GDPR: how to set cookies AFTER consent? And how not to.

  • I understand that when I only use comments, or Google Analytics with all the GDPR compliance settings, I don’t need to show visitors a popup and I don’t need their consent, as long as I have put that information in my privacy page. Am I right?

    What I really don’t understand is this: When I do have a plugin that collects information via tracking, and I put a message on my site where I ask the visitor if he agrees on my doing so, how does his yes or no change anything? I mean, when I load a site, all plugins and its settings are already active, so the deed is already done. How can I actually turn tracking (or some other else) on or off when a visitors makes his choice??? Wouldn’t that mean that his choice would actively change something in the plugin settings? I know there are some plugins that offer an opt-in or out, but what if a site uses many opt-ins?

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  • This would depend entirely on the individual plugin. If only using cookies after consent has been acquired is what you want or need to do then you would need to check if and how the plugin supports that functionality. If they do not support it then you would need to find a plugin that does.

    This is something you’re going to need to check for each plugin. Read their support resources before using them, and if you’re still not sure you will need to contact the author. This might even mean you should avoid using plugins if you can’t get a straight answer and can’t audit the code yourself.

    There isn’t a single solution that is going to handle these issues for your entire site. You will need to be more discerning about which plugins you use and what they do. After all, the purpose of this regulation is to ensure personal data isn’t mishandled. This means you can’t just use things on your website if you don’t know what information they might be collecting from your users without consent. This is going to require work on your part to find out, and that is not an unintended side effect, it is the purpose.

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by Jacob Peattie.
    Thread Starter Jack

    (@moxie)

    Thank you, well explained :). With many sites that is going to be a lot of work.
    So, if necessary, I have to find plugins that offer opt-in and opt-out. I haven’t see a plugin yet that could manage all these from one place and showing them in one cookies consent message.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
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