I think of websites as just programs that run on a platform, a browser, which has a much smaller API than an operating system but effectively is one. On the on

I think of websites as just programs that run on a platform, a browser, which has a much smaller API than an operating system but effectively is one. On the one hand, these notices are akin to EULAs some programs make you click through when you first run them. We're more desensitized to those now, but they were never mandatory. On the other, I can't remember the last time an app maker got in trouble for keeping track of what users do. I can see it making sense to know that a single entity has been tracking you through a diversity of websites, but you enabled cookies in your browser for a reason. The site I deliberately chose to download and run the code of shouldn't need my permission to save state for that site. Android prompts you when an app needs permissions. OSX has started promoting you for permission the first time an app wants to access the filesystem. Seems a bit arbitrary to make websites handle that.