Dutch register will eat your cookies

From today, Dutch Internet users will be able to avail of a “Don’t follow me” register to circumvent the harmful consequences of cookies, reports De Volkskrant. The service is accessible via a webpage that explains how cookies work and features a link to Youronlinechoices.eu, where web users can see what cookies are installed on their machines and access information on how to deactivate them. Similar services will shortly be made available in other European countries.

Along with a wide range of internet publishing companies, including a number of press groups, the newspaper’s website is participating in the launch of the initiative, which aims to show the Dutch government that “publishers and advertisers take web users’ privacy very seriously and that self-regulation could be an alternative to the cookie law currently awaiting approval from the Dutch senate. The controversial law, which will be the strictest in Europe, has caused concern among Internet companies who claim that it will reduce “the comfort of web users” and prompt major companies like Google and Yahoo “to withdraw from the Dutch market.” The Amsterdam daily explains that if the law is passed, “web users will have dozens of pop-ups to unclick” because “certain browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer have yet to be adapted to the new regulations.”