The European Commission aims to reform the EU’s cookie consent rules that have cluttered websites with intrusive banners asking for permission to track user data[1]. The initiative seeks to streamline data protection while maintaining privacy safeguards through centralized consent mechanisms[1:1].
Cookie consent banners emerged from the ePrivacy Directive (Cookie Law) and GDPR requirements, which mandate websites obtain explicit user permission before collecting non-essential data through cookies[2]. Current rules have led to widespread implementation of pop-up notices that interrupt user experience and often employ confusing interfaces.
The proposed changes reflect growing recognition that the existing approach has “messed up the internet” while failing to provide meaningful privacy protection[1:2]. Rather than requiring individual consent on every website, the Commission is exploring solutions like centralized consent management to reduce banner fatigue while preserving user privacy rights.
The law didn’t mess up the internet, asshole business owners with their bullshit malicious compliance (and spineless devs enabling them) messed up the internet.
Yep, there even was a standard that would have been sufficient, Do Not Track. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track
Even worse, many data agencies will use the Do Not Track flag as an additional datapoint to add to your fingerprint.
This shit should be mandated, with strict “the company has been burned to the ground and the ashes have been salted” levels of penalties for violating it.
It wouldn’t be hard to add a clause mandating that websites provide an easy-to-access “reject all” button that actually rejects all cookies.
Arguably e-privacy and gdpr require a reject all button.
I’m pretty sure the law already said that the reject button cannot be more convoluted to access than the accept button, corporate websites just couldn’t care less
Yes, because of this i skip it, blocking anyway all the crap and cookies I don’t want, as also these cookie advices, only it is annoying because it last some seconds before these got skipped by the filterlist.
Think they can ban the “pay, or let us track you” tactic I’ve been seeing pooping up too? That’s fucking extortion.
Instead, ban the collection of non-essential data, and also ban the targeting of advertisements based on user profiles/history
Only select advertisements to display based on the immediate context, exactly like printed newspapers and magazines
That is the right way, ads are a legit manner to create incommings if they are contextual, but not if they are abusive and surveillance based, tracking and logging the user activity. As in YT, it’s not the problem to have ads in the page or as banner at the border of an video, but it is, that the interrupt an conciert documental with several no scippable long ads, popups to use Premium, clickbaits and other crap, which serve nobody, less the author. In this case using an adblocker is mere selfdefense and legit to cut this crap and nags. A good manner is eg. how Bandcamp do it, there you can freely listen almost every song or album, without ads, and there you can buy and download it when you want, paying direct to the artist and Bandcamp an revenue. Or as Vivaldi does, using afiliate links and search engines added by default, which pay an revenue to Vivaldi, if the user use these, who is free to delete those which he don’t use. These and similar methodes are a legit and ethical way to create incommings, without putting in risk the right of privacy of the user, selling his data.
Just make companies respect the do not track flag I can select in the browser.
Denmark (currently presiding over meetings in the Council of the European Union) suggested in May to drop consent banners for cookies collecting data “for technically necessary functions”
That already doesn’t require consent
or “simple statistics."
Also doesn’t require consent, when the statistics are anonymous.
This is like when legislatures where made to ban plastic straws by the oil and plastic companies.
They knew the backlash would teach legislature to stop meddling in their affairs.🍾 🎆
