The GDPR was meant to ensure that users have full control over their data. But being online has become a frustrating experience for people all over Europe: Cookie banners appear at every corner of the web, often making it extremely complicated to click anything but the “accept” button.
Companies use so-called “dark patterns” (like unfavorable contrasts for buttons or links) to nudge more than 90% of users to click “agree” when industry statistics show that only 3% of users actually want to accept cookies. These methods clearly contradict the principles of the ePrivacy directive and also the GDPR, as valid consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous.
More and more websites now also make use of “cookie paywalls” or “pay or okay” banners, giving users the option to accept all cookies which leads to their data being passed on to hundreds of tracking companies or take out a subscription for often times exorbitant prices. In this case, users have no free choice as saying "no" to tracking is not only time-consuming, but also expensive. The costs for paying usually exceeds the revenue for advertisement by a factor of 10 to 100. Providers of software solutions therefore praise “pay or okay” as an option to get a consent rate of more than 99%.
In order to tackle these problems, noyb
- is investigating the way cookie banners are implemented online and whether the choices users make are respected in practice,
- has developed a mass scanning system to automatically detect unlawful cookie banners and create complaints which are sent to the companies, giving them a grace period to adjust their cookie banner before the complaint is submitted to the responsible authority,
- developed a proposal for a standard that would manage preferences, because we believe the real answer to this issue is user-centered privacy and to create simple solutions for consumers and
- is aware of the problem that newspapers and magazines are looking for avenues to survive in the digital world but narrow profits at the expense of their readers’ fundamental right to data protection will not be the solution for structural financial problems.
