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Ah, I take it you’re referring to the Google Fonts case, then? That’s completely different from linking to a third-party site: that’s loading resources from a t

Ah, I take it you’re referring to the Google Fonts case, then? That’s completely different from linking to a third-party site: that’s loading resources from a third-party site. For a hyperlink, any fetching is user-initiated and you’re obviously not on the hook for that. (The one arguable exception is if you explicitly cause prefetch or prerender on, say, link hover. That would then obviously be on you, because you made it happen.) > It does if they want to flow the law. No, they can just not do it. Simplifying very slightly: they’re trying to get your consent precisely because they don’t have to do it, therefore they’re not allowed to without consent. I would also note that the sort of consent they solicit on public websites is practically always for storing stuff on your machine (ePD, from 2002) rather than for processing (GDPR, from 2016). But I lack energy to get further involved in this aspect; suffice it to say that their tracking is basically never in your interests at all, and routinely not even in their direct interests.

charcircuit 3y ago
>that’s loading resources from a third-party site Which is what browsers can do for link tags. Some browser scan for links on pages and speculatively load them so that if you were to click on them it loads instantly. You as the website author can't prevent this functionality. >No, they can just not do it But they want to do it and may have business reasons to do it. >their tracking is basically never in your interests at all The tracking likely either improves the service based off analytics which is in my interest or it makes ads more relevant which makes the site more financially viable which is also in my interest if I am gaining value from that site.
- chrismorgan 3y ago
  > Some browser scan for links on pages and speculatively load them so that if you were to click on them it loads instantly. Anything like that is user (the browser acting as their agent). You’re obviously not responsible for that. You didn’t ask it to do that automatically, unlike <link rel="stylesheet"> and <script> and the likes.
  - charcircuit 3y ago
    How is the link tag any different? It's also a link which is optional to access. One's user agent could choose not to request it. script tags are optional too.
    - chrismorgan 3y ago
      They’re radically different. Things like <link rel="stylesheet">, <script> and <img> are subresources: instructions to the browser to fetch and use the specified resource, so that the page can be rendered properly. As you say, the user agent can choose to ignore these instructions (and text-mode browsers will generally ignore all three of these subresource types), but the page will probably be materially compromised, and the developer placed the subresource there with the expectation that it will be loaded. A hyperlink is a reference to another page altogether, that it’s up to the user to access if they choose to. It’s not a subresource.

charcircuit 3y ago

>that’s loading resources from a third-party site Which is what browsers can do for link tags. Some browser scan for links on pages and speculatively load them so that if you were to click on them it loads instantly. You as the website author can't prevent this functionality. >No, they can just not do it But they want to do it and may have business reasons to do it. >their tracking is basically never in your interests at all The tracking likely either improves the service based off analytics which is in my interest or it makes ads more relevant which makes the site more financially viable which is also in my interest if I am gaining value from that site.

chrismorgan 3y ago
> Some browser scan for links on pages and speculatively load them so that if you were to click on them it loads instantly. Anything like that is user (the browser acting as their agent). You’re obviously not responsible for that. You didn’t ask it to do that automatically, unlike <link rel="stylesheet"> and <script> and the likes.
- charcircuit 3y ago
  How is the link tag any different? It's also a link which is optional to access. One's user agent could choose not to request it. script tags are optional too.
  - chrismorgan 3y ago
    They’re radically different. Things like <link rel="stylesheet">, <script> and <img> are subresources: instructions to the browser to fetch and use the specified resource, so that the page can be rendered properly. As you say, the user agent can choose to ignore these instructions (and text-mode browsers will generally ignore all three of these subresource types), but the page will probably be materially compromised, and the developer placed the subresource there with the expectation that it will be loaded. A hyperlink is a reference to another page altogether, that it’s up to the user to access if they choose to. It’s not a subresource.