Technology blogs and news sites have struggled with the quality of their user generated content for almost as long as they have existed. The comments section at the bottom of any tech related post is often be a dangerous place to be, as users discuss their passions with their peers, often seeking to get one over on supporters of another games console, operating system or mobile ecosystem. Forums are traditionally segmented down to a specific user interest, with little opportunity for sharing of ideas outside a users immediate peer group, and are often frequented by users (referred to as trolls) who look to deliberately ruin the experience of others that they disagree with by posting abuse, off-topic comments or by attacking genuine users.

Engadget.com (a popular tech news site owned by AOL) has struggled for several years to improve the quality of the comments section at the bottom of posts. Various tactics have been employed, including complete removal of the commenting functionality for a nominated period of time, with the goal of reminding users that the ability to comment on their content is a privilege and not a right. The Editor in chief will post reminders about etiquette every few months, and new technologies such as Disqus have been rolled out in order to encourage the use of social network accounts in order to capture “real” identities and encourage them to behave more like human beings and less like feral animals hunting through the bins outside a busy restaurant.

“Hey guys, we know you like to have your fun, voice your opinions, and argue over your favorite gear, but over the past few days the tone in comments has really gotten out of hand. What is normally a charged — but fun — environment for our users and editors has become mean, ugly, pointless, and frankly threatening in some situations… and that’s just not acceptable. Some of you out there in the world of anonymous grandstanding have gotten the impression that you run the place, but that’s simply not the case.” 

Feb 2010 – Engadget.com turns off commenting

These efforts have proven largely ineffective, and have done little to encourage user input of a higher quality. Users are used to being treated as children, subject to draconian moderation and deletion of comments, along with limited control over how their posts are presented on the site – and as such they often behave as children, becoming preoccupied with being the FIRST to comment on a new post, provoking arguments with other users and generally being a nuisance. All of this does little to encourage the cultivation of a new user base, with the vocal existing user group acting in a hostile fashion towards newcomers, generally making them feel unwelcome and treating them as outsiders.

A little further than just lively debate, often users on Engadget will use personal attacks via f.cl.ly

A new way of thinking about user generated content

Following the restructuring process undertaken by AOL in the wake of its acquisition of the Huffington Post, many of the editorial staff left the site to seek employment elsewhere. The former Editor in chief, Joshua Topolsky, and several of his ex-colleagues soon began working on a new site backed by the successful sports news and blogging network SB Nation and six months later the new site was launched to the world.

The new website, ‘The Verge’, has an entirely different approach to user generated content, pushing it to the fore and giving users similar controls and flexibility to the editors of the publication. There is no “secret sauce”, no magic ingredient that makes The Verge so successful in generating higher quality user generated content and vastly improved interactions, instead it takes advantage of a simple approach that gives users responsibility, encouraging greater thought about what is being written and released to the community.

via f.cl.ly

Examples of higher quality debate on The Verge – via f.cl.ly

The Verge allows users to produce content that looks almost as good as that created by the editors of the site and provides a place where community content is given the opportunity to shine. Editors are active in the discussions, sharing personal opinions and experiences, and users appear to receive this very well. Several posts from the community have been featured and highlighted by Verge staff members and even discussed in length during the weekly podcasts.

With the incentive of the above, combined with an intuitive design and the feeling of a clean start on a new website, it is simple to observe the vast improvement in the quality of user interaction, the reduction in trolling behaviour and other barriers to entry for new users. It is possible to comment on an existing editorial post, posts created by other users or to create your own new post, which others can then comment upon. Formatting controls are provided, allowing users to add images, links and videos, and soon more controls will be rolled out allowing even greater control over the way content looks, providing a further enhanced incentive to think carefully about what is being posted before hitting the submit button.

Happy Birthday iPod!

Just a quick post to share some of my iPods owned over the years.

With the gradual, creeping and painful march towards decent broadband speeds in the UK now well underway, the innovative cloud based gaming service OnLive has finally made its UK debut.

“The OnLive Game Service is a groundbreaking on-demand video game platform capable of delivering the latest and most advanced games instantly over a broadband connection. You can play on your TV via the OnLive Game System or on virtually any PC or Mac via a small browser download. The OnLive Game Service creates an entirely new way to play, watch, share and demo premium games from the world’s leading publishers.”

“Founded by noted technology entrepreneur Steve Perlman (WebTV, QuickTime) and incubated within the Rearden media and technology incubator, OnLive spent seven years in stealth development before officially unveiling in March 2009.”

