or that all builders of web sites would do better not to make any attempt to (for example) keep track of which of their visitors have been there before
If there is a technical reason to do so, the GDPR explicitly allows doing so without any consent banner… and if there isn’t other than harvesting data to sell it to advertisers, then yes there is no reason to have that.
The article seems to confirm what’s been my understanding which is that that pretty much anything beyond “session cookies” or the like is covered, whether or not the data collected gets sold or transferred to anyone else.
But yes, there are reasons why data gets sold to advertisers as well. Commercial incentives which are strong and predictable. Regulations should not be designed as if they aren’t there.
Commercial incentives which are strong and predictable. Regulations should not be designed as if they aren’t there.
The entire point of the GDPR is to reign in those “commercial incentives” to spy on users for a little extra money from advertisers.
But I am starting to get the feeling I am trying to argue with someone who makes a living out of spying on users and selling that data to advertisers, which makes this argument moot.
Nope, I’m not one of them. But I have worked for large companies in the past and therefore have met them.
The GDPR has done substantial good, not least in just getting people to talk about this sort of thing. But the cookie banners are and always have been ridiculous and a sign of one of its failures. An outright ban on surveillance capitalism business models would suit me better.
If there is a technical reason to do so, the GDPR explicitly allows doing so without any consent banner… and if there isn’t other than harvesting data to sell it to advertisers, then yes there is no reason to have that.
The article seems to confirm what’s been my understanding which is that that pretty much anything beyond “session cookies” or the like is covered, whether or not the data collected gets sold or transferred to anyone else.
But yes, there are reasons why data gets sold to advertisers as well. Commercial incentives which are strong and predictable. Regulations should not be designed as if they aren’t there.
The entire point of the GDPR is to reign in those “commercial incentives” to spy on users for a little extra money from advertisers.
But I am starting to get the feeling I am trying to argue with someone who makes a living out of spying on users and selling that data to advertisers, which makes this argument moot.
Nope, I’m not one of them. But I have worked for large companies in the past and therefore have met them.
The GDPR has done substantial good, not least in just getting people to talk about this sort of thing. But the cookie banners are and always have been ridiculous and a sign of one of its failures. An outright ban on surveillance capitalism business models would suit me better.