WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.400 Browser pop-ups aren't quite the scourge that they were twenty years ago, but nowadays 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. 00:00:11.840 --> 00:00:15.360 So what exactly are you agreeing to when you click that button? 00:00:15.360 --> 00:00:20.960 It helps to first understand what a cookie actually does other than provide empty calories. 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:25.360 A cookie is a small piece of identifying information saved to your browser. 00:00:25.360 --> 00:00:28.360 Some are what we call first-party cookies, which originate from the website you're 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 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 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:43.160 outside, or retaining settings such as keeping the website's dark mode enabled. 00:00:43.160 --> 00:00:48.280 Other cookies are third-party cookies, which are the ones that cause considerably more 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:52.840 controversy, as these are usually the ones involved in ad tracking. 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 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 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 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 00:01:11.520 --> 00:01:18.120 that day. Unsurprisingly, ad tracking makes plenty of people uncomfortable, so there have been 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:23.280 laws passed in recent years that attempt to limit it, most notably the ePrivacy Directive 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:26.440 often referred to as the EU Cookie Law. 00:01:26.440 --> 00:01:30.680 This cookie law makes it illegal for websites to place cookies on your device until you 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? 00:01:37.240 --> 00:01:41.560 Well, there are a couple of glaring issues with that law, including when you encounter 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:49.240 daily. One reason that the ePrivacy Directive is suboptimal is that its requirement for the 00:01:49.240 --> 00:01:55.200 website to give you a user-friendly option for managing your cookies is pretty weak. 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:59.360 You see, user-friendly sounds like a good thing, but many websites interpret this clause 00:01:59.360 --> 00:02:03.840 fairly liberally, often to the extent of presenting you with a dark pattern. 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 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 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:19.240 and equally prominent, many others force you to dig through a less obvious cookie settings 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:24.600 menu where a bunch of other options for disabling specific types of tracking cookies are present. 00:02:24.600 --> 00:02:29.440 With the option to reject all unnecessary cookies relatively hard to find on a site 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 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 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:46.280 going to bother to read all that cookie fine print when the notice pops up. 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 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. 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 00:03:00.880 --> 00:03:04.920 walls, don't even comply with the EU cookie law. 00:03:04.920 --> 00:03:09.520 And others are so poorly designed that the reject cookies button doesn't just reject 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:13.240 third party cookies, they can actually break the website. 00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:16.240 They reject all cookies. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:20.080 Unfortunately the EU hasn't exactly been super vigilant about enforcing the cookie 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:25.360 law. Useless, user unfriendly warnings have become the order of the day. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:30.240 So are we just fated to deal with all of these cookie warnings forever? 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 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 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 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 00:03:53.440 --> 00:03:58.240 party cookies as you can, unless you really like getting targeted ads for embarrassing 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 00:04:03.640 --> 00:04:07.000 video suggestions down below and don't forget to subscribe and follow.