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ARTICLE · 13 JANUARY 2015

EU Art. 29 Confirms Cookie Rules Apply To Digital Fingerprinting

Reed Smith (Worldwide)
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The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party released Opinion 9/2014 on ePrivacy Directive 2002/58/EC (amended in 2009), stating that the consent and transparency mechanisms apply to digital fingerprinting of devices.

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Cynthia O'Donoghue
Cynthia O'Donoghue
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The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (Working Party) released Opinion 9/2014 on ePrivacy Directive 2002/58/EC (amended in 2009), stating that the consent and transparency mechanisms apply to digital fingerprinting of devices (Opinion).

The Working Party issued the opinion to clarify that consent was required and to end "surreptitious tracking" of users in light of the increasing use of profiling technologies in an attempt to avoid reliance on cookies.

The Opinion defines 'fingerprint' as including "a set of information that can be used to single out, link or infer a user, user agent or device over time", and that the consent requirement applies to website publishers, third parties and the use of Application Programming Interfaces.

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