Cookie preference settings in the browser?
"The simple solution is to make the browser preference a mandatory setting that UK users must set to use the browser"
That's a great idea in principle, but in practice there's no way to make it work from a technical perspective. The law defines two classes of tracker: 'cookies (all tracking devices) that are strictly necessary for the provision of the service to the user, and other trackers. The first includes things like shopping cart lists, authentication tokens &c. without which the site cannot deliver the service, and second includes all other purposes, without which the site would still work for the user.
Unfortunately, that's a distinction the browser cannot discriminate -- what the purpose of the cookies is at server side. 'First party' vs. 'Third party' (which the browser can distinguish) does not meet the criterion, and there's no way the browser can reliably understand the ultimate purpose of a cookie from its content.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