Drawbacks to Cloud gaming in general

The system works very well, however, there are some obvious drawbacks which can’t be avoided and are not in any way the fault of the OnLive service:

• If your Internet connection has a draconian traffic management policies applied to it – you are going to be out of luck. Initially, I had some problems with connectivity during the hours of 6pm – Midnight. Following a quick Google search I discovered that my useless ISP TalkTalk (soon to be changed when the contract runs out) was applying traffic management within those hours in order to cut down on the network stress caused by illegal file sharing traffic. As observed by some posts in another forum, this leads one to the assumption that OnLive uses a proportion of P2P (Peer to Peer) traffic in order to make the service work. Thankfully this situation has now been remedied following lots of abuse from myself and others directed at the official TalkTalk Facebook and Twitter profiles.
• If your internet connection is poor in terms of speed, or has an unusually high ping time, you are going to have serious problems maintaining a solid connection, and in turn a good user experience.
• If you are using the cheap wireless router that was supplied by your ISP, you may well struggle to maintain a solid connection over WiFi. Luckily there is a fix for this, simply use a cable and you will be back on the road to gaming nirvana before you know it.

This may be a common sight when connecting over WiFi

Playing via Mac

Playing OnLive games on a Mac provides an excellent user experience. The OnLive software is a free download which provides your point of entry for the cloud based service. The software also acts as a driver, allowing you to use an XBOX 360 controller, rather than the more traditional mouse and keyboard.

Simple shortcuts allow the user to switch between windowed and full screen modes, and there is easy access to the various menus for switching between games and accessing the options available.

If none of the above listed issues are likely to be a problem, chances are you will have an excellent experience playing on a Mac. Connecting controllers for a more console like experience is simple, with OnLive handling all drivers and configuration seamlessly and without fault every time I tested it. Performance over a decent Internet connection was excellent, with barely any noticeable lag, fantastic graphics and almost instant loading times for games.

The OnLive cloud servers do an excellent job of rendering the games on offer, and visually they look almost as good as running them on a well specified PC, sometimes even better. Certainly the visuals are far in excess of what you would hope to achieve on the lower hardware platforms supported by OnLive. For example, trying out the service on the Mac Mini on my desk at work, which only has minimal on-board graphics, was a breezy and enjoyable affair – once again with little or no lag and excellent overall performance.

Quick demo of the features when accessing via the Mac

Playing on TV using the OnLive Micro Console

The OnLive Micro Console is a cheap and simple way to get cloud gaming on your TV. OnLive describes the device as “delivering instant-play, high-end, new-release video games to TVs. Now players of all skill levels can enjoy games from the comfort of their living rooms—instantly and on-demand—without ever having to bother with discs, downloads or updates. Whether you are checking out a demo, joining a premium multiplayer game or watching live gameplay from around the world, with the OnLive Game System it’s as effortless and as fast as changing channels.”

The presentation of the console is excellent and not at all what I was expecting. I think somewhere along the line I had convinced myself that OnLive was a plucky upstart company looking to change the way we game by disrupting the industry norms – because of this I was expecting a hastily thrown together device with plain brown packaging and the bare minimum of time and effort spent on it. I could not have been more wrong!

Right from the moment of beginning the unboxing process it was apparent that this was a high quality, well thought out offering. The box itself appears like a presentation case for a high-end luxury device, the inset areas of the packaging are perfectly molded to hold everything securely in place, the product itself is fantastically well thought out and the fit and finish is perfect. Attention to detail continues with the supplied accessories, where, unlike many more traditional competitors (Sony, Microsoft) the bottom layer of the box was carefully and thoughtfully packed with everything a player is likely to need. Included in the box was a HDMI cable, Network Cable, UK power block, USB charging cable for the controller, a rechargeable battery pack for the wireless controller and even the fallback if you forget to charge your battery pack in the form of an XBOX 360 style AA battery pack and 2x AA batteries to fit inside it. Every angle is covered and carefully thought through, and this is a huge change of direction in an industry where costs and margins are so sensitive that you are lucky to receive a demo disc in the box with a new console these days, let alone a HDMI cable.

The console itself is exactly what I wish all consoles were like. Diminutive in size, silent in operation and low on energy consumption – the Micro Console is a revelation. In an industry where cooling fans roar and competitors seem to start huge and gradually refine their industrial design over the lifetime of their products, finally culminating with something that a mere mortal can lift without the help of someone else, the OnLive Micro Console achieves a simple (Apple-esque) elegance that has been missing from the games industry for a long time.

