Awareness about the place of cookies on the web is increasing. The new charge against these small web spies comes to us from the UK, where the UK privacy police have asked G7 member states to take action against cookie consent pop-ups, which became unavoidable after the entry into force of the GDPR in the EU. . For the British information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, it is about allowing Internet users to consent to cookies in a more meaningful way than at present.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) wants G7 members to pressure tech giants to create browsers, software applications and device settings that “allow people to set enduring preferences for privacy, rather than having to do so. through pop-up windows every time they visit a website. ”The Authority contends that many people simply click” I agree “in pop-ups to quickly access the content they want to view. What rates the actual control these users have about your personal data.

It remains that changing this fundamental movement of the web will not be done without international mobilization. “There are nearly two billion websites that take the world’s privacy preferences into account. No country can tackle this problem alone, ”Elizabeth Denham said in a statement. “That is why I ask my colleagues in the G7 to use our power to unite us. Together, we can collaborate with technology companies and standards bodies to develop a coordinated approach to this challenge. “

The British privacy police call comes as the UK chairs the G7 alliance, made up of the US, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and the UK.

A large-scale problem

The problem is proving to be considerable, as more and more Internet users are giving up and cutting cookie consent forms to access the content that interests them more quickly. However, according to a study conducted in 2020, most cookie consent forms do not comply with European GDPR rules and are not controlled by European data protection authorities. In fact, most websites use third-party consent management (CMP) platforms to comply with cookie consent rules.

The only downside: many of these services circumvent the requirements of the GDPR, according to which consent must be explicit, preferring instead an implicit consent. However, some EU privacy authorities have taken steps to enforce EU cookie consent rules. In France, the CNIL thus imposed fines of 100 and 35 million euros on Google and Amazon in December for the use of cookies on the devices of website visitors.

“As the CNIL correctly estimated, the fact that the user had no choice but to scroll through a pop-up window, past five other irrelevant links, to finally be able to click on a link to a banner with a cryptic name,” Other options “was not sufficiently clear”, the group rejoiced in the defense of privacy rights Privacy International after the adoption of this decision by the French data policeman. On the ICO side, it is believed that this appeal to other G7 privacy watchdogs will make a difference. “The ICO believes that the G7 authorities could have a major impact by encouraging technology companies and standards bodies to continue developing and implementing solutions focused on protecting privacy in this area. “