Splash page revival (thanks to GDPR)
I want to thank Dave Merchant for bringing this up in the ACP forum.
Legal heads-up about social media 'like' buttons and GDPR
I thought it a good idea to bring this to the public forum where more people will see it.
Advocate General Bobek says the operator of a website embedding a third party plugin such as the Facebook Like button which causes the collection and transmission of the users’ personal data is jointly responsible for that stage of the data processing. The operator of the website has to provide users with the required minimum information and obtain their consent BEFORE the data are collected and transferred
See full text below.
https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2018-12/cp180206en.pdf
Since tools such as the Facebook Like button transfer information automatically (users don't need to hit the Like button or have a Facebook account to be tracked), the website owner cannot obtain that consent in advance, so the tools effectively become illegal. Any website using them would be open to prosecution even if the tool operator (Facebook) does not suffer a data breach.
So what does this mean for average site owners? A revival of the splash page -- only this time in plain vanilla. No tracking scripts, cookies, social media or any other 3rd party widgets that could potentially collect users' data. I think we should have a contest to see who can make the best GDPR compliant splash page. Extra points should be awarded for no JavaScript.
AdChoices