WITHOUT PREJUDICE

27th May 2016

Mr. K Gould & Mr. C Norman
IDG UK
101 Euston Road
London
NW1 2RA

Cease and Desist

Dear Mr. Gould & Mr. Norman,
My name is Alexander Hanff and I am writing to you with a formal demand that IDG UK stop the
unlawful detection of my use of adblocking technologies within my web browser on IDG UK web
sites including but not limited to:
Computer World UK
CIO
Tech World

: http://www.computerworlduk.com
: http://www.cio.co.uk/
: http://www.techworld.com

Under Article 5(3) of European Directive 2002/58/EC (the ePrivacy Directive) and Regulation 6 of
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) in the UK, it is forbidden for a web
site to:
store information, or to gain access to information stored, in the terminal equipment of a subscriber
or user
without the consent of the subscriber or user.
When visiting the web sites listed above, a script is uploaded to my terminal equipment which
detects my adblocking tool and presents me with a message as illustrated below:

I can confirm that you do not have my consent to use these technologies and also confirm that you
have neither made me aware that you would like to upload these javascript technologies to my
terminal equipment, asked for my consent to do so, or offered me the right to refuse such actions as
required under the law.
As such the use of javascript technologies which are uploaded to my terminal equipment when I visit
your web sites with the specific purpose of detecting whether or not I have adblocking tools installed
in my browser, without my consent, is a breach of my rights under the ePrivacy Directive and PECR.
I demand that you cease and desist from this activity as soon as possible and in any event, within 15
days of your receipt of this letter. If action is not taken by you to cease and desist within the given
timeframe, I will have no choice but to take appropriate legal action against IDG UK.
I trust you will treat this matter as urgent and I look forward to your reply confirming that you have
met the demands presented herewith.
Sincerely,

Alexander Hanff
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