| We're talking about the advertising industry here. Calling these companies stubborn is a gross understatement. This is the industry that perfected psychological manipulation in the pursuit of profits. It's built on decades of research into the best ways to associate brand names with positive feelings, and plant a desire to make a purchase in the subconscious mind of consumers. They will do anything humanly possible to deliver ads to your senses, and they've corrupted every media technology to do so since the existence of public broadcasting. The internet has just given them the most profitable delivery mechanism, and in turn has made technology companies insanely rich. These adtech giants rule the internet, and can build the playground they need to make ad delivery more efficient than ever. Now these profits can trickle down to website owners, which will in turn take the path of least legal resistance, and employ every dark pattern imaginable in order to maximize _their_ profits. And if this corrupt business model wasn't enough, adtech companies can perpetually multi-dip by selling the data they collect on shady data broker markets. So, no, it's not just stubbornness, or lack of understanding. Deceit is built into this industry, and these cookie consent forms are just the tip of the iceberg. The solution requires much stronger regulation than the GDPR. Unfortunately, this is very unlikely to pass given the influence advertisers have on governments. |