People working nine to five may not understand it as most of what they do is react during their working day. And [...]]]> There is one question that irritates me whenever it is asked because, as an entrepreneur, it fundamentally fails to understand what it is that I do. It is:

“Are you busy?”

People working nine to five may not understand it as most of what they do is react during their working day. And if there is nothing to react against, be it a flurry of orders, customer complaints, a boss demanding something yesterday, they have less – sometimes nothing – to do.

As an entrepreneur, I always have something or other on the boil, and often I have those reactive tasks also. But those are no fun most of the time, and not what I would regard as real work.

And then I’m always learning something new too, and being in the internet game, there is always plenty new to learn as the landscape shifts once again; that keeps me on my toes, whether I want to be or not. I tend to go through phases of working solidly on some project or other, after which I sometimes seem to lack focus, find a new project, or throw myself into learning.

Sometimes I’ve thought I had the balance all wrong, and I should be looking to working and learning more consistently, without the ups and downs, the periods of mad productivity followed by almost a sense of loss of what I do.

But that’s wrong, as I live for the excitement of getting projects going, and the downtime is a reward for that. The problem is I sometimes don’t see the downtime for what it is and try and push through it.

The result?

I get stressed out, unproductive and tired, particularly at this time of year when the heat picks up. As the temperature rises, my energy falls.

That was the case last week, when I seemed hardly able to function. However, this week, instead of working on Monday and Tuesday I spent the afternoons on the beach. A swim and lying around in the shade with a good book did wonders for me.

If your productivity levels have stalled maybe it’s time that you took some downtime too.

Although I’ve only skimmed though the updated [...]]]> I reported last week that The Guardian had reported that the ICO had done a U turn on “implied consent” and that websites could now assume that consent had been given. Not quite true if you read the document, and a piece of shoddy journalism from The Grauniad.

Although I’ve only skimmed though the updated ICO report, while there is a U turn on implied consent, it is far from universal. The ICO now accepts implied consent is some circumstances but reiterates that that is not an excuse to do nothing. And the kind of sites that can assume consent are ones with tech savvy readers who are likely to know that cookies will be set; that hardly applies to many websites.

I’ll be reading the document in detail when I can and will comment once I have the full facts.

According to an article in The Guardian:

Sites will generally only be investigated by the ICO after users report them [...]]]> The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has finally provided some clarification about the cookie law that comes into effect this week, saying that website owners that do not comply with the law will not be fined. According to an article on PC Pro:

Sites will generally only be investigated by the ICO after users report them via a yet-to-launch tool on the watchdog’s site. Only the most intrusive cookies will lead to the ICO using its “enforcement powers”, Smith said, which includes fines up to $500,000 or notices requiring companies to take action to fix data protection flaws. 

Smith said fines were unlikely for cookies, as they wouldn’t meet the requirements for being “substantially distressing” to individuals. “We do not rule that out but it’s most unlikely that breaches of cookie requirements meet the requirement for monetary penalty,” he said. “In the area of cookies, it’s quite hard to satisfy the test for a fine.”

A briefing document from the ICO put it more clearly: “In reality the placement of a cookie on an individual’s device will not meet the necessary criteria to be considered for a CMP [civil monetary penalty].”

I’ve already said that action was extremely unlikely in my report on how businesses can make steps towards compliance, but it is good to hear it from the horses mouth, as it is the ICO that will police the law, which many feel is misguided and drafted without a real understanding of cookies or how the internet works.

Read “ICO: no fines for breaking cookie rules” at PC Pro

The Information Commissioner’s Office states that they will try and resolve things informally to begin [...]]]> While the new EU Cookie Law will come into force on May26th after a year’s grace designed to give website owners time to take steps towards compliance, it is unlikely that there will be any forceful action to begin with.

The Information Commissioner’s Office states that they will try and resolve things informally to begin with at least, and that there report on what companies can do to comply even states that full compliance may not be necessary anyway. UTalkMarketing gives 10 top tips for compliance and notes in one of these that:

[Y]ou probably don’t want to do more than the very minimum according to interpretation of the regulator’s own words. For example, take a look at page 16 of the Information Commissioner’s guidance published December last year which suggests that strict ‘opt-in’ is NOT necessarily required provided you ‘prominently’ display the relevant cookie information and choices to the user

Read “Ten top tips on what marketers can do to prepare for the EU Cookie Directive” at UTalkMarketing

However, not going for full compliance doesn’t mean zero compliance and at the very least companies would be advised to undertake a cookie audit and update their privacy policy. For more information on how I can help you with your cookie audit please get in contact, either by calling or using the contact form.

89% of UK consumers think that the EU cookie law is a positive step, though 75% had not heard of the e-Privacy Directive before [...]]]> According to a blog post at Econsultancy the majority of the public thinks that the new Cookie Law, which comes into force later this month, is a positive move.The reports says:

89% of UK consumers think that the EU cookie law is a positive step, though 75% had not heard of the e-Privacy Directive before they were surveyed.

However, the concludes that most consumers have nothing to fear from cookies and note that on the whole they are a good thing; that analytics are nothing to worry about – and can actually be used to improve the user experience – but while advertising cookies and retargetting cookies may be objectionable there are easy ways to block them anywway.

Read “89% of UK consumers think the EU cookie law is a positive step, but is it?” at Econsultancy