Google Consent Statements…

[AlistairCowell]

It has been seen before, but I’ve noticed in the last week that more websites are now receiving a ‘Google Consent’ statement which you have to respond before using the site.

Even this forum has got a ‘Google Consent’ panel, and even some apps have got them. I got that statement when I used one of the Apps on my iPad the other day.

Obviously we’re not all Google users, but even non-Google users will come across with the ‘Google Consent’ panel as well as ‘Ads by Google’, which most sites also have (Even Yahoo, the rival of Google, has ‘Ads by Google’ as well).

I think Google is becoming more like of the international internet government in which we all have to put up with such necessary evil from Google even as a non-Google user.

Do you think Google is becoming heavy-handed when it comes to Consent as well as Ads?

 

[JamesT]

View attachment 151808
It has been seen before, but I’ve noticed in the last week that more websites are now receiving a ‘Google Consent’ statement which you have to respond before using the site.

Even this forum has got a ‘Google Consent’ panel, and even some apps have got them. I got that statement when I used one of the Apps on my iPad the other day.

Obviously we’re not all Google users, but even non-Google users will come across with the ‘Google Consent’ panel as well as ‘Ads by Google’, which most sites also have (Even Yahoo, the rival of Google, has ‘Ads by Google’ as well).

I think Google is becoming more like of the international internet government in which we all have to put up with such necessary evil from Google even as a non-Google user.

Do you think Google is becoming heavy-handed when it comes to Consent as well as Ads?

I think Google would argue they're being forced to do it: https://blog.google/products/admanager/new-cmp-requirement/

Later this year, we will require all partners using our publisher products — Google AdSense, Ad Manager, or AdMob — to use a Google certified CMP that integrates with the TCF when serving ads to users in the European Economic Area or the UK. In the coming weeks, we will make available a list of Google certified CMPs that have integrated with the IAB Europe TCF and meet the TCF’s specifications, and we’ll require that our partners use a CMP from that list.

Following some of the links, it seems that EU court rulings on cookie consent in the context of GDPR are pushing to a much more explicit system. Google are the big gorilla in the online advertising world, but it wouldn't surprise me to see other ad platforms implementing similar systems to comply with the law.

 

[dosxuk]

I think Google is becoming more like of the international internet government in which we all have to put up with such necessary evil from Google even as a non-Google user.

Do you think Google is becoming heavy-handed when it comes to Consent as well as Ads?

You'll have to explain what you're thinking a bit more. It sounds like you think Google are doing this because they like this sort of having to ask permission before selling your data thing.

Remember Google is first and foremost an advertising company.

 

[adc82140]

I find the "I don't care about cookies" browser plug in does the trick. It just automatically rejects any tracking or consent.

 

[DerekC]

I find the "I don't care about cookies" browser plug in does the trick. It just automatically rejects any tracking or consent.

Seems like a lot of the time that just automatically accepts cookies on your behalf. If you really don't care, that's fine. Doesn't take long to press the "reject all" button, though, if you do.

 

[Vexed]

I personally use I don't care about cookies in conjunction with the Cookie auto-delete extension. You can add sites like this to a whitelist to avoid automatically delete cookies to stay signed in.

 

[DelW]

Seems like a lot of the time that just automatically accepts cookies on your behalf. If you really don't care, that's fine. Doesn't take long to press the "reject all" button, though, if you do.

Unfortunately a number of sites (including this one, if you click the "Manage options" button on the screen shown in the OP) don't offer a "reject all" option, meaning you have to scroll down deselecting multiple buttons as you go. That can be a real pain on some devices, or for instance if you're using a touch screen on a moving vehicle.

 

[najaB]

Unfortunately a number of sites (including this one, if you click the "Manage options" button on the screen shown in the OP) don't offer a "reject all" option

Though, to be fair, very few site owners/designers actually code that bit themselves. So it's a function (or not!) of whichever plugin code they use.

 

[Lucan]

It is not new that Google collect data about you from most (~80%?) websites you visit, but this pop-up seems to be the latest thing that Google have implemented as part of their never-ending legal dance with regulators. Those websites are linked with Google by including some software called Google Analytics. Web site creators are incentivised to include it because it gives them an analysis of their visitor behaviour (how many, how long they stay etc) and what Google get out of it is the visitors' data. This happens to you, the visitor, whether you have a Google account or not, or are using Google to search or not.

For myself, I minimise Google's (and anyone else's) nosiness by using Duckduckgo as my search engine, Firefox as my browser, and, except for sites I have accounts with, I use Firefox's "Private" mode which deletes cookies and history as soon as I leave any website. Even if you select "Reject All" cookies when you arrive at a website, it leaves you with some anyway - ones it's owners would claim are "essential" (spoiler alert - they are not).

 

[najaB]

Even if you select "Reject All" cookies when you arrive at a website, it leaves you with some anyway - ones it's owners would claim are "essential" (spoiler alert - they are not).

That rather depends on what you consider"essential" to mean, no?

 

[Mike395]

If a site offered the option to reject all cookies, even functional ones, most sites with registration/login functionality would immediately become quite the pain to use!

 

[Lucan]

That rather depends on what you consider"essential" to mean, no?

If a site offered the option to reject all cookies, even functional ones, most sites with registration/login functionality would immediately become quite the pain to use!

As I said above, I'm fine with cookies if I log on to a site with which I have an account, like this one. In that situation they serve a purpose for the user. However there is no reason for a site that does not require logging in to give you cookies, other than for its own statistics (which I don't mind so much) and to provide entities such as Google with information about you (which I do mind), including your browsing history and location (if they did not know it already).

For example I visit the website of a distant local paper to see what they say about a level crossing incident I first read of here. I have never been there before and likely will never go there again, yet they plaster me with a dozen cookies occupying several megabytes, despite my selecting "Reject all cookies". They get deleted afterwards, but it is very annoying.

I have three websites, only giving information and offering some downloads (nothing to do with railways), and unusually for these days they don't give cookies. I can see usage statistics on the hosting control panel, but I don't really care about them anyway - I'm not trying to sell stuff.

 

[najaB]

However there is no reason for a site that does not require logging in to give you cookies, other than for its own statistics (which I don't mind so much) and to provide entities such as Google with information about you (which I do mind), including your browsing history and location (if they did not know it already).

That's not true. Many forms of interactivity make use of cookies.

For example, if I want to only show a popup message once (eg. special offers, email list sign-up) then I need to store the fact that you've already seen it in a cookie. Otherwise, you'll be presented with the pop-up on every page load.