Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

amazingcto.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 662 posts

Re: Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

#21

Post by tlb »

Part of what it means to be "good at regulation" is to anticipate the likely consequences of regulations. So a regulation that says that "businesses must now give away their products for free, unless they honk each customer's nose" will result in a lot of sore noses.

Which is basically the case here. Almost all websites make money through ads, or at least keep logs of user activity to help them optimize their website, and that's not going to change, so the EU's boneheaded regulations make the customers suffer a little extra.

Re: Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

#22

Post by wildrhythms »

bheadmaster wrote: post #15
piker wrote: post #4

Dumb take. “Just run your business with 10% of the revenue? What’s the problem?” Edit: to those downvoting, yea, it’s agreed that tracking is bad but the tone of the article completely ignores that a lot of the web’s content depends on this model so if it “just didn’t track” a large swath would no longer exist.

The point of the legislations is to protect the citizens, not corporate income.

Sorry but have you been living under a rock for the past 100 years of neoliberal governing?

Re: Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

#23

Post by raverbashing »

throwaway67743 wrote: post #16

One of the most egregious abusers of this recently got told off for it, I want to say it's IAB, but they're all as bad. Trust arc or whatever they're called deliberately made it as annoying and deceptive as possible. You can't blame the EU at all for a deliberate misinterpretation of the law.

Yeah, IIRC I think noyb was looking into "Trust arc"

Re: Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

#24

Post by bjornsing »

This is written from the standpoint that you want to deny consent. But I just want to give consent and get on with my day. I see it as sort of paying for the content.

Honestly I think most people see it this way, even if it’s an unpopular stance in some tech circles.

Re: Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

#25

Post by SuperNinKenDo »

isodev wrote: post #10
ianlevesque wrote: post #2

The funny thing about legislation is that you're responsible for the unintended consequences of your laws too.

You mean the EU should have foreseen that people in tech have no conscience and sensitivity for right or wrong?

To be fair, completely foreseeable.

Re: Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

#26

Post by paulryanrogers »

piker wrote: post #6
Avamander wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's impossible to foresee everything, including the amount of malicious compliance. In the end we are better off with this legislation and its future iterations and additions than we are without it. The extent to which people's data is misused is simply ridiculous.

So perhaps that suggests caution be taken in meddling…

Meddling in what way?

'Meddling' causing citizens to lose visibility and corporations to gain more power over data?

Re: Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

#27

Post by poszlem »

Putting up a wall in the middle of a busy street and then getting upset when people find ways around it doesn't make sense. The solution is either to remove the wall or ensure it cannot be bypassed.

Right now, it's just irritating for the average person and slightly inconveniencing those who actually break the rules.

This is the same situation with the cookie banner regulations. If the goal is to eliminate tracking, then making tracking illegal is the straightforward path (or make "do not track" actually mean something legally). Otherwise, ignoring it might be better. Implementing a policy that only frustrates the general public without effectively addressing the problem is not the right approach.

This is what the OP cannot understand.

EDIT: To the downvoters - I don't think you understand what the purpose of the downvote is on this site.

Re: Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

#28

Post by chgs »

zpeti wrote: post #18
dTal wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your business is "doing sketchy shit with people's data", and the regulatory hammer just came down on you... well, yeah.

Come on, this is such a ridiculous take. Adding google adsense to a website needs a cookie bar. That’t not "doing sketchy shit with people's data" I can’t believe how many people have bought into this EU regulation hook line and sinker. It’s ridiculous, imagine the man hours that have been wasted in the last 7 years just clicking cookie bars. And as OP says, it’s completely unrealistic to not have them.

Google Adsense is doing sketchy shit with peoples data.

Re: Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

#29

Post by wildrhythms »

zpeti wrote: post #18
dTal wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your business is "doing sketchy shit with people's data", and the regulatory hammer just came down on you... well, yeah.

Come on, this is such a ridiculous take. Adding google adsense to a website needs a cookie bar. That’t not "doing sketchy shit with people's data" I can’t believe how many people have bought into this EU regulation hook line and sinker. It’s ridiculous, imagine the man hours that have been wasted in the last 7 years just clicking cookie bars. And as OP says, it’s completely unrealistic to not have them.

I don't see people advocating for cookie banners; I see them advocating for stopping the tracking.

Re: Dear Paul Graham, there is no cookie banner law

#30

Post by bheadmaster »

I think this is one of the rare cases where the now-popular-and-often-misused word "gaslighting" fits perfectly: the companies are punishing users because of a law that protects them from data exploitation, then blame the law for protecting them. It's beyond evil.

On the other hand, nobody is entitled to free content on the internet. Hopefully people will become annoyed enough that they will stop visiting the sites of data exploitation companies altogether.

Post reply on HN