
5. Flash version
6. Screen resolution
7. Network location and IP address
Can include country, city, state, region, county, or any other geographic data.
8. Hostname
9. Bandwidth (internet connection speed)
10. Time of visit
11. Pages visited
12. Time spent on each page of the website
13. Referring site statistics
14. The website (URI) the user came through in order to arrive at this website (example: clicking on a hyperlink from Yahoo.com that took the user to this website)
15. Search engine query used (example: typing in a phrase into a search engine like Google, and clicking on a link from that search engine)
For what it's worth, Google Analytics is used by 56% of all websites and 60% of the world's top 10,000 sites. None of the data collected is personalised, so it's impossible to identify a specific visitor or computer.
From a practical point of view, Google Analytics provides us with information about how many visitors we're getting, the browsers and screen resolutions they're using. For instance, our visitor statistics tell us that 13% of all visitors are using an iPhone or iPad to view the site. This means that any Flash or Shockwave content will not be displayed, so we have to decide if this is acceptable or if we need to use alternative technologies to display this content to visitors using these devices.