Let’s face it, browser cookies are part of modern life and you have to accept those cookies… or you? And why do most websites require cookies? I will show you why you really have a choice about accepting cookies.
What Is a Cookie?
Browser cookies are small text files provided by various websites that are automatically downloaded by your browser during access. Cookies often contain user settings that are forwarded between different pages of the same website but include identification information that tells the website who you are when you revisit it later. You can also.
The downside is that any website can read cookies written by other websites, so it’s easy to use to track web browsing behavior without your knowledge. Many online advertising networks do this. Cookies are not necessarily bad, but they can be abused. For this reason, the discussion of cookies is often confused with other privacy issues on the web.
About European Privacy Law
In 2016, the European Union enacted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This came into effect in May 2018. In connection with the ePrivacy Directive 2002/2009, websites hosted in the EU need to obtain prior consent from the visitor in order to track the visitor using cookies. To comply with these regulations, you need to do the following on the EU website:
Ask for permission before using non-required cookies. Before asking for consent, we will provide you with information about what each cookie tracks. Keep a record of the consent you receive from your website visitors. Make it easy to revoke the consent that the visitor has already given. Allows visitors to access your website even if you refuse to use certain cookies.
To comply with these laws, website designers have created pop-up dialogs that warn you of the use of cookies and, in some cases, ask you to accept or reject certain tracking cookies.
If a website uses what is called a “strictly required cookie” in the EU, the website will work, but if it is not tracked between websites, ask for consent. You don’t have to, but you need to be warned anyway. Please use cookies anyway. This will display a pop-up such as “I am using a cookie” without an approve or reject dialog.
You Can Refuse Accepting Cookies!
As the last rule in the list above shows, websites that comply with EU rules regarding cookies must allow access to the website even if they refuse to track cookies. Failure to do so may result in fines and fines on the website.
This means that visitors to European websites are not just under the illusion of choice (“accept or sympathize” with this). Instead, you have the legal right to refuse accepting website cookies and continue to use the website.
Therefore, the next time your website asks you to accept cookies, say “no” and browse the web a little more privately than before.
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