> Cookie banners happened because US devs didn't steelman EU regs.

What would steelmaning EU regs have looked like? Not really sure what you mean by this.

> What would steelmaning EU regs have looked like?

A simple "decline [all]" / "accept" choice, not a huge list with dozens of sliders for dozens of options each labelled "legitimate interest" all of which are set to "Accept" by default?

Only use cookies to provide services that the user specifically asks you to provide. Never use the cookies to anything where the action wasn't initiated by the user. That way, nothing you do requires asking for consent and you don't need a stupid banner.

A header to opt in instead of a banner...

I'm sorry now I'm confused. Is UI design this hard? Is this neurotypical?

Yes, stupid shit like punishing your users with abusive UI for regulations you dislike is neurotypical.

>Cookie banners happened because US devs didn't steelman EU regs.

EU sites have the same amount of cookie banners as US ones. (ie, all major sites have one)

I frequently travel to the EU and the amount of cookie banners is decidedly higher.

I also notice German sites constantly nag you, Dutch seems to be a little less obnoxious. What's also interesting is that Germany, sticklers if I've ever seen any, is full of nonconsentual walls where you "of your free will with no negative consequences to deny" have to click "consent" or become a paid subscriber. If the data protection authority or the law is to be believed, that's not freely given consent

Quite hilarious are the sites that outright block European IP addresses, as if that way they don't have to bother with the basic human right to privacy (article 8 ECHR). More sites should do this if they have no wish to play by these morals instead of having (legal or illegal) walls!

By my understanding of words, even the best 10% of cookie popups are mostly not really "freely given consent".

But I know I'm not a lawyer, and my lack of understanding of the technical jargon in law is likely to be similar to the lack of understanding of technical web jargon in the old screenshot of someone looking at the JS console by accident and thinking it was a secret police thingie: https://images.app.goo.gl/4SPUwbQ1uY2r5oHcA

>If the data protection authority or the law is to be believed, that's not freely given consent

It's not. You can report this to an appropriate civil authority and in theory it'll be resolved (possibly with a fine). In practice the authorities are still so overwhelmed by GDPR that they will only look at the most severe high profile cases. Fingers crossed one day it'll improve...

> Cookie banners happened because US devs didn't steelman EU regs.

This is one of the dumbest narratives I see on HN all the time. A community of people who build things for a living should know better.

Think of regulation as software designed to create an outcome in the real world.

If everyone is wrongly using/interpreting your software…the problem is not “everyone.” The problem is the design of your software.

The problem is mostly in the enforcement. Most GDPR pop-ups do not actually comply with GDPR. And they only exist because companies wish to weasel out of stopping doing what the regulation is trying to stop them doing, and the lack of enforcement means they get away with it long enough people who don't have a clue just cargo-cult what the weasels are doing.

Tracking cookies. It's always been about tracking cookies, you liar.

All of the EU's own websites have cookie banners. Everyone has cookie banners. The problem here is the law, not the companies.