This is perhaps an unfair comparison to draw, as the vast majority of processing occurs miles away from your front room in the OnLive server room. This means that the MicroConsole has the simpler task of interpreting controls from the user and relaying them to OnLive, and receiving them back in return and displaying video, and passing rumble commands back to the users controller. It performs this job admirably, particularly when you consider that the console only retails for £69.99! I managed to get hold of it for even less than that as OnLive were running a promotion giving the console away for FREE (£6 postage) to those who pre-ordered Batman: Arkham City. The hardware really is excellent value whichever way you get hold of it.

The controller will be familiar to anyone who has used an XBOX 360 controller before (it really is a homage to the XBOX design), legally different and with a few extra buttons thrown in for controlling the OnLive experience and menus, I found it to be very comfortable to use for extended periods of play. It does its job simply and effectively and I couldn’t fault it during my testing phase.

Negative points for the Micro Console are few and far between, with the only drawback being the lack of WiFi connectivity (likely to be fixed in a future release). This isn’t so much of an inconvenience, unless you live somewhere that makes running a cable completely impossible, and the connection over a cable is hugely more reliable than connecting via WiFi.

Game Selection

There are various options for users to purchase games through OnLive. The first game purchased (at time of writing) is only £1 – I chose Batman: Arkham Asylum as my first game, one that I had truly enjoyed playing on the XBOX 360 (from start to finish), as I thought that it would allow me to compare the performance of the two systems more evenly.

Following your first game purchase there is a choice of approaches:

• Subscribe at a price of £6 per month and receive unlimited access to 100+ titles of various ages and qualities including the likes of Homefront, Borderlands, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Just Cause 2, BioShock and Deus Ex. This is a great deal, and something that is a lot easier to commit to for casual gamers than paying £50 per game for a traditional console. Subscribers also receive discounts on purchases from the store in return for their loyalty, bringing new releases under £30 in most cases.
• Purchasing games on a one-off basis may suit some users, and there are plenty of selections available in the store to keep most gamers happy. New releases often arrive a little after their PC counterparts, so fans of 0 day releases need not apply, however – with a little patience “normal” gamers will get their hot little hands on games within a short enough period of time.

Wrap-Up

The OnLive service is seemless, similar in approach to XBOX Live in a lot of ways, often better and more responsive, with easier access to configuration (not that it is ever really needed). You can genuinely open the box, sign in and play, no loading times, no updates to download to games – this is a refreshing and enjoyable service that simply must have a future in the industry.

Negatives are thin on the ground, with limited support for multiplayer chat (at the moment it is in Beta) and the lack of WiFi on the micro console currently top the list. These are massively outweighed by the innovation of the product and service, with unique features such as the ability to view other gamers whilst in play, combined with future developments such as iPad and Android apps for viewing and one day playing games.

The OnLive UK service is highly recommended and not to be missed. Get involved now at www.onlive.co.uk.

These days you can’t make a smartphone and expect it to sell (and perform well) without including a decent browser. The mobile web has come a long way since my first taste of it, the extremely limited WAP over GPRS as I had on my Nokia 6510, followed up by basic page rendering over 3G on handsets like the N95 and E61. Modern smartphones have a lot more to deal with in terms of complexity and content, and todays users expect a “proper” browsing experience, with all the features of a desktop browser available to them.

So after this trip down memory lane, discussing handsets of old, how does the N8 perform? The spec sheet seems to indicate that everything is in order claiming “Full web browsing of real web pages” and detailing support for HTML, XHTML MP, WML, CSS, Javascript and Flash Lite 4 and in my initial tests I was pleasantly surprised by the accurate approach to rendering pages from the N8. However, due to the comparatively low resolution of the screen, it can actually be quite difficult to “use” the browser with most pages initially rendering with only the top left corner of the content available without scrolling or zooming. This wouldn’t be a big problem if the experience of scrolling / zooming was more pleasant, but sadly the usually excellent capacitive display is slow to react to swipes when browsing complex pages and this leads to a less than pleasant overall experience.

