5 ms·

Ask HN: Why don't they remove the cookies (and hence the banners)

6 points by jorisboris 2y ago

I get it if you're an ads-driven website But why do agencies, municipalities, (government) railways or other non-ads driven websites need to have cookies, and hence the frustrating banners? My hypothesis is they want to be "better safe than sorry" but maybe there are real marketing purposes behind it? some examples: https://www.mckinsey.com https://www.london.gov.uk https://www.ns.nl (Dutch railways) https://www.britishmuseum.org

CharlieDigital 2y ago
Likely metrics and tracking of traffic flow (origin, dest, etc.)
yen223 2y ago
User-preference cookies (e.g. light mode vs dark mode) are not "strictly necessary", and therefore probably still require consent under GDPR
- shinryuu 2y ago
  Though they are necessary for the given functionality. So let's say that by default you have a light theme. If the user selects a dark theme, you need the cookie. Then my reading is that no banner would be necessary.
- meiraleal 2y ago
  why would someone store it using cookies in place of local storage?
solardev 2y ago
Analytics, marketing, etc.
aristofun 2y ago
You are asking the question from the wrong side. The right side is - why those bureaucrats are so stupid, short sighted and people hating that we have the frustrating banners even on harmless websites.
- jorisboris 2y ago
  We can’t change the bureaucrats but I would expect private companies to have more common sense and customer focus to avoid these shenanigans
- drweevil 2y ago
  Nope. It's the companies. https://www.bitecode.dev/p/there-is-no-eu-cookie-banner-law https://www.bitecode.dev/p/there-is-no-eu-cookie-banner-law
  - aristofun 2y ago
    Nope. It's useless bureaucrats that scare companies so they don't want to waste time and money figuring out all the nuances and put themselves at risk of getting sued.
  - XCSme 2y ago
    If a law can not be properly enforced, especially without having poor consequences for the majority of people, then it's a bad law.
leros 2y ago
I don't use a single cookie in my landing pages or product, but I still have the cookie banner because so many of the marketing tools track through cookies.
hbh187 2y ago
Removing cookies would reset consent and preferences, violating regulations and frustrating users with repeated banners

6 points by jorisboris 2y ago

CharlieDigital 2y ago

Likely metrics and tracking of traffic flow (origin, dest, etc.)

yen223 2y ago

User-preference cookies (e.g. light mode vs dark mode) are not "strictly necessary", and therefore probably still require consent under GDPR

shinryuu 2y ago
Though they are necessary for the given functionality. So let's say that by default you have a light theme. If the user selects a dark theme, you need the cookie. Then my reading is that no banner would be necessary.
meiraleal 2y ago
why would someone store it using cookies in place of local storage?

solardev 2y ago

Analytics, marketing, etc.

aristofun 2y ago

You are asking the question from the wrong side. The right side is - why those bureaucrats are so stupid, short sighted and people hating that we have the frustrating banners even on harmless websites.

jorisboris 2y ago
We can’t change the bureaucrats but I would expect private companies to have more common sense and customer focus to avoid these shenanigans
drweevil 2y ago
Nope. It's the companies. https://www.bitecode.dev/p/there-is-no-eu-cookie-banner-law https://www.bitecode.dev/p/there-is-no-eu-cookie-banner-law
- aristofun 2y ago
  Nope. It's useless bureaucrats that scare companies so they don't want to waste time and money figuring out all the nuances and put themselves at risk of getting sued.
- XCSme 2y ago
  If a law can not be properly enforced, especially without having poor consequences for the majority of people, then it's a bad law.

leros 2y ago

I don't use a single cookie in my landing pages or product, but I still have the cookie banner because so many of the marketing tools track through cookies.

hbh187 2y ago

Removing cookies would reset consent and preferences, violating regulations and frustrating users with repeated banners