Cookies get thumb down from the EU

Internet campaigners are protesting today after the European Parliament voted to ban cookies as part of their new anti-terror data snooping legislation.

The decision to crack down on cookies, the packets of information which allow websites to remember visitors, forms part of a drawn-out legislative attempt to create a unified data protection act across EU nations.

The proposal, approved by 339 votes to 92, with 89 abstentions, gives EU governments the possibility to temporarily restrict the right to privacy and intercept communications for reasons of "protection of public security, defense, (and) state security."

Campaigners have accused European governments of throwing the baby out with the bathwater by banning cookies as part of their attempt to prevent 'spamming' - the act of sending unsolicited e-mails, text messages of other electronic communications.

Cookies allow sites to identify users, and can also store extra information such as personal content or information on the number of visits a user makes to a site.

"We are really disappointed," said Caroline Hayat of the European consumers' organization BEUC. "We thought members of parliament would safeguard the basic rights of consumers."