A Free, Fast, More Transparent Cookie Manager Released
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Mar. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- XcooBee, the Privacy Network, announced today the launch of XcooBee Cookie Kit, its open source toolkit that enables sites to manage users' cookies more transparently, with less user friction and more programmatic ease.
XcooBee was formed with the mission to protect the digital rights and privacy of consumers and businesses alike. After research, the XcooBee team found that existing cookie notifications were falling far short of the base requirements of the European GDPR and eDirective regulations. Most companies were only displaying cookie notifications without actually managing the creation or removal of cookies. Similarly, they were failing to comply with the general guidelines that consent has to be as easy to give as it is to remove.
XcooBee founder, Bilal Soylu, explains the need for the Cookie Kit: "We decided that we needed to innovate in this area as the current state was appalling." He challenges, "Just decline cookies on any notice and see what really happens." Then he continues, "We had difficulty finding proper technical cookie handling across the board, not to speak of constant user interruptions with ineffective notices." He further explains, "Most sites do not even seem to have a connection between what they display in their cookie notices, their user interactions, and the actual resultant cookie load." In this, Soylu refers to the XcooBee blogpost from January 13, 2019.
The XcooBee Cookie Kit makes smart decisions on behalf of the user and site owner. It reviews a collection of data points, for example, whether consent is known, users have set expressed cookie defaults, and country specific requirements. It makes decisions on how much information should be presented to users and how much is already known. "In all cases, we use animation and color to keep the user informed about the site's cookie decisions," says Soylu. "Users can change their consent at any time, and with a free XcooBee account they can do so without visiting the site directly."
There are many advantages to users, especially with a free XcooBee Network account. They can use XcooBee's innovative Crowd AI cookie mechanism to accept cookies based on the wisdom of many. They can also centrally manage all sites that have adopted the XcooBee technology and surf with the least interruption possible. "It is so refreshing to land on a site, and see that XcooBee has transparently negotiated the type of cookies for me. There are no pop-ups needed. Just a pleasant color pulse to keep me informed," says Soylu.
According to Soylu, the site owners also receive a collection of tools that they can use. Programmatic hooks make it easy to offload the cookie life cycle process to the Cookie Kit. From the creation to the removal, the users' cookies are managed automatically. This allows sites to truly stay compliant, rather than just displaying veneer notices. He says, "We have published documentation with many easy-to-follow examples in popular development frameworks from nodejs, express, reactjs, to WordPress plugins. Site owners can turn automation on in minutes."
XcooBee is publishing all the XcooBee Cookie Kit variants as free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license. Soylu says, "We want to put proper GDPR compliant cookie handling in the reach of any size of company."
The XcooBee Privacy Network is pioneering a new era in privacy by challenging business models powered by people giving away their privacy. XcooBee provides a collection of tools to address privacy issues from secure file sharing, to consent management, to collecting and managing PII data.
XcooBee also provides peace of mind to businesses looking to comply with new privacy rules, such as GDPR in Europe. As more countries adopt laws to protect their citizens' privacy, using products like XcooBee will become a competitive advantage. To learn more about XcooBee's Privacy Network please visit www.xcoobee.com.
Media Contact:
Andrea Smith
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SOURCE XcooBee
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