4 ms·

We don't need damn widget. All we need is every web site to respect the standard do-not-track flag. And this can only work if the flag is off by default so only

We don't need damn widget. All we need is every web site to respect the standard do-not-track flag. And this can only work if the flag is off by default so only those who actually care set it. Things like Google Analytics should also check and respect the flag. Requiring every webmaster to ask every visitor if they don't mind Google Analytics being injected is nonsensical. We should also exclude remembering a user which has signed in from the tracking definition. It's absurd to warn the user about cookies when they sign in. I also don't want classic (no-choice) cookie warning banners, regardless to whether I am tracked or not. Almost everybody already knows cookies are always there (and we can just introduce a browser extension indicating cookies usage for those who don't). The banners serve no purpose other than annoying people.

rhn_mk1 5y ago
> this can only work if the flag is off by default so only those who actually care set it. As the effort in the article is attempting to establish, this can also work when there is a legal stick against those who don't comply. All we need is companies to stop tracking people by default. A side benefit is that webmasters don't need to ask about Google Analytics if it's not being used.
- qwerty456127 5y ago
  This is utopian. I want this but don't believe this is possible. Perhaps they might agree to stop tracking a portion of users who opt out but forcing them to stop tracking anybody is unlikely to succeed, and even if it succeeds they will just track everybody secretly. I also am not confident in total elimination of tracking being a good idea from the economical point of view - many small businesses rely on precise targeting today.
  - pieno 5y ago
    What a dystopian world we live in when people/companies can just plainly and publicly say that they don’t agree and won’t comply with a binding law with supervision mechanisms and penalties, and still have the general public believe that there’s nothing we can do about it... And mind you: we’re not (just) talking about the top-5 tech companies and 0.01% here. This attitude is shares by almost every other company out there, and I have a feeling (based on anecdata) that the issue is even worse in smaller companies who think they don’t have to comply because they’re small or because they’re a startup or because they just need to “move fast and break things”… and we seem to accept that…
  - xg15 5y ago
    > many small businesses rely on precise targeting today. And many businesses relied on CFCs as coolants before they got forbidden. they found a solution. Regulation can also be a source of innovation if it forces businesses to think of alternative, less harmful ways to solve a problem.
belorn 5y ago
I wonder if there suddenly would exist a bunch of google analytic competitor if google could no longer offer analytics as "free" by monetizing user data. Google analytic is a prime example of why we need data protection. The web developer who uses it are not the one paying for it, and they might not even know that google are tracking users for monetizing purposes. It create a market with broken incentives and information asymmetry, with the buyer having relative no power. Requiring every webmaster to ask every visitor if they don't mind Google Analytics is annoying, but fixing that market is a difficult job. Maybe the solution is more targeted regulation specific to website analytic software.
- qwerty456127 5y ago
  A don't think of Google Analytics as a problem for users - it's very easy to block, there is a number of ways and even an official way to opt out. The problem is AFAIK Google forces the actual webmasters to use it - I am not 100% sure but I've read sites without Google Analytics show worse in the search results.

rhn_mk1 5y ago

> this can only work if the flag is off by default so only those who actually care set it. As the effort in the article is attempting to establish, this can also work when there is a legal stick against those who don't comply. All we need is companies to stop tracking people by default. A side benefit is that webmasters don't need to ask about Google Analytics if it's not being used.

qwerty456127 5y ago
This is utopian. I want this but don't believe this is possible. Perhaps they might agree to stop tracking a portion of users who opt out but forcing them to stop tracking anybody is unlikely to succeed, and even if it succeeds they will just track everybody secretly. I also am not confident in total elimination of tracking being a good idea from the economical point of view - many small businesses rely on precise targeting today.
- pieno 5y ago
  What a dystopian world we live in when people/companies can just plainly and publicly say that they don’t agree and won’t comply with a binding law with supervision mechanisms and penalties, and still have the general public believe that there’s nothing we can do about it... And mind you: we’re not (just) talking about the top-5 tech companies and 0.01% here. This attitude is shares by almost every other company out there, and I have a feeling (based on anecdata) that the issue is even worse in smaller companies who think they don’t have to comply because they’re small or because they’re a startup or because they just need to “move fast and break things”… and we seem to accept that…
- xg15 5y ago
  > many small businesses rely on precise targeting today. And many businesses relied on CFCs as coolants before they got forbidden. they found a solution. Regulation can also be a source of innovation if it forces businesses to think of alternative, less harmful ways to solve a problem.

belorn 5y ago

I wonder if there suddenly would exist a bunch of google analytic competitor if google could no longer offer analytics as "free" by monetizing user data. Google analytic is a prime example of why we need data protection. The web developer who uses it are not the one paying for it, and they might not even know that google are tracking users for monetizing purposes. It create a market with broken incentives and information asymmetry, with the buyer having relative no power. Requiring every webmaster to ask every visitor if they don't mind Google Analytics is annoying, but fixing that market is a difficult job. Maybe the solution is more targeted regulation specific to website analytic software.

qwerty456127 5y ago
A don't think of Google Analytics as a problem for users - it's very easy to block, there is a number of ways and even an official way to opt out. The problem is AFAIK Google forces the actual webmasters to use it - I am not 100% sure but I've read sites without Google Analytics show worse in the search results.