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

(nednex.com)
583 points SweetSoftPillow | 9 comments | 22 Oct 25 12:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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michaelmauderer ◴[22 Oct 25 12:36 UTC] No.45668112[source]▶
The problem here is not the law, but malicious compliance by websites that don't want to give up tracking.

"Spend Five Minutes in a Menu of Legalese" is not the intended alternative to "Accept All". "Decline All" is! And this is starting to be enforced through the courts, so you're increasingly seeing the "Decline All" option right away. As it should be. https://www.techspot.com/news/108043-german-court-takes-stan...

Of course, also respecting a Do-Not-Track header and avoiding the cookie banner entirely while not tracking the user, would be even better.

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itopaloglu83 ◴[22 Oct 25 12:54 UTC] No.45668333[source]▶
Tracking by default is not an acceptable solution, so I would say respecting the Do-Not-Track header must be mandatory and enforced by laws and percentage of global revenue fines.
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layer8 ◴[22 Oct 25 13:22 UTC] No.45668738[source]▶
That wouldn’t help much in terms of annoyance, because you need the option of per-site or per-service opting-in to tracking cookies (like “remember me” checkboxes and similar functionality), and then you can’t really prevent web pages showing a banner offering that opt-in option. It wouldn’t be exactly the same as today’s cookie banners, but websites would made it similarly annoying.
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1. wtetzner ◴[22 Oct 25 13:26 UTC] No.45668808[source]▶
Unless it was a browser level permission, like asking to access the user's location.
replies(1): >>45668869 #
2. layer8 ◴[22 Oct 25 13:30 UTC] No.45668869[source]▶
The website has to be able to inform you about what exactly you are opting in to (like saving your shopping cart, and/or who they will be sharing the respective information with). This can’t be covered by a predefined set of options.

Browser-level permissions are about what the browser is sharing with the website, which is a different thing. For one, the browser sharing information with the website isn’t a blanket permission legally for the website to do anything with that information it likes.

replies(1): >>45668908 #
3. itopaloglu83 ◴[22 Oct 25 13:33 UTC] No.45668908[source]▶
I’m sorry but no.

Don’t track me means don’t track me, period.

Asking if you could track me etc. regardless is against the spirit of it and simply user hostile.

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4. layer8 ◴[22 Oct 25 13:39 UTC] No.45668985{3}[source]▶
So you want to make it illegal for websites to inform you about the services they offer that work with tracking cookies?

Users often want some level of tracking, like not having to log in to services they use across sites each time.

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5. itopaloglu83 ◴[22 Oct 25 14:16 UTC] No.45669512{4}[source]▶
No, the essential cookies were never subject to such limitations. Even today you don’t need a banner for them.

Digital stalking under the disguise of essential functions or calling it just tracking doesn’t do any good.

Some websites even purposely break their functionality when 3rd party cookies are disabled.

So, no, do-not-track is an order, do not stalk me, period.

6. xcf_seetan ◴[22 Oct 25 14:50 UTC] No.45669992{4}[source]▶
I as a user, don't want ANY kind of tracking. That is why i check the No Tracking options of the browser.
7. 1718627440 ◴[22 Oct 25 15:05 UTC] No.45670273{4}[source]▶
> log in to services

That's functional, and doesn't need additional consent. The consent for that is given by pressing the login button.

replies(1): >>45672011 #
8. pasc1878 ◴[22 Oct 25 17:00 UTC] No.45672011{5}[source]▶
What about a grocery shop.

You can login and buy things. But how do you choose whether the shop can kleep track of what you have bought to suggest rebuying or for you to keep a shoopping list. Requestion those is more than login.

replies(1): >>45674775 #
9. 1718627440 ◴[22 Oct 25 20:31 UTC] No.45674775{6}[source]▶
The shopping list to display the shopping list is fine, Using the shopping list for analytics is not.

> track of what you have bought to suggest rebuying

You know what you sold, no need to track user behaviour.