I'm still reading the ICO report. It does talk at some length about what kind of measures are needed to comply with the coming legislation, and emphasises that

I'm still reading the ICO report. It does talk at some length about what kind of measures are needed to comply with the coming legislation, and emphasises that the rule is about privacy protection, and that uses of cookies that don't build up a picture of users aren't what it targets. The legislation does look bad for startups whose business plan revolves around accumulating data on users or selling targeted ads, but the ICO report looks pretty aware of how cookies are used in practice and not at all the "ignorant intervention" that the article describes.