ePrivacy Regulation - the EU is ruining the internet

On May 25, 2018 the EU DSGVO, the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union, which is intended to benefit data protection on the Internet and thus the consumers. But the European confederation is already thinking a step further, namely with the ePrivacy Regulation. This could make the Internet, as we know and use it today, a bit safer, but also much more complicated, more frustrating and extremely annoying, exhausting and desperate for the digital economy as well as for (private) users. What this has to do with cookies and advertising, I have prepared for you here.

Note: I am not a lawyer, but an ambitious internet user and service provider in the web area. Therefore this is only the reproduction of researched knowledge in combination with subjective opinion. If you need legal help, a specialist will be happy to ask ;)

Welt / Bilanz: "When data protection becomes a nightmare"

Under the headline When data protection becomes a nightmare yesterday there was an interesting column about the planned ePrivacy regulation of the EU in the online edition of the Bilanz-Magazin (on the world website). This should build on the unnerving GDPR and, above all, act against the unsolicited setting of cookies. This would put an end to the times of "By using our offers, you agree to the use of cookies" and similar notices. Because the user would have to agree to the same before setting the small tracking files. If he does not do this, the offer on the website will be less or not individualized at all - and that has far-reaching consequences.

Who in the above column addressed, the EU ePrivacy Regulation would affect the advertising displayed on websites, among other things. If the user rejects cookies out of reluctance or frustration (due to a number of messages on pretty much every page), then the website cannot display individual advertising. If the site is not allowed to set any cookies / only a few cookies and evaluate the data obtained, the advertising attractiveness of the offer is reduced. Less well-clicked advertising means less income and therefore no basis for a (free) offer of websites. For example, publishers' news sites would become more dependent on subscription models.

Here I have briefly summarized the individual points of the above article on the ePrivacy Regulation, cookies and effects of the European Union's project:

• Introduction: The regulation on extended privacy on the Internet has not yet been fully adopted, but could have far-reaching consequences that could be negative for all sides.
• Cookies help to realize personalized offers: Profile data, transaction data and web usage history help to individualize websites, their offers and advertising. If this is omitted, research, shopping and so on become more difficult; and advertising revenue is lost.
• No more free offers: news sites from publishers and editorial offices, weather forecasts and similar professional web offers thrive on personalized advertising. If this ceases to exist, then these free sources of information for consumers could disappear.
• Income, jobs and more will be lost: The individual pieces of information about users and their behavior on the Internet are definitely worth their weight in gold. If the information is lost, it can result in up to 67 billion euros and many jobs in the digital economy.
• It's our own fault: the digital economy, politics and the media have tried, but not successfully, to properly and positively communicate the benefits of data, cookies and the like. In addition, a lot of half and false knowledge is made “at the top” politics, which (probably in the near future) will make life on the web more difficult for everyone.

Cookies: important, annoying and a reason for detours

"This website uses cookies to ..." and so on - one reads this and similar sentence beginnings again and again and is annoyed again. Hopefully I have made clear in the above statements and summaries that cookies can be equally important for users and web offers. Due to different regulations from 2009, 2015, 2018 (GDPR) and the perhaps upcoming ePrivacy regulation, reports are becoming more frequent and the frustration when using the Internet is greater. At the same time you can see how amateurish the individual decision-makers express themselves about the web and see only the rather small negative sides as old EU potatoes.

From the developer and user side, the problems that arise are then solved digitally so that the individual regulations can still have an effect, but one is no longer confronted with them all the time. Like you among others in this GIGA article can read, there are usable add-ons for individual browsers, which prevent the annoying cookie hints and make the web enjoyment crumb-free again. The add-on is shown I don't care about cookies, the name of which will speak from the hearts of many users. The download is available for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Pale-Moon.

The fact that such software exists and that it is used successfully by many shows that a large number of users have come to terms with the use of cookies. Some are probably only annoyed by the messages, but others also know that the inference files are important elements when surfing the net. Whatever the reason, the aforementioned and similar add-ons show that users do not want to keep reading that cookies are being used. It's clear anyway and more than okay for many.

The EU ePrivacy Regulation is coming?

I have to admit: I am completely unnerved by the GDPR, as I currently have to check the imprint and install or update the data protection declaration on a number of customer websites, and also have to scrutinize a number of customer Wordpress blogs to see if there is something wrong somewhere hides a plugin or setting that may use the user's IP. If the ePrivacy Regulation is added to the General Data Protection Regulation in the future, then this will mean even more work - if you also see that such regulations actually only have negative consequences, then it is doubly frustrating.

Your opinion on GDPR and ePrivacy

What do you think about the topic? What is your opinion on cookies and how do you deal with the small files that secure your individual surfing and the survival of the pages as well as jobs? Is the issue of e-privacy viewed too negatively here and have I overlooked a decisive, positive point of the planned regulation? Whatever you have to say about it, please put it in a comment below this article! ;)

Jen Kleinholz( Founder & Sir Apfelot )

Jens has been running the blog since 2012. He acts as Sir Apfelot for his readers and helps them with technical problems. In his spare time he rides electric unicycles, takes photos (preferably with the iPhone, of course), climbs around in the Hessian mountains or hikes with the family. His articles deal with Apple products, news from the world of drones or solutions to current bugs.