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python999

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GDPR requires you to request consent for any cookies the “could” be used to identify you, which makes them personal information.

So if you want to use cookies to link a user’s sessions on your own website together (without actually identifying them) so every request doesn’t look like a totally anonymous, opaque request, then you must show a cookie banner.

You could (presumably) do this through browser fingerprinting and not require consent (since you don’t actually enrich/link the browser fingerprint to be become user data) but you need a cookie banner if you do it with a cookie.

I appreciate your thoughtful comment.

Most entrepreneurs believe that visibility over how your visitors are using your website is “strictly necessary” for running a functional/secure/performant website and surviving as a business, but GDPR disagrees. Hence, cookie banners everywhere.

Not deemed “strictly necessary” > “Statistics cookies — Also known as “performance cookies,” these cookies collect information about how you use a website, like which pages you visited and which links you clicked on. None of this information can be used to identify you. It is all aggregated and, therefore, anonymized. Their sole purpose is to improve website functions.”

attempt by companies to make people associate cookie popups with GDPR

I think GDPR is generally good for individuals and the internet but if someone hates cookie banners, isn’t it fair to place the blame on GDPR?

Why can’t websites accept a special header which automatically accepts all cookies? I would enable it and handle clearing/retaining cookies myself through a browser feature/extension.

I had serious neck problems for years then one change almost completely relieved them: going from multiple monitors to a single monitor. The horizontal neck swivel motion is very nasty.

Yes that slows the rate of change, but the rate of change adjusts based on the times (and hopefully it’s reasonably optimal but that would be hard to measure objectively because it’s a complicated risk-vs-reward, explore-vs-exploit trade-off). Eg Historical revolutions usually saw rapid changes in many areas like politics, art, culture, technology. Societies (like organisms and ecosystems) are extremely complicated so there are serious risks to evolving too fast so slow isn’t automatically bad.