I am so sick of all these website cookies.

[grumpyduck]

Seems you can't get on a web site anymore without a "cookie policy" notice. Don't want cookies? You can't get in.

When I want cookies, I go buy some and have them with coffee. In the meantime, my browsers are set up to delete cookies and other bullshit every time I close, and I go thru them manually now and then anyway.

I don't give a rat's ass about "your" cookie policies, assholes. "Better online experience" is flat-out bullshit. My policy is, it's my computer and I don't want your fucking cookies.

So you can shove your cookies up your rear ends.

Whew. Sorry, but that felt good.

[MineralMan]

1. Interesting. You say "it's my computer,"

but you ignore that it's also "their computer" that you're visiting. Their computer; their rules. "Want into our computer? Here's a cookie for you to eat. Don't want the cookie? See ya!"

It is, indeed, your computer. However, the moment you launch your browser and start visiting websites, you're using someone else's computer. You either accept the admission requirements to someone else's computer or you don't get to use it.

They won't mind if you can't get in. They don't care, actually. It's a bargain you're making, though, if you want into someone else's computer. Basically, it's a take it or leave it situation. Every computer belongs to someone, see?

[grumpyduck]

2. I see your point,

but it'll all just another modern way to collect user data so they can bombard you with ads and such.

You seem to be okay with it. I'm not.

If consumers started putting cookies on companies' websites to collect information on what they do, where they get stuff, and so forth, these companies would be on it so fast they'd probably want to bypass the FCC and go directly to the Supreme Court.

[MineralMan]

3. Yes, indeed, that is what's going on.

Am I OK with it? That depends on who wants to put a cookie on my computer. What's the bargain? What do I get? What do they get?

There are many websites I will not visit, because I do not trust them. Other websites, I do visit, and accept their cookies, because I benefit from visiting those websites. Often, those cookies help make my visits more efficient and helpful. Amazon, for example, recognizes me when I log in. It knows the sort of things I am looking for, which helps when I want something. Google knows what I search for and their cookies help me search more efficiently.

Ads? Sure. I can ignore ads as well as everyone else can. And I do ignore them. Emails? I routinely mark emails from companies I visit as spam. My email client automatically puts them in my spam folder.

I can also delete cookies, either en masse or individually. My browser has tools that let me do that.

If you're going to use someone else's computer, you're going to have to do what they require or not use that computer.

It's a pretty simple bargain.

[grumpyduck]

4. "If you're going to use someone else's computer, you're going to have to do what they require... "

"...or not use that computer."

Yup, and that needs to go both ways.

[MineralMan]

6. Yes, of course.

When you refuse to accept cookies, they don't get to put anything on your computer --- maybe.

You can avoid all such things by never going to other people's websites, of course. Probably you're not interested in doing that, though. You know that DU uses cookies, right? You should also read the TOS of any site you log into. If you accept a site's TOS, then you've made a bargain with that site, as well. Better read it. What you agreed to might surprise you.

The internet isn't free. It's not. Websites cost money to run. People with websites probably want something from you in return for allowing you to have access, one way or another. Scary, isn't it? Better find out what the bargain is.

[MiniMe]

12. They want your information so they can sell it

It sucks! I'm feeling the same way about phones these days. I pay a lot of money for a cell phone, and I don't want my phone to try to get me to buy products. STOP.

[MineralMan]

14. Yes. That's part of their business model.

So, don't use them, if that bothers you. That's my suggestion.

I don't get ads on my cell phone, though. It even blocks spam phone callers. My phone has never tried to get me to buy anything.

[Hortensis]

25. Exactly. Don't want to pay for service? DO WITHOUT.

We also pay for our adless cellphone service.

Speaking of, a long time ago I broke my husband of complaining about TV commercials after he'd just started up, copying friends, midlife crisis, or something, and wouldn't stop. I thought it was worse than unpleasant -- acting like he was entitled to something for nothing and as if he was a victim to boot.

Since he kept it up, I told him I'd pay myself for having to listen to him by getting extra cash at supermarket checkout, amount whatever I felt like. Took awhile, he didn't really realize what I was doing, but he did when I paid for my wonderful yellow 7.5-qt Le Creuset dutch oven, very old now but still beloved. The price was horrific for me and paying actually kind of painful, but I thanked him sincerely for making it possible. He was nice about it, but he declined to stroll down the mall to see what I had my eye on next and that pretty much ended the whole thing. Darn, looking back.

[Mosby]

5. I just ran across this site.

Type in your name and city.

JFC.

https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/

[MineralMan]

7. Sure. Were you surprised?

And guess what? By typing in your name and city, you provided them your information, too. But, they already had it, so...

[LeftInTX]

11. Most of their data is derived from public records and not cookies

Then you have to pay if you want to find out anything about anyone.

