Re:Show HN: European Tech News in 6 Languages
by Merinov on Saturday November 15, 2025 @09:01AM
(#45937541)
Thank you for your persistence and pushback. Despite good intentions I fell into the boilerplate trap.
In the meantime I:
. removed the 'mark of shame' :)
. zeroed the cookies, only localstorage for umami analytics
. Simple opt-out in footer, no dark patterns, just 'learn more, opt-out'
. Updated the privacy policy to reflect this
Your feedback made this project better. Thank you :)
> Analytics Cookies
> Help us understand how visitors interact with our website. We use privacy-first analytics.
Tracking.
> Marketing Cookies
> Used to track visitors and show relevant advertisements.
Ads and more tracking.
> Preference Cookies
> Remember your preferences like language and theme settings.
Do these actually require separate consent, or can they be considered functional?
I would expect that a European digital sovereignty project in which privacy is the whole point would not have a cookie consent banner at all, because it would simply not use any non-functional cookies that would require it. I see the cookie banner as a sort of "mark of shame" that nefarious websites are forced to wear.
Also, I recall hearing that there were plans to make highlighting the "Accept All" button above the other options illegal, because it's a dark pattern that gets people to click the highlighted option more often.