The problem with "consent" is that the pop-ups are really annoying for the UX and 99% of the users would rather just automatically accept anything data-processi

The problem with "consent" is that the pop-ups are really annoying for the UX and 99% of the users would rather just automatically accept anything data-processing related than having to deal with the pop-up. I personally think the solution is to not allow 3rd party sharing of information, but 1st party should be allowed without explicit consent. For example, I visit local-small-shop.com and I can reasonably understand if they track visitor analytics such as number of visitors, referrer and earnings stats IF they keep all this data to themselves and use it to improve their website, not if they sell/trade the data to other third-parties, especially not if this data can be linked to me or me device specifically. In other words, I don't care that Reddit knows what subreddits I browse on their site, but I do care if they share this data with other platforms or entities. I think that the core of web privacy is neither anonymity nor the limitation of recorded data but the handling and protection of such data. In a perfect world it shouldn't matter what website X knows something about John Doe, if this data is completely private, safe and enclosed within the legitimate uses/scope of that website.