Cookies And Consent Under The EU GDPR

According to a recent story published by The Register, the U.K. data privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued a warning to the U.S.-based newspaper The Washington Post (WaPo) about obtaining consent under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and allowing its readers to switch off tracking and cookies.

Article 6(1) of the GDPR provides, in part, "[p]rocessing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that at least one of the following applies: (a) the data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes." Article 7(4) states: "When assessing whether consent is freely given, utmost account shall be taken of whether, inter alia, the performance of a contract, including the provision of a service, is conditional on consent to the processing of personal data that is not necessary for the performance of that contract."