German Watchdog Pushes to Scrap Cookie Banners

Germany’s Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) is calling for ubiquitous cookie banners to be replaced by a centralized system across Europe, according to Euractiv. The watchdog argues that many websites make it unnecessarily difficult for users to reject data tracking.

A new BfDI survey found that three-quarters of people who currently click “accept all” would reject all cookies more often if doing so were equally easy.

Federal Data Protection Commissioner Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider is advocating the introduction of so-called cookie managers, which would allow users to set their preferences once in a single place. Websites would then automatically apply those choices in the background.

The proposal comes amid negotiations over the EU’s digital simplification package. The European Commission initially proposed allowing users to set their cookie preferences directly in web browsers, which would then communicate those choices to individual websites. EU member states dropped the proposal from their position on the package in June, saying they wanted more detailed analysis after intense lobbying by advertising and media groups concerned about the potential impact on their revenues.

(max)