Web standards compatibility

There is better news in terms of support for modern standards, with all of the standard pages I tested rendering correctly, and even some of the more advanced and complex pages rendering in a usable fashion. The currently in development jQuery Mobile is also compatible with the browser and has support at B-Grade level which the project describes as providing an “enhanced experience except without Ajax navigation features”. In reality this means that the N8 will be forward compatible (to an extent) with many of a new breed of websites and web apps that will support the fledgling standard as it grows in popularity, making it a safe bet for “normal users” (not me) who are likely to keep their handsets for the entire duration of an 18 or 24 month contract.

Speed

When considering the speed of browsing it is a bit of a mixed bag. Over 3G the handset performs OK, no better or worse than any other handset I have tested in terms of its radio performance and download speeds, but when you take the browser into consideration it becomes painfully slow rendering complex websites. Over WiFi the story is much the same, with the N8 getting to pages and starting to download quickly, but the rendering seemingly going on forever.

Nokia N8 v Apple iPhone 4 – Browser Speed Test

In a head to head with the Apple iPhone 4 (running iOS4) the N8 was decimated, blazing speeds from the iPhone4 meant that in some of the tests I ran the N8 still had a blank screen when the iPhone 4 had fully rendered the page. In the above video the N8 was defeated 3-0 by the iPhone and in terms of raw pace was left well behind.

Wrap-up

Overall the N8 web performance is a bit of a mixed bag to say the least. From a technical perspective the browser performs well, rendering the vast majority of pages successfully, however, whether or not you still care what the site you are looking for has to say when it eventually finishes rendering is another matter all together. For users that only use the web occasionally and mainly live in messaging and email the N8 would make a solid companion, but more demanding (power) users should look elsewhere to a more modern phone OS with a more robust browser and a handset with more horsepower. Flash support is a pleasant and welcome surprise, but this isn’t enough to let me feel confident recommending the N8 for anyone who intends to use the internet regularly on the move. A good effort, but one that feels a little left behind when compared with the current crop of modern smartphone browsers.

I get excited about technology pretty easily, Nokia World 2011 has me more excited than usual. Recently, things have been quiet at Nokia. There have been the usual releases of handsets aimed at the developing markets, but other than that there has been a pretty resolute silence coming from the Finnish manufacturer.

After spending two weeks in the company of the N8 I was left feeling like I was ready for more. More of the famous Nokia build quality and excellent industrial design. More innovation, thought and user focus like I experienced in the old days using everything from a 5110 to an N95-8GB.

I’m excited because we simply MUST be about to witness the unveiling of the next generation of Nokia Smartphones. With Windows Phone 7 (7.5?) platform the time has surely come for Nokia to re-enter the smartphone market with a bang. Nokia handsets empower people all over the world, give them their connections to the rest of the world, and help them get their message out. I simply hope that Nokia can make a barnstorming return to the premium handset market with something big.

Good luck Nokia.

After spending 2 weeks in September with the Nokia N8 I finally got around to editing some of the video that I took with this surprisingly powerful little handset. Navigating to and using the video recording mode is very simple, and the available controls provide enough flexibility to produce some pleasing results.

In the example included below, I was recording in bright sunlight, outdoors. The N8 produced very impressive video in these conditions, and the only time I really found it to struggle when indoors in low light conditions. However, this can be said of many smaller sensors found in mobile devices, and is a common problem with the technology, not so much with this particular device.

For those users looking for instant gratification, the N8 includes HDMI out, so freshly captured video can be played directly from the device onto a TV or monitor (via an optional HDMI cable). There are also options for wireless streaming over your home network to get your content moving about and displayed where you need it.

Overall I was VERY impressed with the video performance from the N8. It’s directly comparable to the quality that one would expect from a dedicated pocket video recorded such as one of the now discontinued Flip Cameras, with the added benefit that as it is also a phone, there is no need to carry an additional device. When compared with some lower end point and shoot cameras the N8 once again punches above its weight in terms of end result, and ease of use.

Nokia N8 v Apple iPhone 4
Video Performance Comparison

Nokia N8 v iPhone 4 Video Comparison from Jon Hume on Vimeo.

Above: Quick comparison movie to show the difference in quality between the Nokia N8 and the iPhone 4. The N8 produces fantastic realistic colours and overall provided a great video recording experience. The iPhone 4 could not be simpler to use and create basic clips on, but the unrealistic colours in the final product mean that the footage really only looks good when viewed back on the iPhone screen itself. The iPhone struggled to deal with the bright sunlight and the contrast between light and shade. A solid win for the N8 in this case.

