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posted by martyb on Thursday May 07 2020, @01:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the clean-your-dough dept.

European Authorities Ban Dirty Cookie Practices in GDPR Update:

When GDPR rolled out across the European Union back in 2018, the sweeping legal framework pledged to bring consumer privacy and protection to the forefront. In the years since then, we've seen the adtech industry at large do its collective darnedest to undermine these laws at every turn, and largely get away with it, thanks in part to the squishy phrasing of some of the legislation's most critical clauses.

Now, European authorities are stepping in to cut that squishiness a bit. On Monday, the European Data Protection Board—the Union's oversight committee for GDPR-related issues—released a 31-page manual (pdf) calling out some of the slimier practices used by adtech companies to fudge consent on an internet browser's behalf.

These new guidelines specifically call out the sites that assume a user's agreement to be tracked and targeted based on say, the way they scroll down a webpage, rather than relying on their explicit agreement to that deal. Also called out in the memo are "cookie walls"—a cute name for the not-so-cute tactic where sites bar internet browsers from accessing their content unless they agree to allowing cookies and trackers on the site.

These are both tactics that directly step on the concept of user consent. [...] GDPR was written to require that websites garner a visitor's consent before they handle that visitor's data, and before they pass that data down the garbled supply chain of third parties in the adtech ecosystem. As you might imagine, the GDPR painstakingly lays out exactly what does and doesn't qualify as consent, requiring that, in short, these websites explain the tech used to track the visitors in a clear and upfront way. It also requires that they offer these visitors an easy way to opt in or out of this sort of on-page tech.


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  • (Score: 2) by gtomorrow on Thursday May 07 2020, @06:21PM (7 children)

    by gtomorrow (2230) on Thursday May 07 2020, @06:21PM (#991418)

    Thank you, AC, for replying for me to the AC above you.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2020, @06:54PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2020, @06:54PM (#991427)

    Avoiding the argument by siding with an idiot who doesn't understand the difference between having control of your own affairs and permitting psychopaths to control you? More telling than you realize.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by gtomorrow on Thursday May 07 2020, @07:37PM (5 children)

      by gtomorrow (2230) on Thursday May 07 2020, @07:37PM (#991435)

      ...says yet another psychopath looking to control me.

      Look, I've said what I've had to say. Entertain yourself by reading my other comments...or don't.

      • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2020, @09:37PM (4 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2020, @09:37PM (#991463)

        Why am I looking to control you? If you want to believe the EU enacted GDPR for your benefit rather than to ringfence commerce and information, that's okay. It's okay to be wrong!

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2020, @10:08PM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2020, @10:08PM (#991471)

          "ringfence commerce and information"

          You'll have to provide better support for your argument than that.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2020, @11:33PM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2020, @11:33PM (#991487)

            You should Google the term "trade block". It's going to blow your mind!

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2020, @12:13AM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2020, @12:13AM (#991495)

              -1 doesn't know what they're talking about.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2020, @05:56PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2020, @05:56PM (#991748)

                IKR and after I'd pointed them in the right [hbr.org] direction [taxamo.com]