They obtain phone numbers from the carriers. Often the numbers are wrong. (Mine are all wrong. I get a kick out of it)
They obtain criminal and traffic records from courthouses.
The also obtain phone numbers from "retail rewards"
They also get residence information from voter registration records.
They obtain vehicle info from the DMV public records.
They also obtain addresses from public online property databases.
They obtain social media account via guesswork.
For example: Linked In. It's pretty obvious that so and so is the same person mainly because that's the way Linked In works.

I'm a Been Verified subscriber.

[Mosby]

28. Yeah, I know all that.

What I find surprising is my wife's info. They have her work telephone number and address. They know who she worked for 40 YEARS ago, the company is long defunct. My deceased parents are linked to her somehow.

With me, I played around with middle names back in the day, and it threw off the marketing companies, so my info isn't quite right.

[USALiberal]

17. You can stop using the Internet and the problem goes away

[FakeNoose]

8. Browsers such as Chrome can be set to "delete all cookies" each time you close the ap

I'm sure other browsers have a similar setting. But when you "delete all cookies" you also delete things that you might have preferred to save, so that's the caveat. Deleting all cookies means you have to manually enter (and remember) the user name, password and privacy settings for each website, every time you go there. When you keep their cookies, you don't have to do that.

To each his own.

[Mme. Defarge]

9. Sometimes I'm able to access entire articles

on my iPhone by selecting the Show Reader option without agreeing to allowing “cookies”.

[hunter]

10. uBlock Origin takes care of a lot of nonsense.

https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock

I turn it off for some advertising supported technical sites I regularly visit, sites that don't have any obnoxious advertising or cookie policies.

For sites like DU I donate or subscribe to make the ads go away.

If a site accepts advertising that annoys me, or they have cookie policies that annoy me, I don't visit them. If a site irritates me a lot, with ads that flash or make noise or promise to make my dick bigger, I blacklist them, essentially removing them from my personal universe.

[LeftInTX]

13. This is a EU policy that was started in 2021

EU requires all sites that have cookies, to require consent.

It's hard to avoid cookies because many sites require me to disable my ad blocker.

There is an extension in Firefox that allows me to remove cookies after I visit a site. I really like it.
However, you don't want to remove cookies from a site where you log in, unless you have the password memorized and don't mind re-entering it to access the site.

[grumpyduck]

16. "EU requires all sites that have cookies, to require consent."

Ha, try doing that here!

Sometimes I think people over there are far more civilized than we are.

[Dave says]

30. Wild, wild west

Years ago, when I did business in Europe, I’d feel like I was leaving civilization for the wild, wild west when boarding a plane for home.

Europe has its problems, but nothing like we have here. Mostly adults run the ships of state there while here, not so much.

[DFW]

15. Add me to your list of signatories

I don't know HOW many good articles I might have missed out on, but i CAN'T STAND all those "click to accept all" tabs. I just click off the site altogether.

[msongs]

18. cookies have been around for decades. they are not a new thing. as posted above the EU has a

cookies notice policy and perhaps other places have started having them as well

[grumpyduck]

19. Yes they have

but it wasn't until recently that so many sites hit you with their "policy" as soon as you enter.

[brooklynite]

20. There are two issues here: the existence of cookies and the consent to them...

Cookies have existed for over a decade. Almost all websites use them.

The need to consent to the cookie policy is a recent development coming out of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which requires approval by the user of any code which collects information about the user (account names, passwords, pages visited, default addresses, etc.). Its easier for websites to apply the permission request to all users, rather than just to EU residents.

[grumpyduck]

22. Okay, so in the EU, if someone doesn't consent,

are they not allowed to enter the site?

[brooklynite]

23. That's dependent on the website.

[Torchlight]

29. Existed for over a decade? Try since 1994 at Netscape.

Though I guess almost 30 years is a form of "over a decade"

[Silent3]

21. I find it far more annoying to deal with all of these popups nagging me...

...than having websites leave cookies.

I have a few hobbyist web sites myself. No advertising on them, no tracking cookies, just a few cookies for saving user preferences and configuration.

I've never even bothered to think if my web sites might not be allowed in the EU because I don't nag visitors about these cookies.

[Emrys]

24. Somebody mentioned uBlock Origin up there,

there are a bunch of similar plugins you can add to most browsers that can give you back some control over how you're tracked and what cookies get deposited on your computer. Refusing certain cookies etc. may affect the usability of a site (or deny you access altogether in some cases), so you may have to go through some trial and error and do some whitelisting.

One popular one I use is Ghostery, which serves all my needs: https://www.ghostery.com/ghostery-browser-extension

For example, on DU, which isn't bad for intrusion, it has one advertising and one site analytic tracker blocked for me (as a star member).

[TheBlackAdder]

26. FireFox w/NoScript, uBlock, DuckDuckGo's Privacy Essentials & EFF's Badger cuts all ads/tracking out

[WarGamer]

27. DuckDuckGo

[canetoad]

31. Cookie Bro is a browser add-on

For Firefox and Waterfox. You can manage cookies - save your logins or delete at browser close. Best of all, you can back it up to a text file and restore all your choices.