5 ms·

Or you could look at it like this: Big websites are tracking people, unknowingly to them, giving them lots of power, because information is power these days. A

Or you could look at it like this: Big websites are tracking people, unknowingly to them, giving them lots of power, because information is power these days. And the sites that treat their customers fairly and honestly, ie they just want to offer you their product/service and are not interested in making a profit from your information, are not highlighted for their good intentions. This law makes the difference clear to users. Maybe most users don't care, like most users don't care about open source, or fair trade products. But I'm personally happy that the EU cares, because I care. And I understand that most people don't care because they are ignorant about the issues and consequences. But I do find it a bit funny that a lot of people on HN don't seem to care. And I think the cookie banners are a good way to start to make people aware of these issues. It won't solve it in one go of course, but at least it starts to make people think about it in some way. And maybe there are better ways, but you gotta start somewhere.

gitaarik 3y ago
Maybe the next step would be that websites should adhere to the "Do not track" browser option, and not show the popup when people have that option on. I think that would make a lot of people very happy. The businesses that thrive on data collection not of course, but who cares about them really? People might say they pay our salaries, but if they don't thrive, other businesses will thrive, and they will pay our salaries. I rather have businesses thrive in a ethical way and have them pay our salaries. So I can only see good coming out from this.
- aristofun 3y ago
  > if they don't thrive, other businesses will thrive You know what else is true? If dumb bueroucrats don’t spend time on a silly solutions to artificial problems - they would spend it on solving real meaningful issues. I think we can at least agree on that.
aristofun 3y ago
> unknowingly to them, giving them lots of power, because information is power these days How much power exactly does a website get by saving a cookie with my data?
aristofun 3y ago
> And I understand that most people don't care because they are ignorant about the issues and consequences No, people don’t care because there are no consequences. Except just better targeTed ads. Most people on HN are hackers, they know exactly how this works. If you were brainwashed to be scared - doesn’t mean I as a user must pay for it with my attention.
- gitaarik 3y ago
  What do you mean no consequences? Haven't you heard they use this data to manipulate public opinion to push certain political agendas? And that is just one example of the tip of the iceberg. Information is power. They are not collecting it just for fun.
  - aristofun 3y ago
    Who are “they”? And how my cookies exactly help push an agenda? Educate me step by step please using some simplified example.
    - gitaarik 3y ago
      By tracking people, they understand people's behavior, what hypes there are, what kind of things people are engaging with, interested in. Then they can target specific campaigns at certain groups of people, to manipulate their opinion, or exploit them. "They" are the ones that have control over the data. The ones that collect and process all the data, or the ones that buy it. Mostly FAANG and their clients, which are also governments. For example, a few months ago, ironically, a department within the EU ran a campaign on X, persuading people to vote for CSAM laws. But they micro-targeted specific groups. And this is actually prohibited by EU laws itself, by the Digital Services Act (DSA). See this article: https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/15/oops-2/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/15/oops-2/ And microtargetting is actually a common practice, used for political campaigns in the US, Australia. It's also used by Russia for disinformation campaigns. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/technology/facebook-microtargeting-advertising.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/technology/facebook-micro... And: https://www.justsecurity.org/41199/connecting-dots-political-microtargeting-russia-investigation-cambridge-analytica/ https://www.justsecurity.org/41199/connecting-dots-political... Also the wiki about microtargetting is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtargeting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtargeting I hope this helps you understand how tracking cookies can be used against you. Of course it doesn't affect you directly personally when you visit some websites. But you have to see it in the grander scale. We are collectively a group. And as a group we can be influenced, manipulated, etc. And ultimately that affects the individuals inside the group. And this has always happened, it just happens more automated these days. But if we, as a group, stand up against it, we can empower ourselves, and we can make life better for us as a group, which will ultimately impact our personal lives as well.

gitaarik 3y ago

Maybe the next step would be that websites should adhere to the "Do not track" browser option, and not show the popup when people have that option on. I think that would make a lot of people very happy. The businesses that thrive on data collection not of course, but who cares about them really? People might say they pay our salaries, but if they don't thrive, other businesses will thrive, and they will pay our salaries. I rather have businesses thrive in a ethical way and have them pay our salaries. So I can only see good coming out from this.

aristofun 3y ago
> if they don't thrive, other businesses will thrive You know what else is true? If dumb bueroucrats don’t spend time on a silly solutions to artificial problems - they would spend it on solving real meaningful issues. I think we can at least agree on that.

aristofun 3y ago

> unknowingly to them, giving them lots of power, because information is power these days How much power exactly does a website get by saving a cookie with my data?

aristofun 3y ago

> And I understand that most people don't care because they are ignorant about the issues and consequences No, people don’t care because there are no consequences. Except just better targeTed ads. Most people on HN are hackers, they know exactly how this works. If you were brainwashed to be scared - doesn’t mean I as a user must pay for it with my attention.

gitaarik 3y ago
What do you mean no consequences? Haven't you heard they use this data to manipulate public opinion to push certain political agendas? And that is just one example of the tip of the iceberg. Information is power. They are not collecting it just for fun.
- aristofun 3y ago
  Who are “they”? And how my cookies exactly help push an agenda? Educate me step by step please using some simplified example.
  - gitaarik 3y ago
    By tracking people, they understand people's behavior, what hypes there are, what kind of things people are engaging with, interested in. Then they can target specific campaigns at certain groups of people, to manipulate their opinion, or exploit them. "They" are the ones that have control over the data. The ones that collect and process all the data, or the ones that buy it. Mostly FAANG and their clients, which are also governments. For example, a few months ago, ironically, a department within the EU ran a campaign on X, persuading people to vote for CSAM laws. But they micro-targeted specific groups. And this is actually prohibited by EU laws itself, by the Digital Services Act (DSA). See this article: https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/15/oops-2/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/15/oops-2/ And microtargetting is actually a common practice, used for political campaigns in the US, Australia. It's also used by Russia for disinformation campaigns. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/technology/facebook-microtargeting-advertising.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/technology/facebook-micro... And: https://www.justsecurity.org/41199/connecting-dots-political-microtargeting-russia-investigation-cambridge-analytica/ https://www.justsecurity.org/41199/connecting-dots-political... Also the wiki about microtargetting is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtargeting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtargeting I hope this helps you understand how tracking cookies can be used against you. Of course it doesn't affect you directly personally when you visit some websites. But you have to see it in the grander scale. We are collectively a group. And as a group we can be influenced, manipulated, etc. And ultimately that affects the individuals inside the group. And this has always happened, it just happens more automated these days. But if we, as a group, stand up against it, we can empower ourselves, and we can make life better for us as a group, which will ultimately impact our personal lives as well.