Data protectionists want to make cookie banners superfluous
The European data protection organization Noyb has presented a technical concept for web browsers that would eliminate the need for the controversial cookie banners.
Together with the Vienna University of Economics and Business, the association on Monday published the technical details of an automatic browser signal that allows users to specify which cookies they want to accept and which they don't - and without a cookie banner. "Our solution shows that a user-friendly European solution for privacy settings is easy to implement," Noyb chairman Max Schrems told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Cookies are small data records that websites store to make users identifiable. With their help, individual profiles can be created that allow far-reaching conclusions to be drawn about surfing behavior, preferences and lifestyle habits. This knowledge is then used for personalized advertising, for example.
"ADPC" is part of a broad campaign
The system now proposed, called "Advanced Data Protection Control" (ADPC), is part of a broader campaign by Noyb against cookie banners, which in their current form, according to the association's assessment, generally demand consent to tracking in violation of the law. Two weeks ago, Noyb sent around 560 letters of complaint on this issue to companies in Europe and the USA, with more than 10,000 to follow.
ADPC is to offer much more differentiated options for consent and rejection, in contrast to approaches by Google and other browser providers from the USA. For example, users should be able to give specific consent for certain websites.
It is also conceivable, he said, to give general preference to certain content providers. "Many users are probably willing to share a bit more data with quality media, but don't want to give their data to hundreds of external tracking companies," Schrems said. With ADPC, a newspaper association, for example, could advertise a list that would allow certain data to be automatically processed by quality media, he said. "The user can use it to support certain groups with one click."
On Monday, the organization presented an extension (plugin) for the Firefox browser, which technically implements the new privacy browser signal on the user side. An extension for Google's Chrome browser is to follow shortly. However, website providers must also play along with the system. Noyb demonstrates on its own site Dataprotectioncontrol.org how the procedure can look. (SDA)