N8 Video Specifications

• 12 megapixel with Carl Zeiss optics
• HD quality 720p resolution
• Shoot 16:9 videos in HD
• 3x digital zoom
• Video capture in 720p 25 fps with codecs H.264, MPEG-4

Recently there has been a lot of rumbling in the tech press about the latest operating system from Microsoft, Windows 8. It was announced and immediately released as a developer preview that anyone can download for free from the Microsoft website.

On the surface Windows 8 looks to be Windows 7 with their new Metro UI pasted on top. The press seem to be reacting to the news in a variety of ways – either total dismay, or a mediocre Luke-warm response to their new ideas.

I decided to download the preview and give it a try, but what is the safest way to test out this very early software on the Mac? By using a Virtual machine of course!

Getting up and running with the Windows 8 Developer Preview couldn’t be easier for Mac users. Here is a quick guide to get you up and running using my software of choice VMWare Fusion 4, the latest release of the excellent Fusion client. Leave a comment at the bottom of the post if you have any questions.

1. First off, you are going to need to download the Windows 8 Developer Preview from Microsoft. Visit their website and download it now. I chose the x64 version without the developer tools and it worked just fine. Download Windows 8 Preview.
2. Open VMWare Fusion 4 and create a new virtual machine by selecting ‘Create new virtual machine’ and hitting the ‘continue without disc’ button. On the next screen select ‘Use operating system installation disc or image’ and ‘choose a disc or disc image’ then select your newly downloaded .iso file. Select ‘Windows 7 x64′ from the list of operating systems and click continue. At this point you can make some changes to your resource allocation for the Virtual Machine, so feel free to tweak this based on what resources you have available. I recommend allowing at least 2GB of RAM.
   
3. Next up you can start the Virtual Machine and Windows 8 will begin installing. Work through the steps as you normally would, following the process shown in the images below.
   
4. Windows 8 begins to install …
   
5. Select the correct regional options for your location.
   
6. Read the terms and conditions if you are bored, or click accept like a normal human.
   
7. Select ‘custom’ from the available install options to perform a clean install.
   
8. Select the new blank partition created for the Virtual Machine.
   
9. Windows 8 will now install.
   
10. Complete the rest of the personalisation process.
    
11. Congratulations, you now have a working virtual machine for Windows 8!
    

This week I was lucky enough to receive a review handset from Nokia to try out for a few weeks and put through a barrage of tests. After using the phone for only a limited time, my initial impressions are:

• The N8 is well put together, and the design of the phone is rugged and high quality.
• It is a good size, fits well in the hand and all the controls can be easily reached during one handed operation
• The screen is only running at 640 x 360 pixels, however, the OLED display has excellent colour reproduction and the blacks are perfect
• Setting up email and calendar syncing was simple enough, however, not as easy as on the iPhone and with several extra steps required
• Having a physical camera button is a real bonus when it comes to taking better quality photos with the excellent 12MP camera, but only if you are using two hands to frame the shot
• Call quality and battery life are both excellent, turns out I had got used to having a phone that barely lasted a day and was no good for actually talking to people
• I’m not the first person to have this review unit, the back of the camera bump where it touches when you put it on any surface has got a bit battered over time and some of the bare metal has been exposed
• Symbian ^3 is not a modern smart phone OS and is severely lacking in many departments, also – some of the apps crash instantly on opening (the social app for example) and I can’t find any clues online as to why this might be

A more detailed review and some browser functionality and speed tests will be coming over the next 2 weeks.

Some comparison shots with the Apple iPhone4

The Nokia N8 review handset was kindly supplied by WOMWorld. The WOMWorld/Nokia is a Nokia sponsored resource providing latest news, comment and feedback on all things Nokia from the world of social media and beyond. Visit the site here.

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MySpace was a social networking pioneer but is now becoming less and less relevant by the day. When looking through search results to check I had updated all of my various profiles to include my new employer (and not the old one) I noticed that my MySpace profile was about 5 years out of date. I haven’t used the site for a long time and so I decided to delete my account. It is a long and painful process so if you too want to quit MySpace here is how.

