Cookies are used for things other than tracking, so maybe not obsolete, just irrelevant for tracking usage.
I didn’t read the entire spec, maybe there’s stuff that replaced cookies in there.
New browser signal could make cookie banners obsolete
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Re: New browser signal could make cookie banners obsolete
#12I don't see how this will be adopted without backing by legal threats. Even if this gets implemented on a voluntary basis, you need a fallback for browsers that don't support it. And if you need to have a version of the prompt with a user experience that isn't controlled by the browser, you might just as well use it to keep pushing the same dark patterns to everyone. Am I missing something?
I agree. Why would anyone who wants to track users implement this standard and abandon their dark patterns?
Because governments will slap them on the wrist real hard if they don't.
Re: New browser signal could make cookie banners obsolete
#13> The mechanism serves as an automated means for users to give or refuse consent
There already is the do-not-track flag, why not just force everybody to respect it?
Re: New browser signal could make cookie banners obsolete
#14Reminder that we've already had a spec for it. In the 90s! And it even has been implemented in the Internet Explorer: https://www.w3.org/P3P/ It did absolutely nothing for privacy. Google has been sending bogus P3P headers that broke IE's implementation and allowed all cookies. Adtech companies don't want users to have an easy opt-out. They didn't want P3P. They didn't want DNT. They will not want this new spec, unle…
Unless regulators force companies to respect automated protocols.
Re: New browser signal could make cookie banners obsolete
#15Reminder that we've already had a spec for it. In the 90s! And it even has been implemented in the Internet Explorer: https://www.w3.org/P3P/ It did absolutely nothing for privacy. Google has been sending bogus P3P headers that broke IE's implementation and allowed all cookies. Adtech companies don't want users to have an easy opt-out. They didn't want P3P. They didn't want DNT. They will not want this new spec, unle…
Unless regulators force companies to respect automated protocols.
This. You can see the impact of this on the new iOS tracking permissions. Most people want to opt out, but can't. Regulators stepping in would spell the end of large sections of the online advertising industry, so I doubt it'll happen.
Re: New browser signal could make cookie banners obsolete
#16The thing with ideas like this is that it'll all boil down to one thing: opt-in or opt-out.
If it's opt-in, hidden inside browsers settings, effectively no-one will use it (e.g. current cookie blocking settings).
If it's opt-out everyone will use it (see e.g. Apple's recent "This app is asking to track you across the internet, do you want to allow it?".
Question is, why make it complicated with a spec like this. Better to just agree to block all cookies, or to allow cookies.
Re: New browser signal could make cookie banners obsolete
#17now that's something sensible!
Re: New browser signal could make cookie banners obsolete
#18conmunication with the mothership should be clearly defined
Re: New browser signal could make cookie banners obsolete
#19Reminder that we've already had a spec for it. In the 90s! And it even has been implemented in the Internet Explorer: https://www.w3.org/P3P/ It did absolutely nothing for privacy. Google has been sending bogus P3P headers that broke IE's implementation and allowed all cookies. Adtech companies don't want users to have an easy opt-out. They didn't want P3P. They didn't want DNT. They will not want this new spec, unle…
The thing about this new spec is that it's compatible with the GDPR in a way that could make adopting this a legal requirement, given enough lobbying effort. It'd be a long battle, but I could foresee a future where regulators require adtech to implement this spec to obtain consent.
That won't stop them from additionally using cookie banners, out of spite. But I suspect many websites that currently have cookie banners only have them because they believe it to be necessary, and it's hard to push back on it. If such a spec came to be recognized as a way to obtain consent by regulation, it'd make it easy to point its way, and at least end the madness of cookie banners on websites that don't need it.
Re: New browser signal could make cookie banners obsolete
#20Cookies are used for things other than tracking, so maybe not obsolete, just irrelevant for tracking usage. I didn’t read the entire spec, maybe there’s stuff that replaced cookies in there.
Cookie banners are only necessary for tracking. The idea here isn't to obsolete cookies, just the banners, as the spec proposes a way to gather user consent through the user agent instead of a cookie banner.