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@Floppy@mastodon.me.ukOoh, here’s a new dark pattern I’ve not seen before. Decline cookies and you get a spinner saying it may take a few minutes to set your prefs, with a large cancel button. Utter bullshit.
Time to see what the RAC have to offer instead.
@Floppy just use noscript to block the cookie perm script altogether.
@Floppy Fuck that shit. This is why I installed privacy badger and noscript.
@floppy I've noted that one for years. At one point it was common to sites owned by a large media chain, the name of which escapes me. That variant even gave you an estimated time of around 2 minutes; I presume that crashing the process was considered a tacit acceptance,
@floppy Being as stubborn as I am I would task-switch to something else and leave it to ‘cook’. Not playing their games.
@floppy As someone who implements / fixes consent management, I've previously investigated this behaviour.
It's not an intentional dark pattern, but it is a side-effect of a website that has an egregious amount of 3rd-party data collection.
The reason it takes some time is the TrustArc script actively messages every 3rd-party platform with a "stop tacking this user" and sometimes that is 1,500+ requests, many of which time out because they no longer exist.
@floppy TrustArc gets a bad rep because they are one of the few who provide this type of service - i.e. giving site operators the possibility of allowing their hard-coded, mass data collection to be blocked.
TrustArc actually provide a decent platform for "normal" websites, where a banner is displayed and it integrates with e.g. Google Tag Manager in order to proactively manage consent (i.e. no long waiting times involved).
@Floppy powered by definitely-don't-trust-arc
@floppy and because you didn't accept cookies, opening another page triggers another popup, with more wait time.
@Floppy yeah, I spotted that on TheAA as well, seen it on a couple of other sites.
@Floppy Sometimes they intentionally crash forces us to turn the cookies on.
摏 @Floppy Private tab/window, accept cookies, close tab (thus frying all cookies) next, please. Curses on the irritating little twerps who force us to do that.
@Floppy And "Accept All" is probably instant.
@floppy New? Had it a more than once for a number of years now - instant close of the tab, whatever the site
@Floppy Oh yeah, encountered one of those couple of months ago, and since saving wasn't "happening", I just went "OK, you don't want me here, so I won't."
I am sure there is European compliance directorate, perhaps let them know of the new technique to defeat EU privacy guidelines
Dagnabbit, Pascaline! @Floppy ALL of this! The nerve. The school I work for never even used cookies on the website and kept the form hassle-free, without storing data. This is all such utter bullshit. Sigh. I remember another one that had lists with lists in them that contained lists and you had to check it all to define the preferences.
Other sites are great. Like aljazeera: 3 buttons: 1. allow all, 2. reject all, 3. manage prefs. A sigh of relief. And the site works even with scripts turned off. Fresh air.
@Floppy this has been around for a while, they really, really hate their visitors.
Punishment for not wanting sousveillance :/
@Floppy not sure if consent-o-matic extension helps with this one... It's great!
@Floppy it may take up to two weeks to process your email subscription changes. Why? Why don’t you mind your fucking business?
@floppy Ugh...I'd probably leave the site and add it to a block list of sites that shouldn't resolve.
@Floppy The next button I'm hitting if I see that is the back button, not the cancel button. What a bunch of BS. Sites are certainly getting too big for their boots assuming their crappy site is worth putting up with all this bollocks.
@Floppy Good grief!
@Floppy if a site won't let me view it without turning my ad blocker off or won't let me see it without blocking all cookies then that site is not worth my time.
@britishtechguru @Floppy We need an ad blocker blocker blocker!
@grinningcat @Floppy A PiHole might do that. Just a thought.
#AdBlockers are psychological self-defense.
It's not just influencing people to buy Brand X over Brand Y.
Trump megadonor Robert Mercer used precisely targeted online ads (think Facebook's profiling, frighteningly accurate from a few hundred "likes") to get people to *doubt their basic values,* and hopefully not bother to vote.
The best websites, ones that respect us as people and not a product, don't interfere with ad or cookie blocking, and allow voluntary donations (without bludgeoning us with requests).
@britishtechguru @Floppy (Boosting my reply only so it'll show up for people casually checking my profile.)
@grinningcat @Floppy I use adblockers, popup blockers etc because many webpages are slow enough without loading videos of some politician licking his whiskers and declaring 9/10 politicians prefer unadulterated corruption to any other kind of graft.
I also don't like the way adverts are shoved in my face all the time. If I need a product then my purchase criteria will be
1. Do I need a good one or just a cheap one.
2. What does the local store sell (I'll pick it up on my way home from work)
3. What is actually in the local store as opposed to what they claim on their mostly fictitious website.
4. Do I want to pay a bit more and support a mom & pop store.
5. Any that have managed to get their advertising shoved in my face get put on my do not buy list.
Then and only if I can afford it and want to spend the cash will I select my product and buy it.
If a product is good, it sells itself. If it has to be advertised, it's no good.
@britishtechguru @Floppy Hear, hear!
It's against my religion to pay a premium to be manipulated, so a big corporation can tell us to buy its products.
And speaking of local stores, more and more supermarkets have in-store ads on the PA/tannoy - another abuse of our attention when *we're already in the store*!
And those gratuitous videos on news sites are horrible. When I look at an article, I'm there to READ, ThankYouVeryMuch. If I wanted a newscaster nattering on about something or other, I'd turn on the radio.
</rant>
(Public radio is actually quite good, especially when I'm driving.)
@grinningcat @Floppy Oddly enough, though I have a radio in my car, like the horn it gets little to no use. I prefer to listen to the sound of the car to make sure nothing is going amiss.
Yes - many local stores have some kind of audio advertising. I used to hate going to the bookstores. The books were interesting but the lift music they used to play was a dreadful intrusion. There I was trying to examine a book to decide whether or not to buy it with Karma Chameleon or Girls Just Wanna Have Fun blasting away at ear-drum rupturing levels in the background.
I have not had a TV in my place in over a decade. My dad put his TV in the attic as soon as the government stopped allowing over 85s a free TV licence. He just did not think the quality of what was on was worth any expenditure and he is correct.
@Floppy must have come from the “it may take 2-3 weeks to remove your email from the database. Are you sure?” People.
@Floppy and also illegal in the EU
@Floppy had this happen the other day when I changed my preference to this crap eBay is starting, they're trying to automatically opt you into their international shipping program. Turn it off, and it says "request processing". Why? Why can't the huge eBay corporation figure out how to change a preference instantly? What year is this? 