Re:Outlook just asked me if I want to upgrade to bigger ads
by GekkePrutser on Saturday February 19, 2022 @04:21AM
(#30395645)
This is why Do Not Track was a great idea. No popups because the browser indicates your choice proactively.
The problem was the legal framework to enforce it didn't exist so the industry was just using it as a suggestion. The EFF's voluntary declaration didn't help either.
I think if it had been enforced in the style of GDPR it would have been a great thing to have.
The same concerns apply to NoScript and that browser extension the FSF has that bans non-Free JavaScript. If you point them at GDocs, you don't magically get a tracker-free, Free Software word processor. You just get a broken web page. The reason why users don't exercise this control is because they don't have it to begin with. It's not their webpage to modify.
On a more meta-level, you're arguing for technical controls & DRM where legal ones are needed. We don't want browsers where users can pick and choose where their data goes, but if they choose wrong and don't enable enough trackers they don't get the website they wanted. We want websites that don't have trackers on them to begin with.