Agreed cookie banners are annoying. But, nothing about GDPR nor CCPA mandates cookie banners. Both do require that users can opt out of tracking cookies, and

Agreed cookie banners are annoying. But, nothing about GDPR nor CCPA mandates cookie banners. Both do require that users can opt out of tracking cookies, and some site operators seem to have decided that cookie banners are an easy way to minimally comply with the law. But, the EU has determined that cookie banners that just force users to accept to continue are not compliant, and have started fining companies (like Google) who use these banners. I would have much preferred an opt-in required for any form of tracking and data collection. Cookie banners are a good signal, however, that the site you're visiting does not respect their users. There is no need (per either GDPR nor CCPA) to notify and get user consent if you are not engaged in creepy tracking in the first place. E.g., cookies for session management are and always have been allowed without consent under the GDPR and CCPA. The part of the CCPA that is most valuable, to me, if it actually works (not convinced after my first experience trying to exercise CCPA rights), is being able to control data that has already been collected by creepy stalker companies and data brokers. Of course, it would be better to not allow the data collection in the first place, but the CCPA controls on your data, after-the-fact (if it actually works) is much better than what we had available prior to the CCPA.