[rdancer]

If you can set cookies, the user has already expressed their consent by enabling the cookies in the browser. As long as cookies' existence is common knowledge (it is by now), there is no need to duplicate browser UI within every website.

This is the official stance of the ICO[1], the UK national authority: there was a need to educate users what cookies were when the directive was passed. No such need exists now. ICO itself briefly used consent overlays, but does not anymore (EDIT: Aaaaand they've apparently use them again; I'll try to find the policy release where they say this is not necessary.). Cookies not used for tracking of persons never needed any consent, as they have no privacy implications.

People who make their living creating cargo-cult UI designs, have predictably added cargo-cult law-compliance to their toolset. It is beyond stupid.

[1] https://ico.org.uk/

[lucb1e]

> If you can set cookies, the user has already expressed their consent by enabling the cookies in the browser. As long as cookies' existence is common knowledge (it is by now), there is no need to duplicate browser UI within every website.

Wrong. If I disable cookies in my browser, I can't log in to websites anymore, so they need to be allowed. A whitelist would be very inconvenient. On top of that, it's not explicit allowance, it'd be implicit (i.e. opt-out instead of opt-in).

I don't know if British legislation is different, but this is illegal at least in the Netherlands.

[rdancer]

You can enable session cookies only, even in the current UIs. Ditto for third-party cookies. Duplicating UI in a website is a solution looking for a problem. The web devs can nag the 0.01% who don't have cookies enabled, and leave the 99.99% who have them enabled alone.

It has never been enforced that way to my knowledge, anywhere in the EU. Which law or court decision says that it is actually illegal?

[shawnz]

I see a consent overlay on that very page.

[rdancer]

Thank you for pointing that out. I'll try to find the policy release where they say this is not necessary.