Now the first EU member, Germany, is going to declare war on Web analytics, claiming that GoogleAnalytics is illegal.

Well, not all krauts are totally insane ... you'll remember the famous "First they came ..." quote from Pastor Martin Niemöller. Applied to Internet marketing it would read

First they came for the adult webmasters, and I did not speak out—because I was not an adult webmaster;

Then they came for Google Book Search, and I did not speak out—because I didn't read books on-line;

Then they came for Google Streetview, and I did not speak out—because I was living on the countryside;

Then they came for Web Analytics, and I did not speak out—because I thought I could live without it;

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me, because I was belly-up.

Polemic? Read the news and you'll call it soothsaying.

Here's a link to an article explaining the EU cookie law: Consent will be required for cookies in Europe.

@Sebastian

Yep some of the EU laws are questionable but they did put a stop to Microsoft monopoly practices in regard to their music players. They are also beginning to offer *some* resistance to Google which probably isn't such a bad thing (copyright on book search etc.). However putting a stop to cookies is obviously going down the wrong path - it would good if they focused that concern on privacy into other areas.

Yup Nick. Just because they did one thing the right way, that doesn't mean they've understood Internet marketing to a degree that would allow ruling it. ;-)

Search Cowboys reported today that the absurd cookie law got a "but" at the very last moment. It seems that the browser setting "accept cookies" is enough, so that the website isn't required to ask for permissions.