News websites & Cookies - Going a step too far?

Resident

Resident

Resident

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So it seems that a number of news websites now are starting to try and hold the viewer at ransom via the cookie consent.

At least 6 major sites are now employing "Consent or Pay" for cookie settings

Basically you either pay for your "privacy" ie pay to reject cookies or you have to consent to all cookies in order to access the site.

I did a little research and at least 2 of the news site, if you accept, allow tracking cookies from over 1000 'legitimate vendors'.

Is this going too far?

There are some that believe that the practice may not be completely legal. The following is an excerpt from a Reddit post:

The paywall option in and of itself is fine. Nothing says anyone has to give you access to their site for free. The specifics will depend on the terms of the paywall, but those are out of scope here.

The free option, however, does not appear to be properly compliant. This is because it requires consent for cookies, and implies (and does not offer separately) consent for further processing of personal data. It bundles the two together, and conditions access to the free option on providing consent, which means that, by definition, the consent is not "freely given". It's important to realise that "consent" and "freely given" have particular meaning in the context of GDPR.
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This would suggest that they aren't however as it stands it needs to be tested in a court of law.

There is a lot more to the reddit post how the long and short of it is:

  • No, this practice is probably not compliant with GDPR because consent is not "freely-given"
  • The paywall is a distraction. They don't have to allow access for free, but if they do they can't condition it on consent to unnecessary data processing.
  • The cookies are a distraction. PECR might not cover some of these, but the cookies exist to support the sort of data processing that GDPR absolutely does cover.

Interested to hear further thoughts?
 
I don’t think it’s fair expecting to have stuff for free.


But I’m not willing to pay for most of these sites as the quality of content is poor, and I’m not willing to be the product.



Subscription burnout for me - I feel like everything has become a monthly cost.
 
MrRockliffe said:
I don’t think it’s fair expecting to have stuff for free.


But I’m not willing to pay for most of these sites as the quality of content is poor, and I’m not willing to be the product.



Subscription burnout for me - I feel like everything has become a monthly cost.
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Most sites that give the choice freely state that you'll still be served ads on the site but they won't necessarily be 'targeted' to your preferences because the tracking cookies won't be present to track what you've looked at.

What I object to is that viewing data being sold on to hundreds of vendors & these Consent or Pay systems to me are almost ransom sites. Give us money or give us your personal data.
 
Resident said:
Most sites that give the choice freely state that you'll still be served ads on the site but they won't necessarily be 'targeted' to your preferences because the tracking cookies won't be present to track what you've looked at.

What I object to is that viewing data being sold on to hundreds of vendors & these Consent or Pay systems to me are almost ransom sites. Give us money or give us your personal data.
Click to expand...

Just a reminder though, that your personal data through cookies is never sold. It’s freely given out :(

The ad placement spot is what’s sold
 
Not sure how this is different to sites barred by a pay wall. If you want to use those godawful websites (seriously, The Mirror, Sun, DM and the Express, holy loly) then you can but there's a price. Agree to it or don't - it seems you have an option here, you're not being forced.
 
Resident said:
I did a little research and at least 2 of the news site, if you accept, allow tracking cookies from over 1000 'legitimate vendors'.
Click to expand...
if you have an add blocker like ublocko do you ever see adds on these media/news sites if you go for the free option ?
from fingerprinting of your device(ip address etc) they would know what articles you read, even though the browser may delete 1st/3rd party cookies when you leave site,
but (again) if you don't see the adds do you care.

if you have a link to a specific article on media sites can usually by-pass tracking by using internet archives.


google search, is itself, an odious experience if you don't login, you get a screen full of adds and nothing of interest until you add search filter ( eg. reddit, inurl:forum etc )
( I don't use twitter so don't know if that's bad. )
 
.. that's absolutely ridiculous! Holding users hostage to access basic information is a new low. 1000+ tracking cookies?! :mad: It's like they're building a digital profile of us without our consent. I think it's high time we started boycotting these sites and finding more privacy-respecting alternatives.
 
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If it helps expidite the demise of the tabloids by turning users away then I wholeheartedly support it. Unfortunately the masses are not concerned with pricacy of their data so it will likely only benefit the news corps.

/Salsa
 
That Reddit thing seems a bit iffy, no idea how a court would rule on it but just as a general argument, the consent is freely given surely, you don't have an inherent right to access any given content or website and if the options are:

pay for access
or agree to customised ads
or don't access it

Then you have the option to choose not to access the site, you're free to not access the site or you're free to choose one of the two options.

How is that any different to say cheap or free tiers of TV services where you agree to ads? See Amazon's Freevee (free with ads) or Netflix or Disney's cheap ad-supported plans.

Or indeed entering your email address and some personal details and consenting to be contacted because you want a free salary survey etc.. or some other service in return for a marketing/sales pitch.
 
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