1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,400 Browser pop-ups aren't quite the scourge that they were twenty years ago, but nowadays 2 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:11,840 there's a new irritating pop-up in town, the one that asks you to accept all cookies. 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:15,360 So what exactly are you agreeing to when you click that button? 4 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:20,960 It helps to first understand what a cookie actually does other than provide empty calories. 5 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:25,360 A cookie is a small piece of identifying information saved to your browser. 6 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,360 Some are what we call first-party cookies, which originate from the website you're 7 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:33,960 actually on. These perform various tasks to help the website function, such as saving your session once 8 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:38,000 you log in, taking note of your location so the site can tell what the weather is like 9 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:43,160 outside, or retaining settings such as keeping the website's dark mode enabled. 10 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:48,280 Other cookies are third-party cookies, which are the ones that cause considerably more 11 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:52,840 controversy, as these are usually the ones involved in ad tracking. 12 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:57,400 An advertiser that places an ad on a website will also put a cookie on your PC that follows 13 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:02,240 you around on the web and tracks your activity, with the idea being to use that data to serve 14 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:07,720 you relevant ads. So if you're a big hockey fan that likes to read about your favorite team, you might 15 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:11,520 start seeing ads telling you to buy tickets when you're catching up on the news later 16 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:18,120 that day. Unsurprisingly, ad tracking makes plenty of people uncomfortable, so there have been 17 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:23,280 laws passed in recent years that attempt to limit it, most notably the ePrivacy Directive 18 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,440 often referred to as the EU Cookie Law. 19 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,680 This cookie law makes it illegal for websites to place cookies on your device until you 20 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:37,240 click on that agree button. And on the surface, this sounds like a pretty good way to protect users' privacy, right? 21 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:41,560 Well, there are a couple of glaring issues with that law, including when you encounter 22 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:49,240 daily. One reason that the ePrivacy Directive is suboptimal is that its requirement for the 23 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:55,200 website to give you a user-friendly option for managing your cookies is pretty weak. 24 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:59,360 You see, user-friendly sounds like a good thing, but many websites interpret this clause 25 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:03,840 fairly liberally, often to the extent of presenting you with a dark pattern. 26 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:07,920 What we mean is that the accept all button is a very attention-grabbing and very easy 27 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:14,400 to click on button. While some websites are good guy Greg and make the reject all button immediately accessible 28 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:19,240 and equally prominent, many others force you to dig through a less obvious cookie settings 29 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:24,600 menu where a bunch of other options for disabling specific types of tracking cookies are present. 30 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:29,440 With the option to reject all unnecessary cookies relatively hard to find on a site 31 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:34,040 where you just needed to spend three seconds looking up a fact and this is going to take 32 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:41,800 at least twenty seconds. And just like a terms of service or privacy policy, the vast majority of people aren't 33 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:46,280 going to bother to read all that cookie fine print when the notice pops up. 34 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,680 Most of us are just going to hit accept all and move on, meaning that you're consenting 35 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:56,840 to ad tracking in all likelihood. That isn't even the only issue with how these cookie warnings are designed. 36 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,880 The ones that flat out prevent you from viewing the website until you hit agree, called cookie 37 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,920 walls, don't even comply with the EU cookie law. 38 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:09,520 And others are so poorly designed that the reject cookies button doesn't just reject 39 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:13,240 third party cookies, they can actually break the website. 40 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,240 They reject all cookies. 41 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:20,080 Unfortunately the EU hasn't exactly been super vigilant about enforcing the cookie 42 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:25,360 law. Useless, user unfriendly warnings have become the order of the day. 43 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:30,240 So are we just fated to deal with all of these cookie warnings forever? 44 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:36,320 Not necessarily. There are actually browser extensions available, at least on desktop browsers, that can auto-dismiss 45 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,920 these cookie pop-ups. Combine those with setting your browser to simply block all third party cookies on its 46 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:46,760 own and you have a pretty decent way to protect your privacy without having to navigate irritating 47 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:53,440 menus on every website. For the notices that still slip through though, it is best practice to reject as many third 48 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:58,240 party cookies as you can, unless you really like getting targeted ads for embarrassing 49 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:03,640 personal care products. Thanks for watching guys, like, dislike, check out some of our other videos, comment with 50 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,000 video suggestions down below and don't forget to subscribe and follow.