[MatekCopatek]

The cookie consent window is just a lazy way of how most developers decided to handle the regulation.

This might vary from country to country, depending on how exactly each EU member implemented it, but where I live, you didn't have to ask permission for cookies related to core functionality (e.g. basket state in a webshop). IIRC you were even able to get away with light tracking, if it supported your main usecase (e.g. counting product views to generate a list of most viewed products) and didn't expose the data to a 3rd party service.

But yeah, it's much easier to keep sending all the user data to Google Analytics and complain about the EU forcing you into spammy cookie consent windows then it is to understand what the legislation is trying to achieve and reduce the amount of data you're collecting.

[lynx23]

I understand the intent, and support it. However, the implementation with the consent window just breaks the flow of browsing. It is also pretty much broken when it comes to accessibility and screen readers. On most platforms I know, you can scroll past the content window, since it is only impelemtned with a div overlaying the rest of the site. Screen readers mostly have no problem scrolling past this overlay. I know, because I use screen readers.

[acdha]

None of that is an EU requirement: the companies which did that chose the bad experience. In at least some cases, I suspect the hope was that it would annoy EU voters enough to make it possible to weaken the legislation.

[unmole]

Even the EU's own website has a cookie banner: https://european-union.europa.eu

The only thing that stupid rule achieved is to make the web ever so slightly annoying to use.

[j_maffe]

It allows people to say no and maintain their private data. Privacy might be meaningless to you but it's important for a lot of people and if browsing will be slightly more annoying to use due to malicious compliance by some websites, so be it.

[kwhitefoot]

It's not just lazy. Many such pop-ups deliberately misinform the user.