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A large amount of websites now ask wether you want to be tracked and offer a button that allows you to say you don’t. Google instead thinks they are above the

A large amount of websites now ask wether you want to be tracked and offer a button that allows you to say you don’t. Google instead thinks they are above the law and offers a pop-up that can only be dismissed by accepting. Forced consent is not consent so that’s against the law. Don’t complain if companies get into trouble because they break the law. Don’t complain Europe keeps telling companies like Google they need to follow the law until they actually start following the law.

matthewmacleod 6y ago
Google instead thinks they are above the law and offers a pop-up that can only be dismissed by accepting. Forced consent is not consent so that’s against the law. It’s probably not against the law and the situation you have described is a valid method to establishing lawful basis under the GDPR. It’s really not all about “consent” - we hear that too much.
- tinus_hn 6y ago
  That’s a strong statement. According to the article the relevant authorities respectfully disagree and are moving towards enforcement. Ultimately the courts will decide who is right. We’ll see.
- zwaps 6y ago
  It’s literally against the law though.
- g_p 6y ago
  > It’s probably not against the law and the situation you have described is a valid method to establishing lawful basis under the GDPR. It’s really not all about “consent” - we hear that too much. Various data protection authorities have concurred that forced consent isn't consent. For consent to be valid, it needs to be freely given, informed, and not tied to the provision of a service, such that provision is dependent on unrelated consent. There's also restrictions on consent being used where there are imbalances of bargaining power (so for example, consent isn't a valid legal basis for processing data at all in an employer/employee scenario due to the imbalance. Another legal basis is needed). One area of interest in future would be how the imbalance of power could be interpreted - consumers generally can't negotiate anything with any internet company (unlike negotiation with small businesses), and in many cases companies can hold them hostage until they consent (if Google won't let you into your email until you consent to something, that's clearly coercive and abuse of power). When regulators finally learn to move faster, it will be interesting to see how widely this can be applied - could it even extent to a company which holds a monopoly status in a market, due to lack of meaningful choice? I think it could. In any case, the smart money is on not relying on consent as a legal basis unless you have no other option - it's the least durable basis, and can be revoked at any time.
cblconfederate 6y ago
I agree. then again i only saw the google popup once. I see the popups in every tiny website and at this point it's just learned helplessness. I dont like being treated like that
g_p 6y ago
Side note - an incredible number of sites are already planting the cookies, running the scripts, and doing the tracking before you even interact with the prompt... Textbook illegal under the ePrivacy Directive implementations, but many (most?) sites still do it...

matthewmacleod 6y ago

Google instead thinks they are above the law and offers a pop-up that can only be dismissed by accepting. Forced consent is not consent so that’s against the law. It’s probably not against the law and the situation you have described is a valid method to establishing lawful basis under the GDPR. It’s really not all about “consent” - we hear that too much.

tinus_hn 6y ago
That’s a strong statement. According to the article the relevant authorities respectfully disagree and are moving towards enforcement. Ultimately the courts will decide who is right. We’ll see.
zwaps 6y ago
It’s literally against the law though.
g_p 6y ago
> It’s probably not against the law and the situation you have described is a valid method to establishing lawful basis under the GDPR. It’s really not all about “consent” - we hear that too much. Various data protection authorities have concurred that forced consent isn't consent. For consent to be valid, it needs to be freely given, informed, and not tied to the provision of a service, such that provision is dependent on unrelated consent. There's also restrictions on consent being used where there are imbalances of bargaining power (so for example, consent isn't a valid legal basis for processing data at all in an employer/employee scenario due to the imbalance. Another legal basis is needed). One area of interest in future would be how the imbalance of power could be interpreted - consumers generally can't negotiate anything with any internet company (unlike negotiation with small businesses), and in many cases companies can hold them hostage until they consent (if Google won't let you into your email until you consent to something, that's clearly coercive and abuse of power). When regulators finally learn to move faster, it will be interesting to see how widely this can be applied - could it even extent to a company which holds a monopoly status in a market, due to lack of meaningful choice? I think it could. In any case, the smart money is on not relying on consent as a legal basis unless you have no other option - it's the least durable basis, and can be revoked at any time.

cblconfederate 6y ago

I agree. then again i only saw the google popup once. I see the popups in every tiny website and at this point it's just learned helplessness. I dont like being treated like that

g_p 6y ago

Side note - an incredible number of sites are already planting the cookies, running the scripts, and doing the tracking before you even interact with the prompt... Textbook illegal under the ePrivacy Directive implementations, but many (most?) sites still do it...