readme.txt

=== Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA ===
Contributors: humanityco
Tags: gdpr, ccpa, cookies, consent, compliance
Requires at least: 4.3
Requires PHP: 5.4
Tested up to: 6.0
Stable tag: 2.3.1
License: MIT License
License URI: http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT

Cookie Notice allows you to you elegantly inform users that your site uses cookies and helps you comply with GDPR, CCPA and other data privacy laws.

== Description ==

<strong>Cookie Notice</strong> provides a simple, customizable website banner that can be used to help your website comply with certain cookie consent requirements under the EU GDPR cookie law and CCPA regulations and includes <strong>seamless integration</strong> with Cookie Compliance to help your site comply with the latest updates to existing consent laws.

<strong>Cookie Compliance</strong> is a fully featured Consent Management Platform (CMP) that provides automated compliance features and enhanced design controls in a state-of-the-art web application. Cookie Compliance enables websites to <strong>take a proactive approach to data protection and consent laws</strong>. It is the first solution to offer Intentional Consent, a new consent framework that incorporates the latest guidelines from over 100+ countries, and emerging standards from leading international organizations like the IEEE and European Center for Digital Rights (noyb.eu). Cookie Compliance provides a beautiful, multi-level experience and includes new choices and controls for site visitors to better understand and engage in data privacy decisions.

> Our Cookie Compliance web application introduces a more ethical, proactive way to capture and manage consent.  This early version of the emerging Intentional Consent framework is a result of Hu-manity.co’s ongoing work with top Fortune 500 companies, governments, and standards organizations, who believe that the imbalanced relationship between consumers and corporations is unsustainable when it comes to data privacy and consent online. We are making it available for all website owners and operators who share this belief and support our mission to eliminate the dark patterns in online consent.<br>
> Matt Sinderbrand - Chief Platform Officer, Hu-manity.co

## Cookie Notice (plugin only)

Cookie Notice provides a simple, customizable website banner to help your website comply with certain cookie consent requirements.

= Banner features: =

* Customizable notice message
* Consent on click, scroll or close
* Multiple cookie expiry options
* Link to Privacy Policy page
* WordPress Privacy Policy page synchronization
* WPML and Polylang compatible
* SEO friendly

## Cookie Compliance (plugin + web application)

Cookie Compliance gives you access to the most up-to-date formatting guidelines and technical compliance requirements for over 100 countries and legal jurisdictions.

= Banner features: =

* <strong>Intentional Consent</strong> provides 3 equal buttons to give site visitors the ability to accept none, some, or all cookies through packaged choices called Data Access Levels. Data Access Levels improve consent conversion and eliminate the dark pattern of deceptive, non-equal choices in the first layer. <em>Complies with equal choice principle prescribed under GDPR and other data protection laws.</em>
* <strong>Consent duration selector</strong> gives visitor control over how long their consent remains valid for your site.  <em>Enables your site to align with recent guidelines from EU Data Protection Authorities, which state that cookie consent should be valid for no longer than a period of 6 months.</em>
* <strong>Cookie purpose categories</strong> make it easy for website visitors to customize their consent by category. <em>Complies with affirmative, opt-in consent requirements prescribed under GDPR and other data protection laws.</em>
* <strong>Consent metrics</strong> displays the visitor's consent record and a list of blocked / allowed 3rd parties directly in the expanded level of the banner. <em>Complies with latest guidance from EU Data Protection Authorities like CNIL (France) and ICO (UK). </em>
* <strong>Customizable Privacy Paper</strong> provides helpful information to improve visitor comprehension and understanding of the data sharing risks and benefits. Allows you to summarize core components of your sites privacy notice and <em>aligns with the informed principle prescribed by GDPR rules for valid consent capture. </em>
* <strong>Configurable Privacy Contact</strong> allows you to provide contact information for a business’ data privacy admin, as well as helpful links to data subject request forms and other data privacy resources. <em>Aligns with the informed principle prescribed by GDPR rules for valid consent capture.</em>

= Web Application features: =

* <strong>Consent analytics dashboard</strong> shows event data for number of visits and provides a “trust score” to help you track how site visitors are setting their consent. Make adjustments to your banner to improve your cookie acceptance rate and monitor progress via the consent activity graph.
* <strong>Default configurations</strong> for GDPR, CCPA and more help to remove dark patterns and allow for quick and easy deployment of the consent banner without any guesswork. Customize the design of any default configuration to match the look and feel of your site.
* <strong>Automatic script blocking</strong> blocks all non-essential cookie scripts and iFrames by default and <em>complies with valid consent rules under GDPR and other data protection laws</em>; in order to be compliant, your site must record visitor consent before setting or sending cookies.
* <strong>Consent record storage</strong> automatically stores a record of each consent and makes these records available for export. <em>Complies with proof-of-consent requirements prescribed under GDPR and other data protection laws.</em>
* <strong>Multilingual support</strong> automatically translates all banner text strings and allows you to provide custom translations for every text field to ensure visitors get a consistent consent experience.
* <strong>Multidomain management</strong> allows you to manage additional Free or Professional domains under a single account and enables you to customize banner configuration and design for each domain independently.

