[throwaway154]

It hasn't. Surfing the web without an adblocker is almost as bad as 20 years ago without Firefox or Opera and popups galore. Less immediate, acute security risks than then, more videos on autoplay.

There's no need for a 'GDPR' notification for non-tracking cookies. It's not even about the cookie, it's about the tracking.

What's 'ruined the web' (for many) is concentration of sites into a handful of mega-'properties' that seek to own their visitors and users. To say this is GDPR-induced is to propagate and amplify the lie.