Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Thats an odd thing to say. Websites don't need to allow free access either. I can't comment on any particular revenue model but I imagine many websites chose personalized ads as they provide better revenue returns than non-personalized ads. Another way to get revenue, which doesn't itself transgress against these privacy-focused laws, is to charge directly for providing your service. That's totally legal! Well, but…
Why are people not allowed to choose for themselves? Should we start banning what people can share on social media too for their own protection? Also not everyone can pay for content so you're punishing people who can least afford it by having direct payment be the only way forward. Privacy laws that remove freedom and opportunity aren't very good laws.
All laws remove somebody's freedom and somebody's opportunity, so either this argument is flawed or it indicates that we shouldn't have any laws.
I'm not a maximalist in allowing people to choose everything—the very notion of inalienable rights indicates something that a person cannot give up, not even by choice—but, even if I were, the problem with the current model isn't that I don't like the particular trade-offs people are making (though I don't), but that people aren't aware of those trade-offs. That, and the unfortunate confluence of companies' lack of desire to educate customers and customers' lack of desire to be educated, means that we're not really in a situation of informed choice.