= Cookie Compliance proactive approach: =

For all businesses, the resources required to stay ahead of the latest regulations increases with the passage of each new law. With enforcement of compliance violations increasing daily, we believe it is critical for us as a trusted consent vendor to do everything in our power to help you stay ahead of these laws and remove the risk to your business

<strong>Cookie Compliance covers all current and upcoming regulations:</strong>

* GDPR (EU) 
* ePrivacy Directive (EU) 
* ePrivacy Regulation (EU)
* PECR (UK) 
* LGPD (Brazil) 
* PIPEDA (Canada) 
* PDPB (India)
* CCPA (California, US) 
* VCDPA (Virginia, US)
* Colorado Privacy Act (US)
* CPRA (California, US)

<strong>Cookie Compliance incorporates all recent formatting guidance:</strong>

* European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) 
* ICO (United Kingdom) 
* CNIL (France) 
* GPDP (Italy) 
* BfDl (Germany) 
* AEPD (Spain) 
* European Center for Digital Rights (noyb.eu) 

<strong>Cookie Compliance targets dark patterns</strong>

Dark Patterns are user interface (UI) techniques that push site visitors to make decisions (such as agreeing to the installation of cookies on their devices) that they might not otherwise make. The most common Dark Pattern is the lack of an equal “reject all” button on the first layer of the consent notice. Dark Patterns are explicitly banned under GDPR and other data protection laws.  

As a part of our proactive approach, Cookie Compliance is configured by default to prevent Dark Patterns through our unique Intentional Consent design.

== Installation ==

1. Install Cookie Notice either via the WordPress.org plugin directory, or by uploading the files to your server
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
3. Go to the Cookie Notice settings and set your options.
4. Click "Add Compliance features" button to start Cookie Compliance integration.
5. Create Cookie Compliance account and select plan.
6. Log in to Cookie Compliance web application anytime to customize the settings.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Is Cookie Notice free? =
Yes! Cookie Notice is a free software.

= Is Cookie Compliance free? =
Yes, but with limits. Cookie Compliance includes both free and paid plans to choose from depending on your needs and your website traffic.

= Does the Cookie Notice make my site fully compliant with GDPR? =
No. The plugin-only version DOES NOT include technical compliance features such as automatic script blocking, consent purpose categories, or consent record storage. These features are only available through the Cookie Compliance integration. 

= Does the Cookie Compiance integration make my site fully compliant with GDPR? =
Yes! The plugin + web appliaction version includes technical compliance features to meet requirements for over 100 countries and legal jurisdictions.

== Screenshots ==

1. Cookie Notice settings, Compliance itegration inactive
2. Cookie Notice settings, Compliance itegration active
3. Cookie Compliance dashboard overview
4. Cookie Compliance settings

== Changelog ==

= 2.3.1 =
* New: Option to run consent banner in debug mode
* Fix: Invalid validation of dismissable notices

= 2.3.0 =
* New: Compliance Multi-license pricing options
* Tweak: WordPress 6.0 compatibility

= 2.2.3 =
* Fix: Undefined notice in WP dashboard
* Fix: Close icon event not firing
* Tweak: Remove aria-label from the close icon
* Tweak: CSS tweaks in the admin

= 2.2.2 =
* Fix: Uncrawlable close notice link
* Tweak: WordPress 5.9 compatibility
* Tweak: Prevent displaying the notice in an iframe
* Tweak: Send site language to a web app on signup 

= 2.2.1 =
* Fix: Missing variable definition in frontend

= 2.2.0 =
* New: Option to hide banner for logged in users (Compliance only)

= 2.1.5 =
* Tweak: Additional sanitization applied

= 2.1.4 =
* Fix: Wordpress 5.8 widgets compatibility

= 2.1.3 =
* Fix: HTML attributes removed from text strings
* Tweak: Improved sanitization of options

