Re:Cookie Warning Shenanigans Have Got to Stop
by PeterisP on Friday March 15, 2019 @10:02AM
(#19399745)
They can block access to anyone they want.
However, if they say "press here to forego your privacy or we'll block you", then that's not a freely given consent to forego your privacy, and in this case this "consent" doesn't count as consent. In this case they're not allowed to track people who "consented" because they didn't really consent (both in moral and in legal sense). Consent "counts" only if it's freely given, if people really want you to do that thing; in EU privacy rights are not something that can be sold or bartered away.
It's somewhat comparable to consent to sex - let's imagine that in a place where you can freely fire workers at will, you say "consent to have sex with me, or I'll fire you". You technically can fire them, but that "consent" isn't really consent, and even if they "agree", that's still nonconsensual. Privacy (in EU) is pretty much the same.
However, if they say "press here to forego your privacy or we'll block you", then that's not a freely given consent to forego your privacy, and in this case this "consent" doesn't count as consent. In this case they're not allowed to track people who "consented" because they didn't really consent (both in moral and in legal sense). Consent "counts" only if it's freely given, if people really want you to do that thing; in EU privacy rights are not something that can be sold or bartered away.
It's somewhat comparable to consent to sex - let's imagine that in a place where you can freely fire workers at will, you say "consent to have sex with me, or I'll fire you". You technically can fire them, but that "consent" isn't really consent, and even if they "agree", that's still nonconsensual. Privacy (in EU) is pretty much the same.