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Cookie policy notifications have ruined user experience on the web

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Re: Cookie policy notifications have ruined user experience on the web

#21

Post by craigsmansion »

pupppet wrote: post #11

They’re terrible. Who are we kidding, no one has backed out of the website after seeing one of these notices.

Of course people have.

They don't state it clearly, but every cookie means: "By accepting this cookie you agree to be tracked on the Internet, and allow that data to be sold."

(or, "We don't really understand cookie-law, and we didn't actually need to put this up".)

Once you know that, it's easier to ask yourself: "Do I really need to read this? Also given that it's likely a sub-par publication, because tracking usually implies layouts and techniques optimised to keep you on the site and optimise data collection."

Re: Cookie policy notifications have ruined user experience on the web

#22

Post by Shank »

stingraycharles wrote: post #9
Shank wrote: post #7

I'm a really big fan of geotargeting these notices only to the EU. If the EU wants cookie notices, give the EU cookie notices. Don't give anyone else cookie notices, because they're garish and few people reasonably care.

But what if your geotargeting doesn’t work as expected, and has a few false negatives? Will that hold up in court?

Policy is all about how it gets enforced and acted on. An imperfect cookie targeting scheme could probably fall down in court, but there isn't much caselaw about the cookie law right now. I can't recall any major cases where website operators were taken to court over it.

Re: Cookie policy notifications have ruined user experience on the web

#23

Post by [deleted] »

imron wrote: post #16
modzu wrote: post #6

then there's reddit and its giant full page ad for the app before finally redirecting me to the content once i find the tiny link to continue instead of opening the app store... yes reddit and fb and gmail and the like are intentionally crippled when viewed on mobile. why? maybe because the data an app can suck up off your phone is much more valuable. no pesky same-origin policies! i digress :(

Don't worry about trying to click the 'continue' link, just keep scrolling down and it disappears. It's still annoying, but not as annoying as trying to click the tiny link.

[deleted]

Re: Cookie policy notifications have ruined user experience on the web

#24

Post by xg15 »

SteveNuts wrote: post #2

Do these notifications actually help with GDPR compliance or are they just a CYA for the websites?

Given that (from my IANAL understanding) the GDPR requires opt-in and forbids "click I accept or leave our service" style forced opt-in, I'd say this is not even CYA - it's closer to magical cargo cult incantations.

Re: Cookie policy notifications have ruined user experience on the web

#25

Post by jasonkostempski »

y0ghur7_xxx wrote: post #17
jasonkostempski wrote: post #3

HA, this made it to the front page right as I was composing this Ask HN submission about picking a de facto standard element CSS class so that ad blockers could just start including a simple rule to get rid of them: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17679932

There is an adblock filter list for cookie warnings: https://github.com/r4vi/block-the-eu-cookie-shit-list

I figured, but maintaining that is such a waste of human life and parsing the list is a waste of my CPU time. Since no one on either side of the fence wants the notices to exist, web developers could just use a de facto standard element class and ad blockers can add a simple rule.

Re: Cookie policy notifications have ruined user experience on the web

#27

Post by jasonkostempski »

kylel wrote: post #18
NSAID wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'd be even better if my user agent could simply indicate my acceptance (or lack thereof) for me

This is what Do Not Track was supposed to be. Unfortunately it never got much momentum. Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. ignore the DNT header.

Another useless attempt at reducing tracking I wish would be banished from the web. The amount of pollution in web standards; official, legal, or accidental; is becoming just as annoying as the annoying things they're trying to fix.

Re: Cookie policy notifications have ruined user experience on the web

#28

Post by SyneRyder »

gruez wrote: post #14

We wouldn't be having this discussion if cookies were opt-in rather than opt-out. I don't sign into 90% of websites I visit, but why are all of them allowed to track me? If cookies were opt-in, then the legal issue of "consent" would be cleanly resolved, and the interface can be handled by the user agent rather than through obtrusive modals.

You can already do this. In Firefox:

* Go to your Cookies And Site Data preferences

* Select "Block Cookies And Site Data"

* Click on "Exceptions"

* Add the address of the website you opt-into

* Click "Allow For Session" or "Allow" as you choose.

Re: Cookie policy notifications have ruined user experience on the web

#30

Post by sib »

gruez wrote: post #14

We wouldn't be having this discussion if cookies were opt-in rather than opt-out. I don't sign into 90% of websites I visit, but why are all of them allowed to track me? If cookies were opt-in, then the legal issue of "consent" would be cleanly resolved, and the interface can be handled by the user agent rather than through obtrusive modals.

You visited them and you didn't turn off your browser's cookie requests; therefore you decided to accept the files that the site offer to your browser.
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