Thanks to the European Commission, websites worldwide have cookie consent pop-ups. The annoying unskippable windows warn and allow customization of cookies, the tiny bits of data that can keep users logged in between sessions, or track their activity across the internet.
Most users have long since stopped reading these notices, if they ever did in the first place. Gen Alpha has never known an internet without them. Now there is a hint that their end may be in sight.
Politico obtained a note from a focus group meeting with EC executives to discuss the future of cookies and consent banners. The note indicates that the commission is discussing "how to tweak the rules to include more exceptions or make sure users can set their preferences on cookies once (for example, in their browser settings) instead of every time they visit a website."
Not everyone is on board with the process: "Focusing on cookies is like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic, the ship being surveillance advertising," said Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal, policy adviser at European Digital Rights.
No announcement was made as to any proposed changes to existing laws.
Previously:
• NSA uses Google's tracking cookies to target and 'exploit' their subjects
• How surveillance capitalism tracks you without cookies
• Apple makes it harder to track you online, ad industry has an aneurysm
