BROADRIDGE Financial Solutions consultants are spreading incorrect information about the SEC’s requirements regarding the use of cookies on websites hosting proxy materials.
I’ve just seen a presentation in which the Broadridge presenter says companies must provide a website that is “cookie free.” Nonsense.
The result of this misinformation is that companies, many of which use cookies on their websites for various practical reasons, mistakenly believe they have to use Broadridge’s website to host their proxy materials.
That is not the case. Actually, using Broadridge to host your proxy materials is a dumb thing to do because it will negatively impact the user experience for your company’s shareholders.
So here’s what you need to know:
- You CANNOT use cookies to infringe upon the anonymity of people who use the website hosting your proxy materials. In fact, you are not allowed to infringe upon the anonymity of users in any manner, not just via cookies. Most cookies on corporate websites are not used to identify people, although some are.
- However, you CAN use cookies for other things that don’t infringe on users’ anonymity, such as improving the usability of your online documents. Cookies are actually useful in a number of situations, such as remembering when a user has acknowledged a disclaimer, or enabling them to create a personalized download of your meeting materials. You don’t need to infringe upon their anonymity to do these things.
OK, hope I’ve cleared that up. Here’s the full text of the SEC’s final rules requiring online proxy materials (PDF 424 KB, 72 pages). It’s explained very clearly, so I can’t understand why the Broadridge folks don’t understand it.
If you’re interested, Wikipedia’s explanation of cookies is a good one.
Dominic Jones (bio) created IR Web Report in 2001. He is a consultant to leading public companies and investor relations service providers worldwide. You can contact him via the contacts page.
Subscribe to feed