Browsers Could Face Two Regimes in Europe as UK Law Set to Diverge from EU

Browsers will need to satisfy two different data regimes in Europe under UK legislation proposed to replace EU laws.

The British government has promoted its approach as a way of easing the burden of cookie consent on website users, but the new law could be challenging for browser builders wanting to comply with both EU and UK regimes, which currently come under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The UK Bill, set to be debated in Parliament, says that websites won't need to require users to consent to "

collect information for statistical purposes" about how a website or service is used "with a view to making improvements to the website".

However, it also offers web users the right to opt in or out of cookie tracking at a browser level.

The Conservative government says it wants to make data protection law more flexible and allow data sharing with other nations while maintaining its data-sharing deals with the EU, the so-called adequacy arrangement with the UK's largest trading partner.

(Read the full story by Lindsay Clark from The Register)