GDP Aaaaaargh! (aka GDPR)

JeffGDPR, News, Updates & General Information, Technical Articles & Notes

This website is now, I think, fully GDPR compliant.

Unless explicit consent is granted, it sets no cookies and performs no tracking other than that required for keeping the site and the server it sits on secure.

I didn’t want to force visitors to have to click to hide yet another nagging cookie request slide-over and I didn’t want to lose some of the third party features (Google Maps) for all users either. The solution I went for was to make use of this excellent and very simple JavaScript project on GitHub:

https://github.com/nicholasruggeri/cookies-enabler

With the code added to all pages of the site, all I had to do was to tweak the default settings to my liking, and change the code of the iframe items where I embed a Google map such that this code has control – and bingo, the site is fully functional without consent – except for where the Google Maps are, where specific consent (with a link to our full company privacy policy for total transparency) is gained before the map is displayed.

Take a look at our homepage (near the bottom: https://www.aetherweb.co.uk) and our contact us page (just under the form: https://www.aetherweb.co.uk/contact/) to see it in action.

I intend to use a tweaked version of this same system on Aetherweb’s other sites in due course.

If you have a website and want help implementing the above to bring your site into compliance, please contact us….

Meanwhile – if you’re a small business owner and panicking about GDPR – worried about potentially huge fines – check out these two links; they may help you sleep better…

  1. On this page is a statement by the information commissioner Elizabeth Denham of The ICO about who should be concerned about potentially receiving attention and/or a large fine – scroll down to ‘Policing the law’, she says, “We will have more powers to stop companies processing data, but we only take action where there has been serious and sustained harm to individuals”:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43657546
  2. This is an interview of Deputy Information Commissioner Steve Wood on BBC Radio 5 – first aired 27th April 2018. Listen to him speak specifically at 1m 20s where he makes it clear that if there’s already a genuine reason for you to hold personal data and the person whose data you hold will expect you to use their data in the way you use it, there is likely no need to re-gain additional consent:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/43921814/gdpr-your-data-protection-questions-answered