How to quit MySpace in lots of annoying steps

1. Log in to your Myspace account.
2. Upgrade your MySpace account to the new profile. If you’ve done this already, skip this step.
3. Click on the Edit Profile button.
4. Under the Account Settings & Privacy heading, click Cancel Account.
5. Click ‘Cancel Account’.
6. Choose the button that best describes your reason for wanting to cancel the account. The 4 options are Bored, Spam, Privacy, and E-Mail. Once you have made your selection, you will proceed to the next step.
7. Press the cancel button again to continue.
8. Click the button that reads Cancel Account. Again.
9. Read the warning notification (if you can be bothered) and then leave a comment (again, if you can be bothered).
10. Now, once your comment has been entered, press ‘Cancel Account’ to continue.
11. You are informed that a confirmation e-mail is being sent to the account’s e-mail address. You must navigate to your e-mail and click that confirmation to complete the cancellation of your account.
12. Confirm your e-mail address and press Cancel Account.
13. You have now completed the process and in 48 hours your account will be deleted.
14. Leave me a comment below and let me know why you left MySpace

My favourite MySpace story

In April 2007, police in County Durham, United Kingdom, arrested a 17-year-old girl on charges of criminal damage following a party advertised on MySpace, held at her parents’ house without their consent. Over 200 teenagers came to the party from across the country, causing £20,000 of damage, such as cigarette butts, urine on clothing, and writing on the walls. The girl’s parents, who were away at the time, had to move out of the house.

What are Cookies?

Also known as browser cookies or tracking cookies, cookies are small, often encrypted text files, located in browser directories. They are used by web developers to help users navigate their websites efficiently and perform certain functions. Due to their core role of enhancing/enabling usability or site processes, disabling cookies may prevent users from using certain websites.

Cookies are created when a user’s browser loads a particular website. The website sends information to the browser which then creates a text file. Every time the user goes back to the same website, the browser retrieves and sends this file to the website’s server. Computer Cookies are created not just by the website the user is browsing but also by other websites that run ads, widgets, or other elements on the page being loaded. These cookies regulate how the ads appear or how the widgets and other elements function on the page.

What changes have been made to the law?

The European Directive on which the UK Regulations relating to cookies are based has been revised. UK law has been changed to implement that changed Directive. A simplified version of the changes is described below.

The previous rule on using cookies for storing information was that you had to:

• tell people how you use cookies, and
• tell them how they could ‘opt out’ if they objected.

Many websites did this by putting information about cookies in their privacy policies and giving people the possibility of ‘opting out’. The new requirement is essentially that cookies can only be placed on machines where the user or subscriber has given their consent.

How are cookies commonly used by Drupal?

For the vast majority of the standard websites developed in Drupal, cookies are mainly used for managing the secure access of protected content, and for handling shopping baskets in e-commerce websites. This particular use of Cookies is subject to an exemption from the new legislation, as it is “strictly necessary” in order for these processes to function securely and reliably. This exemption is defined by the ICO as follows:

“The only exception to this rule is if what you are doing is ‘strictly necessary’ for a service requested by the user. This exception is a narrow one but might apply, for example, to a cookie you use to ensure that when a user of your site has chosen the goods they wish to buy and clicks the ‘add to basket’ or ‘proceed to checkout’ button, your site ‘remembers’ what they chose on a previous page …You would not need to get consent for this type of activity.“

“This exception needs to be interpreted quite narrowly because the use of the phrase “strictly necessary” means its application has to be limited to a small range of activities and because your use of the cookie must be related to the service requested by the user. Indeed, the relevant recital in the Directive on which these Regulations are based refers to services “explicitly requested” by the user. As a result our interpretation of this exception therefore has to bear in mind the narrowing effect of the word “explicitly”. The exception would not apply, for example, just because you have decided that your website is more attractive if you remember users’ preferences or if you decide to use a cookie to collect statistical information about the use of your website.”

Notifying users via Terms & Conditions of use

The ICO provides the following guidance on notifying new users about cookie usage via the terms & conditions on the website.

“There are already lots of examples of gaining consent online using the terms of use or terms and conditions to which the user agrees when they first register or sign up. Where users open an online account or sign in to use the services you offer, they will be giving their consent to allow you to operate the account and offer the service and there is no reason why consent for the purposes of complying with the new rules on cookies cannot be gained in the same way.”

The above is an excellent solution for new users who will be required to log-in prior to receiving a cookie. The situation for existing users is a little more tricky as there is a requirement for users to be notified of the change, and given the opportunity to opt-in again. Once again the ICO provides some guidance on this:

“However, it is important to note that changing the terms of use alone to include consent for cookies would not be good enough even if the user had previously consented to the overarching terms. To satisfy the new rules on cookies, you have to make users aware of the changes and specifically that the changes refer to your use of cookies. You then need to gain a positive indication that users understand and agree to the changes. This is most commonly obtained by asking the user to tick a box to indicate that they consent to the new terms.”

