Take away the compliance guesswork with Cookiebot

Many businesses rely on user interaction with their website to make important decisions.

But with legislation such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy Directive – both of which concern the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy – how can businesses leverage data while respecting user privacy?

The solution lies in a platform that uses the latest technology yet is privacy compliant, such as Cookiebot, with which Annertech is now a Platinum partner.

Why does this matter?

Using a platform like Cookiebot enables you to still track potential customers without a privacy issue.

Cookies are small text files containing data that can be used to identify a computer.

These files can help to personalise online experiences, and they can also deliver valuable information to people like website owners or marketers who use this information to make important business decisions.

But because this data can include some sort of personal information, they are bound by privacy laws, such as the GDPR, which protects the rights of the individual to keeping their personal data private.

Under the law, users must be given the ability to opt in to allowing a site to track their visit and store their personal data.

This can include information such as names, email addresses, location information, ethnicity, gender, biometric data and even cookies. Cookiebot aims to ensure that cookies and online tracking are GDPR compliant.

Who should use Cookiebot?

Cookiebot is for anyone who might want to:

•    Use any third-party web service, e.g. Youtube, Google Analytics etc
•    Do any sort of tracking of user activity
•    Set any sort of persistent data in a user's browser and use and refer to it later
•    Know what cookies are in use on their site
•    Comply with GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive.

How does it work?

The service is elegant and simple. Cookiebot scans for cookies and finds any in use. Once cookies are categorised, Cookiebot automatically handles opting in per category of cookie and tracking mechanism.

Another, rather clever thing about Cookiebot is that it can usually tell if a new widget will cause a problem and will block it by default.

The exception, which can involve a little manual intervention, is where something is embedded using an iframe, such as Youtube.

These are known quantities, however, and those with experience and knowhow have ways and means of dealing with all the usual suspects.

What does Annertech offer?

When a client takes up our Cookiebot service this is typically what we’ll do:

• Install the Cookiebot module
• Install our own custom module, which complements Cookiebot and enhances it
• Set up Cookiebot and tell it to scan the site
• Configure the Cookiebot popup
• Categorise any cookies found
• Take any corrective action should any cookie slip through the net
• Configure Google Tag Manager to play nicely with Cookiebot 
• Only load scripts on acquisition of consent
• Give monthly reports on opt ins, opt outs, cookies found and categories.
• Take any ongoing further actions as necessary.

A year and a half since the launch of our managed cookies service, and clients seem to be happy with Cookiebot.

People appear to enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing that even if every cookie is not automatically blocked straight away, they will all be found and they will all be dealt with.

What should potential clients know?

Sure, people could use some free Javascript widget they find on Github, or Drupal's EU-Cookie-Control module, but then all the burden stays with them.

They have to find the cookies, then they have to find what sets them, add them into their solution and ensure it works. They’ll have to do that every time they make a change to their website.

Our managed cookie service takes away all the burden. Cookiebot finds the cookies, we make sure it deals with them, and then clients can relax and know that they’re complying with the law.