Websites forcing people to pay in order to reject cookies?

General
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paytoreject
paytoreject1632×1316 317 KB

So apparently this is a thing now? Is this even legal? Also, unrelated, but I really believe that the only reason the phrases “to give you the best possible experience” and “enjoy the full reading experience” are written there is so they can deliberately irritate people, because there’s no way they are actually delusional enough to believe that this is giving people the “best experience”.

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Yes, unfortunately it is a thing.
NOYB is trying to fight this in the EU.

2 Likes
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The ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) has clarified in its guidelines (as of 2023):

  • Consent-or-pay models may be acceptable in some circumstances, provided the payment option is a genuine, fair alternative to giving consent.
  • The model must not undermine the “freely given” aspect of consent. If users feel forced to pay to avoid tracking, the consent may be considered invalid.

It is also important to note that this publisher is under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.

The UK GDPR (based on the EU GDPR) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) apply in the United Kingdom.

On the other hand, good ad blockers such as uBlock Origin can effectively block cookie banners.

By the way:
There is currently a legal dispute in Germany regarding the admissibility of ad blockers under copyright law.

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“Choose how to use The Sun”, huh?

“Actively scan device characteristics for identification”, huh?

  1. Add “The Sun” to blocklist.
  2. Rub hands while corporation withers and dies.
  3. Profit!
7 Likes
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Is there a DNS Blocklist for websites which try to force users accepting their cookies? I don’t want to deal with this crap.

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What’s crazy is The Sun and other fairly trashy UK news outlets are openly and actively telling us all how valuable that data is.

Use these sites only in private mode. Accept all their cookies and throw them right in the trash once the browser window gets closed.

Personally, I have FF containers set up for maybe 6 or 7 persistent logins, all tied to my real name. Then everything else is in LibreWolf or Mullvad, on a VPN, in private mode. I would guess more than 90% of my time online most days is in a private mode window.

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I use Arkenfox (hardened Firefox) with uBlock Origin in ‘Hard Mode’. Browsing to “The Sun”, I see no cookie notice. I do not know which part is neutering the cookie notices, but I rarely if ever see them anywhere.

I would recommend the following:
Fanboy’s Annoyance List
HaGeZi’s Ultimate DNS Blocklist
HaGeZi’s Threat Intelligence Feeds DNS Blocklist