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Comment by dexen | Hacker News Reader

>Browsing the web in Europe is like experiencing the rebirth of the pop-up ads era.

Very much so; the pop-ups interrupt and obstruct, breaking immersion. I sincerely hope a browser gets brave enough to start blocking those obstructions by default.

It irks me how every "Cookies" banner is an unpaid advertising billboard saying, "Your privacy is valuable to us. Yours faithful, EU".

>This too shall pass.

For now, uBlock Origin[1] + the ruleset from I Don't Care About Cookies[2].

[1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin...

[2] https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/

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> the pop-ups interrupt and obstruct, breaking immersion.

Here is a trick for website owners: don't track your users. No need for any popup anymore.

This is incorrect, an EU website must provide notification of cookies if they use cookies at all, even for basic session tracking of authenticated users.

It should be noted that's related to the cookie law (ie, the ePrivacy Directive), not the GDPR, and there is a proposed replacement (the ePrivacy Regulation), since basically everyone agrees the current situation is not good. Unfortunately it's taking longer than initially expected.

Incorrect. I guess this must be a lie pushed by bad actors who are inconvenienced by the regulation and want the public to perceive the regulation negatively.

You do not need consent for cookies that power basic website functionality or a feature the user is trying to use. So setting a cookie when someone logs in or adds an item to their shopping cart.

See for example this site, which is the privacy regulator in the UK:

https://ico.org.uk/

Note that they provide notification of necessary cookies, and default opt-out of analytics cookies.

> You do not need consent for cookies that power basic website functionality or a feature the user is trying to use.

This is correct, you do not need consent for necessary cookies. You do, however, have to provide notification that necessary cookies are being set.

You do not actually need to provide notification for necessary cookies. See https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-pecr/guidance-... and the following few sections. Most clearly, this paragraph on the ICO’s recommendations (quite unreasonable, in my opinion—if all you’re storing is a necessary session cookie, notifying the user in a non-actionable way is just being foolishly annoying):

> Although the exemption applies to both the provision of information and the gaining of consent, it is good practice to continue to provide clear information about all cookies including those that are strictly necessary, and if personal data is involved then you will be required to do this under the fairness and transparency requirements of data protection law.

I was directed to that ICO cookie banner as an example of what I need to do, by an EU law firm who we're paying to guide our compliance activities.

I'm not a lawyer and I can't give you legal advice. I can just report that the legal advice that was given to me was that any cookie setting activity needs to be notified, even if consent is not required.

One potential discrepancy is that we are being prepared for the e-Privacy Regulation (which is not yet in effect), while it looks like the page you linked to covers the e-Privacy Directive.

Immersion into what, the internet?

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