Attributer & Cookie Banners

If you’re reading this article, you likely have questions about whether Attributer can run even if a website visitor rejects cookies via some sort of cookie banner.

So in this article, we’ll talk a bit about the law that brought about these cookie banners and why you can actually run Attributer even if someone rejects cookies.

It should be noted that this is not legal advice and we are not legal experts. This is merely our advice based on our own interpretation of the law and you should seek your own legal advice.

The ePrivacy Directive

The ePrivacy Directive (informally known as the cookie law), with its requirements for obtaining end-user consent, is the reason why you’re required to feature a consent banner on your website that EU visitors can use to either give or refuse consent to cookies on your website.

Here’s a quick summary of the law:

• The ePrivacy Directive regulates the processing of personal data in the electronic communications sector. For the most part, it isn’t actually about cookies. It’s mostly about how telecommunications companies (like your phone provider for instance) must handle your personal data. The part about cookies is actually only a few lines in a 100+ page document.
• The part about cookies essentially states that the use of cookies on websites is conditioned upon the prior consent of users: users must first be given clear and comprehensive information about the purposes of processing personal data (as well as information about storage, retention and access) to be able to give their consent, and they must also be provided with an easy way to refuse.
• It also states that the cookies deemed to be strictly necessary for the most basic functions of a website are exempt from the prior consent requirement (such as cookies that manage the contents of a user’s shopping cart on an eCommerce store).
• It’s not actually uniform binding law in the EU (as is the GDPR). Instead, it’s a ‘directive’ handed down by the EU that each member state implements through their own national legislation.

Why Attributer can run even without a visitor accepting cookies

Put simply, Attributer can run without a visitor accepting cookies because it doesn’t process or store any personal information about a visitor to your website.

When a visitor lands on your site, Attributer figures out where they came from (based on the UTM parameters in the URL and/or the referring domain) before storing the data in a first-party cookie in the visitor’s browser.

This cookie contains no personally identifiable information (like their IP address, email address, etc). It simply contains strings of text like ‘Channel = Paid Search’ 

Then, when the visitor completes a form on your website, Attributer writes this data into hidden fields on the form where it is then captured by your chosen form tool.

At no point in time does any information about your visitors (personally identifiable information or otherwise) get sent to, processed, or stored by us. It all happens in the visitor’s browser.

So because it doesn’t process or store any personal data, it is outside the scope of the ePrivacy Directive.

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The content on this website is intended only to provide a summary and general overview on matters of interest. It is not intended to be comprehensive nor does it constitute legal advice. We attempt to ensure that the Content is current but we do not guarantee its currency. You should seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the Content. 

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