[loeg]

The ePD dates to 2002 but stupid cookie banners only came into being around the same time as the GDPR in 2018. I think you can say the cookie banners are in some technical legal sense ePD's fault, but to laypeople it certainly seems that the GDPR is why every website is less usable and more annoying than it was just a few years ago.

[meowface]

Haven't those annoying banners been prevalent long before 2018? Maybe GPDR made them more popular, but I'm not sure.

[loeg]

The short answer is no. They are a very recent phenomenon.

[corney91]

I don't think that's right, I remember joking about cookie banners in the late 00s. Since GDPR they now have buttons and categories though, whereas previously we never had a choice, just a notice that cookies were in use.

[loeg]

There were banner shaped popovers in the 00s, but to my memory they weren't for cookies. Any chance you're a European? We may have been visiting different slices of the internet in that period.

[corney91]

Ah yeah, that could be the difference between us. The only difference GDPR really made here is companies went from a single "Confirm" button to dozens of complicationed options plus an opt out.