I do this a regular basis. Not quite daily--Firefox had extensions that manage it for me--but every time I use a text-mode browser (lynx, links, etc) it prompts

I do this a regular basis. Not quite daily--Firefox had extensions that manage it for me--but every time I use a text-mode browser (lynx, links, etc) it prompts me when a website wants to store a cookie. The answer is almost always no. > Not to mention how difficult this will make life for developers who use cookies for legitimate purposes. I'm not worried about this. Developers using them for legitimate purposes I agree with can keep using them. If I don't want your cookie, I don't care how hard it makes it for you. I don't want you storing a consent cookie when I say no (ask when you need to get data, not when the page loads). I don't want you storing a cookie saying when I last visited your page anymore than I want Walmart to know when I walk past their doors (reading a single page on your site does not make me a user. Including me in a general count of unregistered views is fine--assigning me a unique ID is not). If I log into a website or use a shopping cart, I am explicitly asking the website to store information for me. This is like walking up to the register (to ask a question, to pay, etc. They need to recognize me as a unique individual). Loading the homepage, loading a product listing? Absolutely not; this is like looking at a vending machine on my way by; you don't need to know anything other than (possibly) the fact that someone walked by (measure foot traffic) and did/did not buy anything (subtract number of purchases from number of visitors).