[JadeNB]

Surely it's easier for Google to ask forgiveness than permission. Why wouldn't they do this if they want to track you, especially if they can muster even a shred of plausible deniability to allow them to keep it in place longer?

[thoraway1010]

Plausible deniability? They put it there so you can be tracked - that is what it is for.

Have you confirmed that the click through agreements and privacy policies don't mention anything like this?

[JadeNB]

> Have you confirmed that the click through agreements and privacy policies don't mention anything like this?

No …? I'm not sure why I would have; I was just responding to @kerng's surprise at its presence (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23180801).

[PeterisP]

It's not easier to ask forgiveness than permission - asking permission is free but having to 'ask forgiveness' under GDPR if you've intentionally not asked permission may involve fines up to 4% of annual global turnover which comes out to something like 6 billion dollars for google.

[JadeNB]

It is easier, at least in the short term, because it gets right away to that tracking sweetness. It might be regretted in the long term, although global companies don't seem to be taking GDPR seriously yet, probably because they don't sufficiently fear the enforcing bodies. (Let's see those consent walls come down first.) In the meantime, who knows how much Google made off the tracking information that they got this way?