Analysis of economic and productivity losses caused by cookie banners in Europe

they could have made the law:

>if you collect users data

>you must ask first

>add a yes or no button on a banner so they can pick

but instead the eu citizens were let down by the legislators

Uhh, what do you think the law is?

This is indeed how it should be, and courts have consistently found enforced this.

French law for example specifically says that any implementation must "allow the user to refuse the deposit of cookies as easily as to accept it." [1]

[1] https://www.termsfeed.com/blog/cookie-consent-decline-reject...

That's, in a nutshell, what the law says since 2018.

Whatever you see in cookie banners is either malicious compliance or directly illegal (and already being prosecuted and resulting in fines).

that IS the law