Cookie consent tools are being used to undermine EU privacy rules, study suggests | TechCrunch

Most cookie consent pop-ups ... are likely to be flouting regional privacy laws... another piece of research ... also concluded a majority of ... cookie notices offer no meaningful choice to Europe’s Internet users — even though EU law requires one...

if it’s configured to contain pre-ticked boxes that opt users into sharing data by default — requiring an affirmative user action to opt out — any gathered “consent” also isn’t legal... dark patterns and implied consent are ubiquitous... [only] 11.8% ... “meet the minimal requirements... Implicit consent — aka (illegally) inferring consent via non-affirmative user actions... was common (32.5%)...

the fact of interrupting a web user to ask them to make a choice may ... render any resulting “consent” invalid... suggests internet users in Europe are not actually benefiting from a legal framework that’s supposed to protect their digital data... creating a faux veneer of compliance — atop ... a massive trampling of rights...

EU regulators have for years looked the other way... Enforcement is indeed sorely lacking... CMP vendors are allowing their tools to be configured... clearly intended to manipulate internet users... flouting the law...

browser extension that can automatically answer pop-ups based on user-customizable preferences. It’s called Consent-o-Matic