Brussels, 11/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - In a position statement on cookies (data files that help computers running websites to identify someone visiting the site) published before the Commission sent back the Cappato report on protection of elecronic communications (see EUROPE of 8 September, p.11), the European Publishers Council (EPC) protested against the European Parliament's attempt to "outlaw" this technical tool. As the EPC Chairman, Francisco Balsemao, explained, the cookie tool, "far from being a sinister tool of the advertising industry, is an essential aid to help the consumer get the best out of the Internet with the minimum time and effort". The EP's Economic Affairs Committee argues that cookies and tools of this ilk which enter users' terminals without their knowledge or express consent may seriously intrude on the privacy of the users. The EPC challenges this argument in its press release claiming that cookies are user-friendly.
The man who invested cookies (in 1994), Lou Montulli, was not unaware of the potential dangers inherent in the system. In an article in the Herald Tribune on 5 September, John Schwartz explains in detail the history and evolution of cookies, explaining that in 1995 a task force was created which would spend six years developing standards to ensure cookies were used appropriately. The author quotes Richard Smith, the chief technology officer for the Privacy foundation, a research organisation in Denver, who explains that he had come round to accepting cookies and now felt "that it would be very difficult to have the Internet without them".