The British privacy regulator ICO is set to take action against deceptive cookie banners that encourage people to disclose more personal information than they actually wish to. These banners seek visitors’ consent to place tracking cookies but are designed intentionally to make it difficult to say no. This involves intricate privacy controls and default settings that provide visitors with less privacy, according to the ICO.
When individuals have less control over how their data is collected and used, it can harm them and weaken competition. In the investigation and addressing of deceptive cookie banners, the ICO is collaborating with the British competition authority CMA. The initial focus will be on the cookie banners of the most popular websites in the United Kingdom, with necessary actions taken where required.
“Some of these design decisions are so subtle and have been occurring for so long that you don’t even realize you’re handing over personal information until it’s too late, and these techniques could be used by thousands of websites in the UK,” says Stephen Almond of the ICO.
He notes that such design tricks can have genuine and adverse effects on people. “For instance, if someone is recovering from a gambling addiction, being nudged to accept all cookies could result in constantly seeing gambling advertisements, which can be very harmful.”
