[tannhaeuser]

I don't think it's a joke at all. A user clicking on a link usually wants to view a page, not getting sent 100's of tracking scripts (or miners, fishers, or whatever), and it's not clear at all the user has given consent or is even aware. Search engines flagging ad- and script-heavy sites would be cool, too.

[XCSme]

But what if all those "extra" things are what keep that site alive?

[matheusmoreira]

Then it should shut down.

[XCSme]

But in that case the user loses value, as he wanted what the site was offering.

[musingsole]

That's begging the question. Advertising and tracking are not the sole business models of the web nor the ones I have any impulse to protect or cater to.

[Thiez]

Wouldn't it be much easier to pass laws that would prohibit all these tracking scripts (e.g. GDPR) rather than writing custom Javascript for every individual website out there?

[rpdillon]

Yes, it's much easier to pass laws, but enforcement becomes a real challenge...this has been an issue for the GDPR specifically[0]:

> This means that at the time of writing this report, over a year and a half after the complaints were launched, a decision on the complaints is still far off and it is unclear when such a decision could be expected. Meanwhile, Google continues to spy on the comings and goings of millions of European consumers. Moreover, since the complaints were launched, the company has even carried out a (misleading) public PR campaign to portray itself as company that respects privacy and highlight that users are in control of their personal data.

[0]: https://www.beuc.eu/publications/beuc-x-2020-074_two_years_o...