Things you must know about cookie and cookie management
Summary: If you are concerned about the law, and if you are using cookies on your website, make sure you manage them properly, inform your users about the purpose of storing and using them, and allowing them to block those cookies if they will.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a file containing two bits of data (a site name, and a unique userID), sent from websites to your device, and stored on the mobile browser or hard drive. Cookies allow sites for retrieving such information when a user revisits them to remember the user and his or her preferences, tailoring page content for that user based on the information.
Categorizing your cookies
Categorizing cookies would be a great solution to control them better. Your users can accept or refuse as they prefer.
Required cookies
For this category, users don't need to provide consent because without them a website can't be used properly. Authentication cookies, cart cookie, and load balancing cookies are some common examples.
Performance cookies
These cookies are used for measuring the traffic on a website which will help to enhance its performance. For example, amplitude, Google analytics, etc.
Functional cookies
Hose cookies improve a website's functionalities and personalization. Certain functionalities may not even work without them. For example, live chat cookies, A/B sting cookies, etc.
Targeting cookies
This category is used for building a profile of your interests, showing you relevant adverts on other websites. Eg: Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Implementation
To be compliant with the law, one needs to follow the steps:
Listing/ identifying all the cookies on the website for categorizing them
Acquiring consent from the users
Block or does not block the cookies based on the user's choices
Possible solutions
If you are looking for Cookie management software, you can try the followings:
OneTrust
This tool is free for 14 days, and recently they have come up with a new interface. There is no page limitation, and you can consider scanning the entire domain and sub-domains too. You can go through an authentication form, become able to scan the linked part of your site. If you own a website that uses user's data, make sure you use the Best cookie scanner.
Cookiebot
You can use this tool for free without any time limit. You can simply register your domain for running a scan. It allows you to add some cookies manually if you know which ones are missing. You can run only one domain with this free version with the limitation of 100 pages.
Getting the consent
Consent can be acquired in different ways, and displaying a banner on the website is the most common one. The banner asks the users whether they accept or reject the cookies. You can also provide your users with a more customized choice. Once a user makes his or her choice, you should allow them to modify it, offering a link or page that again opens the banner or preferences center.
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