Internet's biggest annoyance: Cookie laws should target browsers, not websites

For that matter, companies should be banned from referring to selling off your data to random spam companies as "sharing with partners." Partners comes with an implication of being somewhat equal or at least on trusting terms. The companies selling our data don't trust these companies. They probably don't even know their names.

If the data is being sold, it should be legally required to word it in that way. If there's even the slightest possibility of your data being leaked to spammers, it should be worded to reflect that.

"Do you consent to us selling your data to any party that wishes to buy your data? Do you consent to the possibility that your data will be used to spam you or steal your identity in the future? Yes/No"

The word "partner" lost its meaning completely. Each business relation is a "partner" these days. Guess it sounds nicer than "company that pays me to do stuff and bug you about"

I always read it as "partner in crime".

I'm not sure all these relationships are monetary.

It may even be the case that the website pays X company to perform the tracking for their own analytics purposes. Or that it's X company's own freemium model where if you add their tracker they grant you a bunch of cross-site information for free.

>> If the data is being sold...

Nah. Personal data sharing needs to be banned. It's the right way forward.

> companies should be banned from referring to selling off your data to random spam companies as "sharing with partners."

They are under the GDPR.

If you ask for my data, you must do so fairly and tell me what you are using it for.

In the examples you site, if you read the small print "sharing with partners" will go on to say advertising 'letting you know about products and services' and other such shite.

I think banned it a bit too strong. However there needs to be strong regulations on what can be shared.

If I go to an ER in a different area (read different medical system) I want my doctor to share personal data. I don't want my doctor to share my personal data with a random doctor in the same medical system unless that other doctor is an expert being consulted on something about me. (that is just being a doctor doesn't give you access to my private information, it needs to be on a need to know).

The above is the obvious case. There are likely other cases that are not obvious where after looking closely private information should be shared. Advertisement is never one of those reasons though, and analytics is only a reason if they anonymize the data with prison terms for mistakes.

> Personal data sharing needs to be banned.

Indiscriminate sharing of personal data IS banned under the GDPR.

If you collect personal data, you must only collect it for the stated purpose and can't sell or share it for any other reason.

I continue to be astounded at the ignorance some people have of the GDPR; a vital privacy law and one that is fundamental to modern data use and respect for the customer.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-re...

Then you need to start directly paying for 90%+ of the websites you visit.

People don't want this, so there is a quick reversion to "pay with your data".

That's a bit overzealous, isn't it?

> Hey, please send the shipment to my customer. No, I can't tell you the address, it's personal data.

Some data sharing will always be necessary. What needs to be banned is the unnecessary sharing, but it's hard to 100% define what counts as necessary

The Internet somehow managed to run without our computers spying on us for quite some time, I think it will manage with normal ads.

> People don't want this, so there is a quick reversion to "pay with your data".

Which, since 2018, is illegal in EU.

True, but having to be explicit about a monetary relationship would still be a step forward.

In 99.9% of cases defining legitimate use is simple. There should be legal consequences for data sharing that is not actual legitimate use. I see companies making absurd claims about what consent based on "legitimate interest" can mean. No, sharing data with advertising "partners" is not based on any legitimate interest. If these companies were getting some strong fines for illegal stuff like this, then they would cut the bs.