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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

#251

Post by nicbou »

sergeykish wrote: post #172

Why would one need GDPR consent for blog? Privacy Policy should be enough for server logs (without PII). It would be nice to have standard Privacy Policy though (like we have MIT, BSD licenses).

I run a blog. It has Google Analytics. I could probably host my own analytics solution, but that's not easy. I'll get to it eventually, but content benefits my users more.

I need analytics because this blog pays the bills. I need to see what works and what doesn't. When building partnerships, I'm usually expected to share some numbers with them. It also lets me spot issues with the website.

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

#252

Post by flattone »

dimitrios1 wrote: post #220
beshrkayali wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DockerHub uses a company/product called "TrustArc: TRUSTe" and they have _exactly_ this method. The slowdown is intentional. People who come up with sort of tactics and those who implement them should go to jail. It's beyond infuriating. I've decided to not upload my images to dockerhub because of this. Edit: jail time is not for anger obviously, but for intentionally swindling people. It'll be handled on a case by c…

Causing you to get angry is all it takes to warrant justification for jail time in your eyes? I am thankful you aren't in charge of any lawmaking.

I mean... how much of the world do you want to feel like you married a sociopath (aka people who deliberately make the better option miserable), before someone can say 'lets disincentivise this behavior

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

#253

Post by 2T1Qka0rEiPr »

> But writing is on the wall. If your business model requires user consent, chances are that your business will suffer if and when GDPR gets enforced. The implication of users not giving the required consent is that the ad-tech industry might collapse.

Is the writing on the wall? GDPR came into enforcement over 2 years ago, and I'm not aware of improvements having been made with respect to clarity, because I'm not aware of any punitive measures actually having been taken. Would love to hear comments to the contrary.

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

#254

Post by JulianWasTaken »

perryizgr8 wrote: post #199

Fundamentally, the browser is the user's agent. Storing cookies, running tracking scripts, etc. should be controlled by the browser. Some browsers may take a strict "block everything" approach, some may be relaxed, and some may harass the user with prompts. Users are free to choose the appropriate browser. Depending on websites to limit tracking by on their own is very difficult, since it is inherently against many w…

This is nice in theory, except the amount of fragmentation in 2020 is huge.

The average user simply cannot switch browsers.

The likelihood of encountering a website that breaks even switching from Chrome to Firefox is too much for any normal user to want to bother for just these purposes. They'll switch back the minute they find a website that doesn't work in their new browser, if they even get that far.

So unless you're suggesting "Chrome should make it more obvious how to clear cookies automatically and/or not accept them at all" (which seems like quite a UX challenge itself), saying "just tell everyone to switch browsers" just isn't going to work I don't think.

EDIT: to finish the thought -- yes I agree, browsers should provide users with choice, and switching browsers should be available to anyone who is unhappy with the way their browser treats their data, but that can't be the only way -- otherwise, the average user will get left behind.

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

#255

Post by marcosdumay »

blauditore wrote: post #206

What really drives me crazy are prompts that start by showing two options: "Consent to all cookies", or "customize". If you click "customize", it opens a new modal window with a loading indicator that just doesn't seem to finish. I literally waited 60 seconds and then tried again by refreshing the page, ending up with another infinite loading indicator. This means that users are de-factor forced to click "consent to…

A dark pattern from Oracle? That's unexpected. That's why people are abandoning Java, by the way.

But yes, isn't there on the GDPR that tracking must be opt-in? I don't see how the pop-up is legal, and making the opt-out inaccessible is probably a large violation.

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

#256

Post by Fradow »

ohmaigad wrote: post #229
Fradow wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those very much falls in the shady part. The first option, redirect, is not GDPR-compliant, because then the "consent" cannot be considered freely given, and thus is not valid The second option is really borderline, and could work out for a US-only news website, for example (arguing it doesn't cater to European residents), but would be non-compliant for a business which knowingly serve European residents.

I don't see how the first option is not GDPR-compliant. If the privacy policy page doesn't process personal data there is no consent needed.

I'm going to quote Article 7.4. of the GPDR here:

"When assessing whether consent is freely given, utmost account shall be taken of whether, inter alia, the performance of a contract, including the provision of a service, is conditional on consent to the processing of personal data that is not necessary for the performance of that contract."

Preventing you from seeing the page you request if you do not consent seems a lot like the provision of a service conditional on consent. Obviously, that's for a judge to decide, but the law seems very clear from my perspective (IANAL, that's not legal advice).

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

#257

Post by black_puppydog »

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…

FWIW, I didn't downvote you for this.

And I just upvoted for this piece of comedy:

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

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

#258

Post by 0xFluegel »

skummetmaelk wrote: post #184
sukilot wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can a company that violates law in 13 countries just choose which country gets to enforce?

Because the EU is a union of sovereign states. The EU itself is not sovereign and cannot do anything at all without acting through its members. A member can simply decide not to carry out the EU's wishes. Sure there are penalties, but they take a long time to appear and are fairly minor.

GDPR has a section that defines a way for an EU institution to "grab" cases, but that's timely and not used much (or at all, I don't know about the numbers).

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

#260

Post by shuntress »

perryizgr8 wrote: post #199

Fundamentally, the browser is the user's agent. Storing cookies, running tracking scripts, etc. should be controlled by the browser. Some browsers may take a strict "block everything" approach, some may be relaxed, and some may harass the user with prompts. Users are free to choose the appropriate browser. Depending on websites to limit tracking by on their own is very difficult, since it is inherently against many w…

There is only so much that a browser can do. It is fairly normal for some cookie values to be necessary for a website to function. Browsers should not be expected to differentiate these "necessary" values from values that support other features.
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