Open Letter: Civil society coalition urges EU to kill the cookie banner!
A coalition of 19 civil society groups, businesses, and academics has published an open letter urging EU institutions to support legally binding automated privacy signals as part of the Digital Omnibus package — a mechanism that would let people set privacy preferences once instead of clicking through cookie banners repeatedly. The tracking industry is opposing the proposal.
Why this matters: Cookie banners were never really about giving you control. They were designed to wear you down until you click accept. Most people do. The EU now has a straightforward fix on the table: let your browser or device carry your preferences automatically, so you never see the banner again. The tracking industry does not like this because your default answer, set once and calmly, is much more likely to be no. That is exactly why it is worth fighting for.
Who should care: Lawyers · Privacy officers · AI governance · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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