I consent: An analysis of the Cookie Directive and its implications for UK behavioral advertising

This paper assesses implications for the practical and theoretical understanding of consent in light of the coming into force of the European Cookie Directive (2009/136/EC). This Directive shifts behavioral advertising from being an opt-out practice to an opt-in one requiring consent. The aim of this paper is to assess conceptions of consent as detailed by the European Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, the UK government and the behavioral advertising industry. This is achieved through the application of philosophical understandings of consent generated in the first half of the paper that detail the ways in which these have been applied in health, an area that deals extensively with informed consent. The paper concludes by offering recommendations to behavioral advertisers on how best to implement opt-in consent policies so as to progress to ethically sound privacy practices.