Leosghost - 1:53 pm on Apr 5, 2012 (gmt 0)

I wasn't clear on whether it would, for example, be Google's responsibility to get consent for Google Analytics Cookies and if they are whether this would be on a site by site, session by session basis or whether they could get a cookie set that would apply to all sites thereafter.

Unfortunately he made that no clearer..he appeared to say it would be Google's responsibility ..and then went on to say that website owners ( depending on the "tech level" of their visitors ) should explain ( in varying degrees of simplistic language depending on the tech level" of their visitors* ) to their visitors what 3rd party cookies are being dropped ..

So say you run an adsense supported health site..your visitors could be doctors ( who may know nothing about cookies, nor what each type can do )..adult patients ( who may know nothing about cookies, nor what each type can do )..or children doing "lookups" for their granny with a sniffle or a school project ( who may know nothing about cookies, nor what each type can do )..or a webmaster with a head cold ( who would know what various cookies do ) or an IT tech ( who might not know that there is more than one kind of cookie ) because they only work with hardware and in house mainframes..and your "accept / decline" message has to be understandable by all of these..and some of whom may not have the greatest vocabulary or even have English as their 1st language..

And on top of that, he wants you to explain what Google or any other advertising network that you may have space rented to is doing..

Appears to be more about absolving the big guys like G from any real responsibility and pushing it all onto the little guy ..whilst being vague enough to be able to at any point say "gotcha" for non compliance with a vague guideline..

Imagine that applied to driving..the speed limit will be variable depending on what you consider your category of vehicle to be..if you guess wrongly what we would consider it to be ..you may or may not face sanctions depending on the state of mind of the assessing officer..and what contacts at number 10 your passengers have..

* we have no idea what tech level our visitors have and what their understanding is ..they can arrive from anywhere ..and if we guess one way ..and the assessing officer at the ICO guesses another ..the fines can be huge ..the rules should be written down ..clear cut ..just like the highway code..or any other company law or rules which apply to UK companies or businesses on or off the web..