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

(nednex.com)
583 points SweetSoftPillow | 10 comments | 22 Oct 25 12:12 UTC | HN request time: 1.06s | source | bottom
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forgotmypw17 ◴[22 Oct 25 15:29 UTC] No.45670627[source]▶
I've come up with an easy solution, which works almost all the time. When a cookie consent dialog interferes with me using the website, I close the tab and move on.

I've found a high correlation between cookie consent notices and low-signal content, so this strategy has actually saved me a lot of time I would've spent reading/watching something that doesn't help me.

replies(1): >>45670878 #
tonymet ◴[22 Oct 25 15:44 UTC] No.45670878[source]▶
How do you book airline tickets? Ir other critical business ? My doctors office has a cookie banner . Should I just stop going ?
replies(2): >>45671127 #>>45671373 #
1. forgotmypw17 ◴[22 Oct 25 16:14 UTC] No.45671373[source]▶
That's why I said "almost all of the time".

But to the flights example, I was just looking for flights starting at Google Flights, which doesn't have cookie banners, and the two sites I went to for booking also did not have cookie banners.

replies(3): >>45671573 #>>45673164 #>>45675381 #
2. SpicyLemonZest ◴[22 Oct 25 16:27 UTC] No.45671573[source]▶
Which booking website are you going to that doesn't have cookie banners? I spot checked multiple EU and US airlines just now (Ryanair, Air France, United, Alaska) and all of them had a cookie banner.
replies(1): >>45672664 #
3. forgotmypw17 ◴[22 Oct 25 17:48 UTC] No.45672664[source]▶
I started with Google Flights and went to two other sites that it directed me to.

Just to reiterate, I'm not religious about this practice. If I need to click a cookie banner to book a plane ticket, so be it.

I just treat cookie banners as a strong negative signal.

4. macbr ◴[22 Oct 25 18:24 UTC] No.45673164[source]▶
Google, including Google Flights, does have a cookie banner. It's just likely that you already accepted/denied the prompt at some point.
replies(1): >>45673518 #
5. forgotmypw17 ◴[22 Oct 25 18:52 UTC] No.45673518[source]▶
That’s certainly possible. I don’t deny occasionally clicking them. I just don’t bother most of the time.

Edit: I just tried the flight ordering flow again (starting at google.com/flights) in a private/incognito tab, and did not encounter any cookie banners.

6. tonymet ◴[22 Oct 25 21:27 UTC] No.45675381[source]▶
any site with a cart or user prefs should have a cookie disclosure
replies(2): >>45675477 #>>45676297 #
7. freehorse ◴[22 Oct 25 21:37 UTC] No.45675477[source]▶
Not all cookie banner implementations are obstructive to the users. Only the ones that really want you click on "accept all" are.
8. forgotmypw17 ◴[22 Oct 25 23:07 UTC] No.45676297[source]▶
This is not true, cookie disclosure is only required for non-essential cookies.
replies(1): >>45678153 #
9. tonymet ◴[23 Oct 25 04:23 UTC] No.45678153{3}[source]▶
Well they need to track the above activities
replies(1): >>45678945 #
10. tikotus ◴[23 Oct 25 06:50 UTC] No.45678945{4}[source]▶
Yes, they are essential. Therefore no permission needed for those.