Our current suggestion on this approach would be the following:

1. Updates terms & conditions and privacy policy documents with relevant information regarding cookie usage, in particular the exact cookies that are being utilised and their purpose.
2. Provide existing users with a notification when logging in that informs them that cookies will be used on the site and explain their purpose. At this point provide an input allowing them to opt-in if they wish to continue using the service / or warn them that opting out may negatively affect their browsing experience (for example a reduction in personalised content may occur in some instances).

Google Analytics Cookies

Like many services, Google Analytics uses first-party cookies to track visitor interactions. These cookies are used to store information, such as the time that the current visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the site before and what site referred the visitor to the web page. Browsers do not share first-party cookies across domains.

3rd Party cookies, such as those used by Google Analytics, are not exempt from the updated legislation. However, there is currently some discussion regarding the implementation of analytics and Google are yet to make an official response.

At this time it is possible to take 2 courses of action for Google Analytics:

• Utilise a browser pop-up that will allow the user to opt-out of all non-essential cookies. (This will mean that if they opt-out it will be impossible to collect information on these users via Google Analytics).
• Update privacy policy documents as a short-term solution and only collect information for users who are logged in and have agreed to the website terms and condition and updated privacy policy. This will therefore only allow tracking of existing users.

Users are able to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites by visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. It is recommended that you add this information to your privacy policy now if it isn’t already mentioned.

Additional 3rd Party Cookies

The use of 3rd party cookies is currently a complex discussion and even the guidelines from the ICO are lacking in detail. It would appear that for the time being the best approach is to be as transparent as possible with users via the privacy policy / terms of use and ensure that 3rd party cookies are listed within reason. Cookies that are used for tracking, re-marketing etc will need to be disclosed and according to the letter of the law will require prior consent from users before they can be put to use.

“Some websites allow third parties to set cookies on a user’s device. If your website displays content from a third party (e.g. from an advertising network or a streaming video service) this third party may read and write their own cookies or similar technologies onto “your” users’ devices. Obviously, the process of getting consent for these cookies is more complex and our view is that everyone has a part to play in making sure that the user is aware of what is being collected and by whom.“

“There are a number of initiatives that seek to ensure that users are given more and better information about how their information might be used. These will no doubt adapt to achieve compliance with the new rule but we would advise anyone whose website allows or uses third party cookies to make sure that they are doing everything they can to get the right information to users and that they are allowing users to make informed choices about what is stored on their device.”

General Recommendations

Our recommendations for bringing websites in-line with the guidelines fall into 2 different types of website; websites with content available publicly (no log-in required), and those which handle all content behind a secure access point (log-in required).

No log-in required

Websites with public content that rely on cookies to perform non-essential site functionality will need to either:

• Remove or redevelop this functionality to minimise the reliance on cookies
• Notify users of the cookies used and provide them with the opportunity to opt-in to continue to receive the same user experience. Inform the user that by opting-in they are giving us permission to place a cookie on their machine that tells the site they have allowed cookies, to ensure the message is only displayed once. Users who do not opt-in will be presented with the cookie information each time that they visit the website as without a cookie, we cannot record the fact that they have opted out.

Log-in required

Websites that require a log-in for them to function will be recommended to:

• Update their terms of use in order to include an opt-in for cookies for new users.
• Present existing users (following a successful log-in) with information regarding cookies and their intended purpose, and then provide the opportunity for users to opt-out from receiving any further cookies from the website.

Summary

All in all, the situation is not clear and is still developing. Over the coming months business will find a way to either successfully comply or circumvent the legislation and the industry will begin to follow. For now many organisations such as the BBC are going for a temporary measure to buy some time to prepare their full approach, and simply let users know that cookies are being used with a pop-up or drop down. This seems to be the safest approach for now, but it leave me wondering if more could be done in advance. Agencies with a large number of clients will need time to prepare for and roll out changes to large and complex websites. I will continue to update this post as the situation develops.

Recommended reading

Content from the following sources was used in the creation of this document and can be used in order to gain further information on the specifics of the updated legislation as the situation continues to develop.

• All About Cookies.org
• Information Commissioner’s Office – Advice on the new cookies regulation
• Information Commissioner’s Office