Brussels, 22/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 18 February, the European Network and Information Security Agency ENISA published a new report on the security and confidentiality of data, in the context of new types of online “cookies”. Known as “bittersweet cookies”, these cookies are a new type of advertising technique and constitute a new threat to user privacy.
ENISA is of the opinion that these new cookies should be used in the greatest possible transparency, allowing users to use them in full possession of the facts. It recommends that both the server of origin and the user's navigation system should go through all possible channels of verification before giving access to the cookies and that these cookies be easy to remove. “More efforts are needed to ensure that this new generation of cookie is transparent and can be controlled by the user, like traditional http cookies, to protect privacy and security of both consumers and business”, said the executive director of ENISA, Udo Helmbrecht.
Cookies were originally created to make it easy for the navigator and server to interact (http cookies). They consist of small text files which store certain data, in order to remember information about visitors to a website so that this information can be reused. They were then diverted from their original use by advertisers, who appropriate private data for profiling purposes. ENISA has made four basic recommendations for the use of these new-generation cookies: 1) the design of these files should be guided by user consent: the user should explicitly give his or her agreement before the cookie can be downloaded, in full transparency; 2) the management of the (new) cookies should be easier: the cookies should be easy to use for any user; 3) storage of cookies outside browser control should be limited or prohibited; 4) users should be provided with another service channel if they do not accept cookies. (I.L./transl.fl)