News from Captain Obvious – cookie banners are annoying
Bitkom just discovered what we’ve always known – cookie banners are even more annoying than cookies themselves. I believe the EU made a mistake here, but it isn’t solely to blame for the problem.
76 per cent of users are annoyed by cookie banners, according to a representative survey conducted by German interest group Bitkom. Users also see cookies themselves as a problem, 58 per cent regularly delete them. But cookie banners bother them even more than cookies themselves.
This probably comes as no surprise to anyone. We asked our editorial office why the figure wasn’t much higher. Our guess? The remaining 24 per cent either don’t know what a cookie banner is, or they’ve installed a plug-in that automatically suppresses or clicks away all cookie banners.
The wrong approach to combatting data collection
It’s clear that limits have to be placed on the data collection mania of certain corporations. But why did the EU have to apply the legislative lever to cookies of all things? Cookies are one of the more harmless forms of data collection – they’re the only data tracks which you have full control over, as they’re stored on your device and not on a server.
So if you didn’t want cookies, you could always block them completely or partially in your browser settings. Most browsers offer sophisticated settings to prevent third-party cookies and allow exceptions.
However, since the EU Cookie Directive came into force, this no longer works in principle. After all, the information to remove cookies also has to be stored in a cookie. If you turn off cookies in your browser, the annoying dialogue will pop up every flipping time. The web becomes unusable.
Not just the EU’s fault
But just complaining about the EU is unfair. Some website operators have no inhibitions about annoying their own customers. They try to make it more difficult to reject tracking cookies by using banners that are as confusing as possible, involving as many clicks as possible.
Source: David Lee
Online media such as Bild, Die Zeit or Der Spiegel, some of which are paid services, are a particularly bad example. At first glance, I can only agree or take out a subscription. Only when looking closer do I notice the Settings button, in an inconspicuous colour – and there’s still no option to reject everything across the board.
The EU directive isn’t actually that restrictive: technically necessary cookies, used to log in for example, don’t require consent. So if you do without external cookies, you don’t need to annoy your customers with a banner. However, this would mean doing without analysis tools and advertising revenue from Google. That's why, for most companies, it's better to be annoying.
Header image: David Lee / bild.de
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David Lee
Senior Editor
David.Lee@digitecgalaxus.chMy interest in IT and writing landed me in tech journalism early on (2000). I want to know how we can use technology without being used. Outside of the office, I’m a keen musician who makes up for lacking talent with excessive enthusiasm.