= 2.1.2 =
* Tweak: Improved escaping of button labels

= 2.1.1 =
* Fix: Security bug related to compliance caching

= 2.1.0 =
* New: Introducing Cookie Compliance Free plan

= 2.0.4 =
* Fix: Undefined constant HOURS_IN_SECONDS
* Fix: Button style none adding CSS classes "cn-set-cookie cn-button"
* Tweak: Switched the behavior of close icon from accept to reject
* Tweak: Minified frontend and admin js files

= 2.0.3 =
* Fix: Cookies accepted function issue when Compliance activated

= 2.0.2 =
* Tweak: UI/UX improvements

= 2.0.1 =
* Fix: Pending Compliance update blocking the notice
* Fix: PHP Warning: Cannot modify header information
* Tweak: UI/UX fixes for the settings screen

= 2.0.0 =
* New: Introducing Cookie Compliance for GDPR/CCPA

= 1.3.2 =
* Tweak: Speed up Corona Banner loading by moving JS file to footer with async parameter
* Tweak: Improve buttons CSS padding
* Tweak: Accessibility improvements on links

= 1.3.1 =
* Fix: Unable to select Privacy policy link
* Fix: Blank Cookies policy link in a message
* Fix: Undefined index: on_click
* Tweak: Adjusted default opacity back to 100

= 1.3.0 =
* New: Introducing Corona Banner that displays data about Coronavirus pandemia and five steps recommended by the WHO (World Health Organization)
* New: Option to set bar opacity
* New: Accept the notice with close icon
* Fix: Policy link added to message without policy option enabled

= 1.2.51 =
* Fix: Problems with iOS and OK/Reject button
* Tweak: Added Separate cookie expiry for Reject, props Carlos Buchart

= 1.2.50 =
* Fix: The body css class always set to "cookies-refused"
* Tweak: Improve IE & Safari CustomEvent and ClassList support
* Tweak: Change the plugin js init event

= 1.2.49 =
* New: Option to accept the notice with any page click
* Tweak: Remove jQuery dependency
* Tweak: Swtich from jQuery to CSS3 animations
* Tweak: Improve the CSS and HTML structure

= 1.2.48 =
* Fix: HTML tags stripped from cookie message
* Fix: Link target not accepted in inline privacy link

= 1.2.47 =
* New: Option to select the privacy policy link position
* Tweak: Do not relad the page on refuse button click
* Tweak: Added aria-label attribute to cookie notice container

= 1.2.46 =
* Tweak: Remove WP Super Cache cookie on deactivation
* Tweak: Remove plugin version from the db on deactivation

= 1.2.45 =
* Tweak: Improved WP Super Cache support
* Tweak: CSS container style issue and media query for mobile

= 1.2.44 =
* Fix: The text of the revoke button ignored in shortcode
* Fix: Revoke consent button not displayed automatically in top position
* Tweak: Add shortcode parsing for content of [cookies_accepted], thanks to [dsturm](https://github.com/dsturm)

= 1.2.43 =
* New: Option to revoke the user consent
* New: Script blocking extended to header and footer
* New: Synchronization with WordPress 4.9.6 Privacy Policy page
* New: Custom button class option
* Tweak: Added 1 hour cookie expiry option

= 1.2.42 =
* New: Introducing [cookies_accepted][/cookies_accepted] shortcode
* Fix: Infinite cookie expiry issue

= 1.2.41 =
* Fix: Infinite redirection loop with scroll enabled

= 1.2.40 =
* Fix: Div align center on some themes
* Tweak: Extended list of allowed HTML tags in refuse code
* Tweak: Minified CSS and JS

= 1.2.39 =
* New: Option to reload the page after cookies are accepted

= 1.2.38 =
* Tweak: Move frontend cookie js functions before the document ready call, thanks to [fgreinus](https://github.com/fgreinus)
* Tweak: Adjust functional javascript code handling 
* Fix: Chhromium infinity expiration date not valid
* Fix: Remove deprecated screen_icon() function

= 1.2.37 =
* Tweak: Add aria landmark role="banner"
* Tweak: Extend cn_cookie_notice_args with button class

= 1.2.36.1 =
* Fix: Repository upload issue with 1.2.36

= 1.2.36 =
* Fix: String translation support for WMPL 3.2+ 
* Fix: Global var possible conflict with other plugins
* Tweak: Add $options array to "cn_cookie_notice_output" filter, thanks to [chesio](https://github.com/chesio).
* Tweak: Removed local translation files in favor of WP repository translations.

