About Checkers
Checkers visits a website like a regular visitor, interacts with the cookie banner, and shows what loads, which cookies are set, and what tracking takes place — before and after consent. The result is a report in plain language, with the technical details just a click away.
Checkers is built by Whitespace, based on our experience working with web analytics and consent for municipalities, regions, and organisations. We've found that most websites have consent mechanisms in place, but they often don't work as intended. Checkers lets you see what's actually happening and show your provider what needs to change.
Checkers is not a legal certification or a security tool. Its focus is web analytics, tracking, and web technology.
Contact Checkers
Have questions or feedback about Checkers? Get in touch at checkers@whitespace.se.
How the score is set
The analytics & tracking check gives 0–10 points. The scale measures whether the website waits for the visitor's answer before it measures and tracks.
| Score | Band | What applies |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | No measurement | No web analytics was found. The page collects no visitor data, or does it in a way we do not recognise. |
| 1–3 | Needs action | Tracking happens before the visitor has answered the cookie banner. 1: several services track. 2: one service tracks and sets cookies. 3: one service sends data but a consent tool exists. |
| 4–6 | Can improve | Consent holds the analytics back, but something leaks: a third party loads before the answer, cookies live longer than a year, or local storage is used before consent. |
| 7–9 | Good | Nothing tracks before consent. Deductions for third parties loaded after consent without the visitor choosing them, or for cookies without a clear category. |
| 10 | Exemplary | Measurement without cookies, or analytics that starts only after a clear yes. No third parties before consent. |
The same bands and colours are used in the report, in the list of websites and in the history. The score is counted anew every time the check runs.
The consent rules
When the report says Needs consent first, it refers to a Swedish law: the Electronic Communications Act, chapter 9, section 28 (in Swedish), which carries out article 5(3) of the EU ePrivacy directive. A website may only store or read information on the visitor's computer or phone, such as cookies, once the visitor has been told why and has said yes.
There are two exceptions: what is needed to send the page at all, and what is needed for a service the visitor asked for, such as a shopping cart, a login or a language choice. Statistics is not an exception. PTS, which supervises the rules, says so explicitly.
Valid consent is active, freely given, specific and informed. Saying no must be as easy as saying yes, in the same view. Pre-ticked boxes, cookie walls and "by continuing you accept" do not count. If the visitor does not answer at all, only necessary cookies may be set.
Checkers marks something as Needs consent first when a statistics or marketing service sets cookies before the visitor has answered. A service that loads without cookies before consent is marked cookieless: it does not break the cookie rule, but sending the visitor's details to another party is a separate question under the GDPR, which IMY supervises.
Read more:
- PTS: Kakor (cookies), the rules in plain words (in Swedish).
- PTS's guiding decisions on cookies, among them Folkhälsomyndigheten, Konsumentverket, Tele2 and Swedbank (in Swedish).
- EDPB Guidelines 2/2023 on what the rule covers, tracking pixels and link tracking included.
Checkers is not a legal assessment. The report shows what happens on the page, so you and your supplier can hold it up against the rules.
Pricing
Checkers is free of charge. Without an account you can check one website. With an account you get 10 credits a month, which is enough for 10 checks. For every colleague who joins, your organisation gets another 5 credits a month.
Get in touch if you need more credits.
What we keep about you
Your name, email address, organisation if you gave one, and the reports you ran. We use the email for sign-in codes and, if you chose it, for reports and notices about new checks. You can remove the account at any time under Account; then everything goes.
Checkers uses one necessary cookie for signing in. The web analytics on this website runs without cookies until you allow them, and you can change your choice at any time.