[killerpopiller]

micro targeting is a threat to our democracy (cambridge analytica, Facebooks desinformation problem,..). Besides, why should third parties allowed to trade my digital persona, while basically knowing more about my interests and flaws than I am? I hate cookie banner as well but this excessive tracking must be stopped somehow.

[kybernetyk]

Yeah, I feel like I'm defending democracy and freedom whenever I click on the "Accept All" button. Not all heroes wear capes!

[Jensson]

Just install a plugin that does that for you, not sure why that would inconvenience anyone. The tools exists out there to make you never see such a popup again, why not use it?

[user249]

I support your concern that I don't share, so why make me suffer? I tried the "I don't care about cookies" extension but it didn't work for me.

[Aeolos]

The regulation says nothing about a cookie banner. Instead, it says companies cannot track you unless you give consent.

If you don't like cookie banners, which are indeed really annoying, you should be turning your ire to the companies that wish to track you. They are fully-functional solutions that allow anonymous tracking without installing cookies on your computer - no banner needed then.

[concordDance]

Cambridge Analytica was actually pretty irrelevant.

[luckylion]

Why couldn't that have happened in the browser though? We have plenty of mechanisms to block and/or delete cookies.

Essentially, now we're at a state where consent banners exist, slowing down all sites, and there are like four states: a) they look compliant, but are ignored by the website provider (the EU itself takes this approach), b) they are flat out ignored (a lot of companies still take this approach) c) they aren't compliant (tiny "no" link, huge "yes, take my firstborn" link) d) they're compliant and are paywalls (buy subscription or accept everything under the sun).

d) is what we're probably going to end up with, so you either pay or you accept tracking. More and more solutions offer that as an option so adoption will grow. Most people accept tracking (stats that I've seen say that those paying are like 1/10,000th), so what have we won exactly by doing this dance?

[layer8]

> Why couldn't that have happened in the browser though?

That would require more regulation, by regulating both browsers and websites, and their technical protocol. Instead the EU tried to minimize regulation by not prescribing the exact technical means by which websites would need to obtain consent for tracking from users.

[nottathrowaway3]

>this excessive tracking [by website operators] must be stopped somehow

Easy. Clear your cookies. Use a proxy. Use a fingerprint resistant browser. Will protect against >99% of website operators.

[ilyt]

Cookie banner is "meant well, turned out badly" law. GDPR kinda fixes few things with it.

Ideally browser should just send "do not track" and site should fuck off with tracking, no questions asked.

[jeroenhd]

The cookie banner is an implementation choice. Companies can already accept the DNT header to stop tracking. I believe Medium does this, it even replaces embeds with click through elements so external scripts can't track you.

However, choosing to respect the users' wishes isn't very profitable. You need to make your ads relevant to the content somehow andtthat requires effort and skills. It's much more profitable to trick people into consenting with tracking so you can sell their information, so the more annoying your cookie popup becomes, the more money you can make. IAB has already been fined for such a popup mechanism.

"Do not track" is not enough to comply with GDPR because you must also be able to request a copy or corrections of your personal information once you have given consent. Then there's the option to allow some companies to track you (say, analytics companies) but not others (say, Google) that needs to be taken into account.

Back in the day, Microsoft's P3P protocol was trying to fix this problem, but nobody used it. DNT headers also aren't really configurable in the browser itself, you can only pick on or off.

A protocol is being developed that may solve this (https://www.dataprotectioncontrol.org/) but I'm sure it won't work until the EU forces company to take such protocols into account. After all, ignoring people's wishes is literally how these ad empires are making money now.