= 1.2.35 =
* Tweak: Use html_entity_decode on non-functional code block
* Tweak: get_pages() function placement optimization
* Tweak: Filterable manage cookie notice capability

= 1.2.34 =
* Fix: Empty href in links HTML validation issue

= 1.2.33 =
* New: Greek translation thanks to Elias Stefanidis

= 1.2.32 =
* Fix: Accept cookie button hidden on acceptance instead of the cookie message container

= 1.2.31 =
* New: Non functional Javascript code field
* Fix: Minified Javascript caching issue

= 1.2.30 =
* Fix: jQuery error after accepting cookies

= 1.2.29 =
* Tweak: Add class to body element when displayed
* Tweak: Italian translation update

= 1.2.28 =
* New: Option to set on scroll offset

= 1.2.27 =
* Tweak: Correctly remove scroll event, limit possible conflicts
* Tweak: Italian translation update

= 1.2.26 =
* Fix: Accept cookies on scroll option working unchecked.
* Fix: call_user_func() warning on lower version of WP

= 1.2.25 =
* New: Option to accept cookies on scroll, thanks to [Cristian Pascottini](http://cristian.pascottini.net/)

= 1.2.24 =
* New: Option to refuse to accept cookies
* New: setCookieNotice custom jQuery event
* Tweak: Italian translation updated, thanks to Luca Speranza

= 1.2.23 =
* New: Finnish translation, thanks to [Daniel Storgards](www.danielstorgards.com)

= 1.2.22 =
* Tweak: Swedish translation updated, thx to Ove Kaufeldt

= 1.2.21 =
* New: Plugin development moved to [dFactory GitHub Repository](https://github.com/dfactoryplugins)
* Tweak: Code cleanup

= 1.2.20 =
* New: Option to select scripts placement, header or footer

= 1.2.19 =
* New: Danish translation, thanks to Lui Wallentin Gottler

= 1.2.18.1 =
* Fix: Quick fix for 1.2.18 print_r in code

= 1.2.18 =
* New: More info link target option
* Tweak: Additional HTML ids, for more flexible customization

= 1.2.17 =
* New: Hebrew translation, thanks to [Ahrale Shrem](http://atar4u.com/)

= 1.2.16 =
* Tweak: Dutch translation missing due to a typo 

= 1.2.15 =
* New: Danish translation, thanks to Hans C. Jorgensen
* Fix: Notice bar not visible if no animation selected

= 1.2.14 =
* New: Hungarian translation, thanks to [Surbma](http://surbma.hu)

= 1.2.13 =
* New: Croatian translation, thanks to [Marko Beus](http://www.markobeus.com/)

= 1.2.12 =
* New: Slovenian translation, thanks to Thomas Cuk

= 1.2.11 =
* New: Swedish translation, thanks to [Daniel Storgards](http://www.danielstorgards.com/)

= 1.2.10 =
* New: Italian translation, thanks to [Luca](http://www.lucacicca.it)
* Tweak: Confirmed WP 4.0 compatibility

= 1.2.9.1 =
* Tweak: Enable HTML in cookie message text
* New: Option to donate this plugin :)

= 1.2.8 =
* New: Czech translation, thanks to [Adam Laita](http://laita.cz)

= 1.2.7 =
* New: French translation, thanks to [Laura Orsal](http://www.traductrice-independante.fr)
* New: Deleting plugin settings on deactivation as an option

= 1.2.6 =
* New: German translation, thanks to Alex Ernst

= 1.2.5 =
* New: Spanish translation, thanks to Fernando Blasco

= 1.2.4 =
* New: Added filter hooks to customize where and how display the cookie notice

= 1.2.3 =
* New: Portuguese translation, thanks to Luis Maia

= 1.2.2 =
* Fix: Read more linking to default site language in WPML & Polylang

= 1.2.1 =
* Tweak: UI improvements for WP 3.8

= 1.2.0 =
* Fix: Cookie not saving in IE
* Fix: Notice hidden under Admin bar bug
* Tweak: Improved WPML & Polylang compatibility

= 1.1.0 =
* New: Rewritten cookie setting method to pure JS
* Fix: Compatibility with WP Super Cache and other caching plugins

= 1.0.2 =
* New: Dutch translation, thanks to Heleen van den Bos

= 1.0.1 =
* Tweak: Changed setting cookie mode from AJAX to JS driven

= 1.0.0 =
Initial release

== Upgrade Notice ==

= 2.3.1 =
* New: Option to run consent banner in debug mode
* Fix: Invalid validation of dismissable notices