I think what I didn't like about your comments about GDPR is that it used the worst example of the effects on users when you could have used a better one. Take

I think what I didn't like about your comments about GDPR is that it used the worst example of the effects on users when you could have used a better one. Take the iPhone for example. The iOS permissions system has basically nailed the "how do we present this to the user" problem pretty much from day one of the iPhone and the App Store. It's specific, it's easy to understand, it's not bundled with anything else and it shows you the prompt exactly when the app actually needs the location data (not just a succession of 5 different permission requests when you first launch the app). The annoyance to users that comes from GDPR is because, like you said, the existing surveillance ecosystem is trying to respond to GDPR by changing as little about their practices as possible. Maybe the surveillance ad ecosystem shouldn't even exist? In iOS 11.3 Apple released a new API for ad attribution [1]. It seems like it could be very interesting from a privacy perspective [2]. >A successful app installation relays just five data points back to the ad network — ad network ID, transaction identification, ad campaign ID, app ID installed and attribution code — while excluding the private user information offered by Facebook and Google. If they chose to mandate the use of this API, it would vastly restructure the surveillance ad ecosystem overnight (at least within Apple's platforms, which is a very big economy) [3]. I think the same could be done for a user surfing the web under GDPR, it doesn't necessarily have to be a hellscape. [1] https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/skadnetwork https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/skadnetwo... [2] https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/apple-ios-privacy-and-the-future-of-ad-attribution/543904/ https://www.mobilemarketer.com/news/apple-ios-privacy-and-th... [3] https://adexchanger.com/mobile/is-apple-angling-to-cut-out-app-attribution-vendors/ https://adexchanger.com/mobile/is-apple-angling-to-cut-out-a...