The cookie consent banners enforced by the EU’s GDPR privacy regulations have become one the internet’s most annoying features. Yet a clever new browser extension finally offers some hope.
Developed by researchers from Google and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the new web browser extension named CookieEnforcer uses machine learning techniques to identify and reject the cookie consent pop-ups automatically.
As explained in a paper published earlier this month, it navigates through the complex menu options for you, automatically rejecting all non-essential cookies. An evaluation of its accuracy found the extension to be effective in 91% of cases.
What is a cookie?
Generally speaking, there are two types of cookies: the “good” ones that are essential for the website operation, and the “bad” non-essential ones, used to track your behaviour online.
Some websites deliberately present a complex array of choices to try to confuse and manipulate you into accepting the default “allow all cookies” settings, which can put your privacy at risk.
What can cookies track?
Cookies can track any kind of data about you, such as your search and browser history, what websites you previously visited, and what you Googled recently. Cookies are the primary tool that advertisers use to track your online activity so that they can target you with highly specific ads.
That said, the argument that tracking technology is an essential marketing business model is changing. This change is driven in large part by a strong and growing consumer demand for transparent solutions that enable users to protect their data privacy online. After all, this has become their right under most major data privacy laws in the world today.
, Regulations like GDPR were implemented across the world in an effort to increase the level of transparency around data collection practices. These regulations required websites to request explicit consent from the user. But whether these rules have actually helped protect privacy is unclear.
Unfortunately, the extension is not yet publicly available. The research team says it is preparing a general release, but specific timeline has not? been given.