The European Commission aims to reform the EU’s cookie consent rules that have cluttered websites with intrusive banners asking for permission to track user data[1]. The initiative seeks to streamline data protection while maintaining privacy safeguards through centralized consent mechanisms[1:1].

Cookie consent banners emerged from the ePrivacy Directive (Cookie Law) and GDPR requirements, which mandate websites obtain explicit user permission before collecting non-essential data through cookies[2]. Current rules have led to widespread implementation of pop-up notices that interrupt user experience and often employ confusing interfaces.

The proposed changes reflect growing recognition that the existing approach has “messed up the internet” while failing to provide meaningful privacy protection[1:2]. Rather than requiring individual consent on every website, the Commission is exploring solutions like centralized consent management to reduce banner fatigue while preserving user privacy rights.


  1. Ground News - Europe’s cookie law messed up the internet. Brussels wants to fix it. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. Transcend - Cookie Consent Banner Best Practices: Optimizing Your Consent Management Experience ↩︎

  • socsa@piefed.social
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    27 minutes ago

    The idea that there are “essential” cookies is what broke the law. There is no such thing, there are only cookies which would mildly confuse the average user if they weren’t present. People should still have the option to opt out of th se cookies as well.

  • PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    Just mandate a single button to reject all cookies and that the default be “reject all” if users skip the banner.

  • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml
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    1 hour ago

    This is like when legislatures where made to ban plastic straws by the oil and plastic companies.
    They knew the backlash would teach legislature to stop meddling in their affairs.

  • imdc@lemmy.ml
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    14 hours ago

    Think they can ban the “pay, or let us track you” tactic I’ve been seeing pooping up too? That’s fucking extortion.

      • imdc@lemmy.ml
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        6 hours ago

        If extortion is the honest way to do something, a bigger step back is needed.

        • SliceableObstacle@jlai.lu
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          4 hours ago

          I’d rather not go to a website because I won’t pay, than refuse their cookies and have them track me anyway through “legitimate reason”.

          If you feel extorted you may need to get off the internet and breathe some fresh air. I’m sure you can live juste fine without going to those extorting website.

          Quality cost money to produce. If we want to prevent the massive enshitification we may have to question the way we consume internet and re-think the “everything is free” mantra.

        • 3abas@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Extortion is a stretch… They provide content or service for a price, the price is either money you pay or money advertisers pay…

          I would not use those sites, but that’s my decision, they aren’t twisting my arm to force me to read their shitty articles…

  • nuggie_ss@lemmings.world
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    14 hours ago

    The fuck? The flagrant stealing and selling of user data is what messed up the internet.

    Europe at least is trying to fix it.

    Why are people so stupid? Is it something in the water?

    • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
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      8 hours ago

      It’s mainly the US companies, there don’t exist something like GDPR or right of privacy with free hand for big corporations and surveillance advertising. The People ther are too stupid to see it as a risk (don’t forget they voted Trump for the second time, showing that they are stupid as bricks). The problem is that the EU still depends to much on the US hegemony in the Internet. This is the first thing to change, using EU alternatives which exist and often are even superior, to gain sovereighnity.

      • ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 hours ago

        The US dollar and economy are about to crash. This power can only go so far. I just hope the EU has enough oligarchy independence to sieze some of the marketshare when it happens so maybe there will be some place left with decent Internet regulations.

        • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
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          4 hours ago

          It’s this the problemm tecnically the EU is on the high, but as always policy, burocrathy and the users themself to use itThe last the most difficult to convince the people to use EU products, insteat of US ones. Everybody using Whatscrap, Fakebook, X, search with Googke, buy on Amazon, use Kindle, M$ Office,…not out of necessity, but out of ignorance and habit.

  • jokeyrhyme@lemmy.ml
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    16 hours ago

    Instead, ban the collection of non-essential data, and also ban the targeting of advertisements based on user profiles/history

    Only select advertisements to display based on the immediate context, exactly like printed newspapers and magazines

    • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
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      8 hours ago

      That is the right way, ads are a legit manner to create incommings if they are contextual, but not if they are abusive and surveillance based, tracking and logging the user activity. As in YT, it’s not the problem to have ads in the page or as banner at the border of an video, but it is, that the interrupt an conciert documental with several no scippable long ads, popups to use Premium, clickbaits and other crap, which serve nobody, less the author. In this case using an adblocker is mere selfdefense and legit to cut this crap and nags. A good manner is eg. how Bandcamp do it, there you can freely listen almost every song or album, without ads, and there you can buy and download it when you want, paying direct to the artist and Bandcamp an revenue. Or as Vivaldi does, using afiliate links and search engines added by default, which pay an revenue to Vivaldi, if the user use these, who is free to delete those which he don’t use. These and similar methodes are a legit and ethical way to create incommings, without putting in risk the right of privacy of the user, selling his data.

  • irotsoma@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    16 hours ago

    Problem is not the law, but that the companies implemented it in as annoying of a way as possible to get people pissed off about the law and force it to be dropped, or for what actually happened which is that it’s too much work to not opt-in to the cookies which essentially makes it opt-out not in.

    And the idea to remove the requirements for “simple statistics” or whatever terminology they use will just get abused by using other illicit tracking tech to link the cookies to uniquely identify a person anyway. So it will effectively make the popups unnecessary in any circumstances and still allow tracking for marketing and surveillance.

    • That Weird Vegan@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      14 hours ago

      Some websites do it right. They have a “reject all” button, and that’s that. But then there are others where you have to deselect a whole shit load of checkboxes just to reject the fucking cookies. Sometimes they even have a “Pay to reject” shit. WTF. Ugh.

  • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    The law didn’t mess up the internet, asshole business owners with their bullshit malicious compliance (and spineless devs enabling them) messed up the internet.

    • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
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      1 day ago

      Yes, the Vivaldi blocker use also the same filter, but as said, it skip the popup only after an second, when it finished to load. This filterlist is also used by almost all adblocker too (Adguard, Adblock Plus, uBO lite and others more, same as also specific extensions, like ‘I don’t Care About Cookies’ and others more. This is because these pop ups, apart of anoying, are useless.

  • Ⓜ3️⃣3️⃣ 🌌@lemmy.zip
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    1 day ago

    It’s funny, this is how you see how politicians act when they are personally involved.

    Cookies and banners annoys the shit out of them, so they actually do something.

    They don’t care about the internet.

  • chgxvjh [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    1 day ago

    Just make companies respect the do not track flag I can select in the browser.

    Denmark (currently presiding over meetings in the Council of the European Union) suggested in May to drop consent banners for cookies collecting data “for technically necessary functions”

    That already doesn’t require consent

    or “simple statistics."

    Also doesn’t require consent, when the statistics are anonymous.