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Google Breathes New Life Into EU's Cookie Law

Posted by timothy on from the everyone-must-eat-one-cookie-daily dept.

First time accepted submitter Trajan Przybylski writes "Google has just implemented new changes to its search pages in order to comply with the EU's Cookie Law, which aims to improve user privacy. Google is now showing a conspicuous banner with information about its use of cookies to all EU visitors accessing the site. This is despite the legislation attracting strong words of criticism from web developers, who believe the regulation to be harmful to the economy while offering no real improvement to online privacy and security problems. Google's move comes only 3 months after online activists announced the Cookie Law to be "dead" and is likely to reignite the heated debate about the controversial legislation."

10 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. People Need to Realize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Personal privacy ALWAYS trumps a corporations desire to make money. Companies don't have a RIGHT to make money. They have a RIGHT to try. Profit is not enshrined anywhere and nor should it be. The right of people should always trump those (intentionally minimized) rights of companies.

    1. Re:People Need to Realize by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2

      Is it interesting? Corporate profits keep shelves jammed with things.

      The real evil is the privacy laws doesn't extend to government, which continues to root through things.

      Are you in Europe? Ask your grandma. She has experience with governments peeking when they shouldn't, and/or "wonderful" places that outlawed corporate profits.

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      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    2. Re:People Need to Realize by moronoxyd · · Score: 2

      My grandparents lived through one and my parents and me through the other.

      I still prefer living in Europe with it's (mostly) reasonable privacy laws rather then living in the US where corporate interests trump everything, often enough including the law.

    3. Re:People Need to Realize by Seeteufel · · Score: 2

      No the debate is whether US corporations understand they have to adhere to our laws and stop the astroturfing bullshit in nations that are not their own. I mean, I don't care if Google corrupts Washington but in Europe I expect them to behave or leave.

  2. Cookie law sucks by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I used to browse with cookies being cleared at the end of the session. Now, whenever I go to a website, I have to put up with a banner or screen filling notice telling me that this website uses cookies and to click here to accept or reject.

    This happens every time I go to the website and is incredibly annoying. How do I get it to go away? I have to accept the website's cookies.

    Oh, the irony.

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    Summation 2
    1. Re:Cookie law sucks by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 2

      I like the banner. It lets me know that my browser is successfully clearing cookies at the end of the session. It's the same situation with Ghostery; If I see blocked trackers, I think "Awesome. Working as intended!" If the little icon has no number next to it, though, I start thinking that something isn't working right.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    2. Re:Cookie law sucks by Blue+Stone · · Score: 2

      I just treat those EU cookie bullshit banners like annoying advertising and Adblock the fuckers.

      Because that's all they are - spam advertising that's saying "Hey, cookies exist and get used, this has been a public service advertisement by your clueless overly-bureaucratic government organisation in Europe. We're here to help. Pray that we don't help you even more."

      They're as annoying as pop-ups and scroll-overs. Some are ignorable and all are useless. And they actually encourage the tracking of people (assuming adblock etc isn't used) because the *easiest* way you get rid of them is to NOT clear your cookies. Not clearing means you don't see them every time you visit the website. Clearing them means they are there every time you visit in a new session.

      Ridiculous and worse than useless.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    3. Re:Cookie law sucks by MacDork · · Score: 2

      You could stop going. The law exempts session cookies. The site is telling you they are dropping tracking cookies on you on behalf of advertisers. Clearing your cookies when you close the browser doesn't help in this case. While you may continue, others who care about their privacy are hitting the back button.

  3. Article Author Eats Babies by wynterwynd · · Score: 2

    Anonymous sources claim that "Misleading titles in articles lead skimmers to wrong conclusions, which unnamed experts say can be as damaging to society in some ridiculously extreme cases as eating a baby."

    Seriously though, let me get this straight: Google is "breathing new life" into the bill all on its own by complying with the law?

    Oh noes! I just breathed new life into all these traffic laws by stopping at red lights this morning! And I think I singlehandedly resurrected the anti-murder laws by not killing anyone today!! Also I threw my support wholeheartedly behind the Patriot Act when I submitted to a random FBI spidering by typing this sentence!!! Exclamation points!!!!

    Can we please all just take a deep breath before we come up with these article titles - if I wanted radical sensationalism, I'd be reading the mass media news feeds.

    --
    "Not all who wander are lost" -- JRR Tolkien
  4. riiight... by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 4, Insightful

    " the regulation to be harmful to the economy while offering no real improvement to online privacy and security problems"

    Riiight this has zero benefit because, why? Because an informed person is a bad consumer , decision maker and general PITA ... to corporations...