For people who do not deem browser cookies a grave threat to their welfare, there is https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/, a very practical browser extension that mitigates most effects of this abysmal law. It's nearly as helpful as adblock these days, if not more, since few ads are as obtrusive as the cookie popups.
Europe’s cookie consent reckoning is coming
41–50 of 73 posts
Re: Europe’s cookie consent reckoning is coming
#42I was and still am totally amazed that people still think it's a good idea to require each individual site owner to comply with that kind of policy instead of letting the browser vendors do the hard work. Which is easier - to modify and monitor billions of different sites, or to create a framework and obligations on the side of browsers to handle it? Something like requiring all browsers to start with cookies disable…
I am not so sure about the law situation here, but this consent is not about cookies especially. It is about user tracking. And there are fingerprinting technology beyond cookies (which bypass cookie resets or incognito modes).
Re: Europe’s cookie consent reckoning is coming
#43The article is trying to make the case that the problem is that the "Reject All" button is difficult to find on the cookie popup and it's the site's fault for that. No. Let's make one thing clear. The problem is with the popup itself, with the fact that it exists. And it exists because the bone-headed law that required it: the GDPR. The fact that the very first decision I have to make when visiting a website is about…
What?
Being tracked and analyzed in unknown ways without your concent seems very serious. The fact you got used to it doesn't make it less serious. Would you accept people following you around all day taking notes? I'd guess not, so what's the difference with web tracking?
GDPR is good, the sites are doing their best to make the GDPR experience bad to encourage the existence of people with your opinion. It doesn't have to be that way, and hopefully the regulator will use its teeth and make companies using obvious dark patterns pay for their infringements.
Re: Europe’s cookie consent reckoning is coming
#44The Gist: A non-profit developed a cralwer which can pick up misleading (or non-working) cookie-consent banners. > with a plan to file up to 10,000 complaints against offenders over the course of this year > Today it’s announcing the first batch of 560 complaints, large and small > noyb is even giving offenders a warning first — and a full month to clean up their ways In general I'm not a fan of vigilante law enforce…
noyb are not "vigilante law enforcers". Law enforcement is police and courts.
Noyb notifies corporations of their GDPR violations. Only if they do not comply they will notify authorities/sue.
Re: Europe’s cookie consent reckoning is coming
#45I was and still am totally amazed that people still think it's a good idea to require each individual site owner to comply with that kind of policy instead of letting the browser vendors do the hard work. Which is easier - to modify and monitor billions of different sites, or to create a framework and obligations on the side of browsers to handle it? Something like requiring all browsers to start with cookies disable…
Maybe we could send a header to websites letting them know that the user wants to opt out of all non-essential cookies. We could call it DoNotTrack, or something along those lines. I think HN would love the idea.
It's unclear if Do Not Track will be useful for cookie consent, certainly it will take a lot of time. Here is an article from 2018 about it.
https://www.w3.org/blog/2018/06/do-not-track-and-the-gdpr/
I think the intent of the GDPR is good, but we now have websites that are harder to use than they have to be. In addition to that companies all over Europe have to spend a lot of time to be GDPR compliant.
I think it's time to take a good look at GDPR and evaluate if it's doing what is was meant to do.
Re: Europe’s cookie consent reckoning is coming
#46My main browser (Vivaldi) is set to block cookies unless a site is whitelisted. When a site like TechCrunch plays fast and loose with the rules, I open it in Firefox, then erase all cookies using the "Forget" button (I wish it were even easier like the Firefox Focus app on iOS).
Trusting a site to comply is a fool's errand, but I applaud NOYB's efforts to enforce GDPR against dark patterns. The EU has also learned its lessons from the Ireland DPC's willful obstruction and the ePrivacy directive is likely to be enforced centrally, not by national authorities with conflicts of interest like Ireland's.
Finally, it is not enough to have the firms discontinue the dark patterns. They must also be forced to delete all the data collected, with auditors sent at their expense to verify this has been done. That in itself would be a much better deterrent than the fines themselves.
Re: Europe’s cookie consent reckoning is coming
#47This is TechCrunch cookie consent. https://i.imgur.com/laO6kiw.png
The worst is the "Legitimate interest" when clicking manage options. Apparently 235 companies have a "legitimate interest" in tracking me which is on by default unless I click "Reject All".
Re: Europe’s cookie consent reckoning is coming
#48The article is trying to make the case that the problem is that the "Reject All" button is difficult to find on the cookie popup and it's the site's fault for that. No. Let's make one thing clear. The problem is with the popup itself, with the fact that it exists. And it exists because the bone-headed law that required it: the GDPR. The fact that the very first decision I have to make when visiting a website is about…
What? Being tracked and analyzed in unknown ways without your concent seems very serious. The fact you got used to it doesn't make it less serious. Would you accept people following you around all day taking notes? I'd guess not, so what's the difference with web tracking? GDPR is good, the sites are doing their best to make the GDPR experience bad to encourage the existence of people with your opinion. It doesn't ha…
> Being tracked and analyzed in unknown ways without your consent seems very serious.
Really?! What is the worst thing that can happen? What exactly is the danger here?
> Would you accept people following you around all day taking notes?
While I browse the web? Sure, why not. I would certainly worry if it was the government doing it, since the government usually has nefarious reasons, but a private party... go straight ahead.
That doesn't mean I can't take my own measures if and when I want my privacy, but that is MY choice. Not an idiotic law "protecting me" against my own will.
Re: Europe’s cookie consent reckoning is coming
#49I was and still am totally amazed that people still think it's a good idea to require each individual site owner to comply with that kind of policy instead of letting the browser vendors do the hard work. Which is easier - to modify and monitor billions of different sites, or to create a framework and obligations on the side of browsers to handle it? Something like requiring all browsers to start with cookies disable…
I still haven't figured out how to opt out after initially opting in. Having a standard place in the browser would make this simple.
I think, in case you delete all your cookies, you will get a new cookie popup the next time you visit a web-site. As I usually configure browsers to not keep cookies between browser-restarts, I'm quite used to being asked anew about cookie consent every single time I visit a page :/
Re: Europe’s cookie consent reckoning is coming
#50The Gist: A non-profit developed a cralwer which can pick up misleading (or non-working) cookie-consent banners. > with a plan to file up to 10,000 complaints against offenders over the course of this year > Today it’s announcing the first batch of 560 complaints, large and small > noyb is even giving offenders a warning first — and a full month to clean up their ways In general I'm not a fan of vigilante law enforce…
> In general I'm not a fan of vigilante law enforcers
Nobody here is enforcing the law. noyb is actually doing a favor to all those small business by informing them that they are in fact breaking the law. Maybe some of them didn't even know it. noyb then gives them ample time to fix the issue and if they don't they get reported to the relevant agencies which then do the law enforcement.
It's all quite simple that I am surprised that anybody would call noyb vigilante law enforcers.