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UK Cookie Consent Banners Draw Complaints

Posted by timothy on from the well-that's-a-surprise dept.

nk497 writes "Earlier this year, the UK's data watchdog the ICO started enforcing an EU rule that means websites must ask visitors before dropping cookies onto their computers. However, it was willing to accept 'implied consent' — telling visitors that cookies are used on the site, and assuming they were fine with that if they keep using the site. That led to banners popping up on every major website, including the ICO's site, warning users about cookies. Now, the ICO has revealed that many of the cookie-related complaints it's received in the past six months are actually about those banners — and the law itself. The ICO said people 'are unhappy with implied consent mechanisms, especially where cookies are placed immediately on entry to the site,' adding 'a significant number of people also raised concerns about the new rules themselves and the effect of usability of websites.'"

4 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Irony by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 5, Interesting

    These banners annoy the living crap out of me. Every time I go to a website, they pop up, obstructing the screen.

    Of course, there is a way to make them go away, by accepting the cookies on the website.

    Whereas before I could just discard cookies upon exit, I now have to permanently accept them just to stop these banners appearing.

    Oh, the irony!

    --
    Summation 2
  2. Most users are not geeks by tepples · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why do I need a law about cookies when I can very easily manage who I allow to put cookies on my machine?

    Because most users other than you have not been trained in how to "very easily manage who [they] allow to put cookies on [their] machine".

  3. Typically devised by idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The cookies system of consent might be ok if they had been devised by three year olds, but having left it to overpaid politicians, they are not.

    Specifically:
    1. they popup for all sites
    2. they cost users money since its extra bandwidth; on mobiles with the crappy browsers, often clicking on ok, assuming you can actually hit the silly little X icon, result in a retransfer of the web page
    3. almost none of the web sites understand who you are, so you see them continuously
    4. they appear right in the middle of the (pitifully few words of) text which appear on most web sites
    5. they are difficult/impossible to block across the range of browsers a real user needs
    6. most people, myself included, have no clue what the point of this exercise is

    Sure, I dont want to be tracked - so just dont track me. Dont put pointless garbage on my screen which nobody cares about.

    Honestly, bring back the three year olds !

  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion