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Only 9% of visitors give GDPR consent to be tracked

markosaric.com

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Re: Only 9% of visitors give GDPR consent to be tracked

#11

Post by _Understated_ »

bewareandaware wrote: post #3

I must say I'm really surprised. I'm a frontend developer and probably more keen to keep an eye on this stuff but there are lots of times where I just say yes because the popup is in-my-face and I just want to scroll to the content. I guess where the article falls flat is where the author says a "proper GDPR content banner" was implemented. No online publication will do this. At least they will trick you with button…

> but there are lots of times where I just say yes because the popup is in-my-face and I just want to scroll to the content.

I am exactly the same. I use UBlock Origin and Privacy Badger so pretty much nothing gets through anyway but just to get rid of the banner, I click on OK.

However, that being said, I only do it if the other choice is "Manage Preferences" or something equally vague: If I am given a clear yes-or-no choice, I always choose "No".

Re: Only 9% of visitors give GDPR consent to be tracked

#13

Post by MaxBarraclough »

davidweatherall wrote: post #2

The author's consent form is very simple and isn't using any shady UX tricks to get the user to consent. One action will opt you in, one action will opt you out. I wonder what results you would see for something like yahoo, the daily mail, reddit, or other sites that heavily rely on ad revenue, which attempt to force the user to accept the cookies through non-obvious no buttons, or long processes to opt out of cookie…

> attempt to force the user to accept the cookies through non-obvious no buttons, or long processes to opt out of cookies

If I understand correctly, this sort of trickery is forbidden by the GDPR, but so far no-one has seen any consequences for doing do.

Re: Only 9% of visitors give GDPR consent to be tracked

#14

Post by beshrkayali »

shmageggy wrote: post #5
davidweatherall wrote: post #2

The author's consent form is very simple and isn't using any shady UX tricks to get the user to consent. One action will opt you in, one action will opt you out. I wonder what results you would see for something like yahoo, the daily mail, reddit, or other sites that heavily rely on ad revenue, which attempt to force the user to accept the cookies through non-obvious no buttons, or long processes to opt out of cookie…

Verizon/Yahoo/Techcrunch is such a blatant offender, and especially noticable because they get posted here often. Their modal is a giant obfuscation dark-pattern, and far as I can tell, there is no way to opt out.

Which is why GDPR, although theoretically a good idea, is pretty much useless in practice. I'd like to see how many websites offer a reasonable consent widget that doesn't opt you in by default, keep nothing checking but a huge button to tick and accept, or the usual million-and-one checkboxes to untick, and many other cheap tricks that even the most vigilant of consumers will fall to at some point.

I use everything I can to prevent tracking on my machine. But for a general solution for everyone, I don't know what would be the answer, but I don't think it's GDPR. If it's to work, acts forbidden by GDPR need to be handled very fast, and without interaction from user nor legal mumbo jumbo. Without a zero-tolerance policy, the cheap tricks will only grow stronger.

Edit: So apparently if you criticize gov/bureaucrats on HN you get downvoted.

Re: Only 9% of visitors give GDPR consent to be tracked

#17

Post by PaulKeeble »

bewareandaware wrote: post #3

I must say I'm really surprised. I'm a frontend developer and probably more keen to keep an eye on this stuff but there are lots of times where I just say yes because the popup is in-my-face and I just want to scroll to the content. I guess where the article falls flat is where the author says a "proper GDPR content banner" was implemented. No online publication will do this. At least they will trick you with button…

Everywhere has poor implementation. The UKs ICO gave companies an entire year of grace as they weren't ready for it themselves and have done very little in the way of fines since. They are as always underfunded and simply don't have the resources to enforce it but so far it is a law with no teeth due to no enforcement the EU over. Companies have managed to get away with the wrong defaults and dark patterns for acceptance for years at this point, setting a clear precadent for how this will work going forward.

Re: Only 9% of visitors give GDPR consent to be tracked

#18

Post by mehrdadn »

fxtentacle wrote: post #7
davidweatherall wrote: post #2

The author's consent form is very simple and isn't using any shady UX tricks to get the user to consent. One action will opt you in, one action will opt you out. I wonder what results you would see for something like yahoo, the daily mail, reddit, or other sites that heavily rely on ad revenue, which attempt to force the user to accept the cookies through non-obvious no buttons, or long processes to opt out of cookie…

Thing is, if someone can show that they were tricked into giving consent when they were not willing to, then you're still in violation of GDPR. So those convoluted forms might not give those companies the legal protection they they hope for. And yes, I'd assume the "phony consent" rate to be much higher, because in some cases I also cannot find the no button and/or accidentally tap on the huge yes button on my phone…

How do you prove you were tricked into giving consent to tracking?

Re: Only 9% of visitors give GDPR consent to be tracked

#19

Post by rocho »

davidweatherall wrote: post #2

The author's consent form is very simple and isn't using any shady UX tricks to get the user to consent. One action will opt you in, one action will opt you out. I wonder what results you would see for something like yahoo, the daily mail, reddit, or other sites that heavily rely on ad revenue, which attempt to force the user to accept the cookies through non-obvious no buttons, or long processes to opt out of cookie…

Yes, exactly.

I hoped that he would repeat the experiment with a tricky one, like the horrendous forms served by Quantcast. In those, if you click "Reject all" nothing happens! How is that even allowed boggles my mind.

Re: Only 9% of visitors give GDPR consent to be tracked

#20

Post by rcxdude »

beshrkayali wrote: post #14
shmageggy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Verizon/Yahoo/Techcrunch is such a blatant offender, and especially noticable because they get posted here often. Their modal is a giant obfuscation dark-pattern, and far as I can tell, there is no way to opt out.

Which is why GDPR, although theoretically a good idea, is pretty much useless in practice. I'd like to see how many websites offer a reasonable consent widget that doesn't opt you in by default, keep nothing checking but a huge button to tick and accept, or the usual million-and-one checkboxes to untick, and many other cheap tricks that even the most vigilant of consumers will fall to at some point. I use everything…

All that's required is for the regulators to start holding companies using these dark patterns to account. These things aren't GDPR compliant by any reasonable interpretation, and these companies are basically trying their luck to see what they can get away with. If fines start coming to them they'll change their tune pretty quick.
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