Does tracker protection override GDPR notices?
I have tracker protection switched on in Firefox, and Privacy Badger for good measure. I am used to navigating the various "Decline ad cookies" equivalent options whenever I visit a website, but - can I simply click "accept" and let Firefox/Privacy Badger block them regardless? It would save lots of time. Is that how it works? I assume so, but this seems to be a difficult question to search for an answer to - and when I click "allow", often the website reloads without the Firefox blocker shield icon. What's the story?
Thanks!
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Hi Ed, as far as I know, what you click in a page has no effect on whether Firefox blocks things or not. For example, if you tell the site you don't mind Google Analytics but you have Firefox blocking trackers in the page, you still won't get Google Analytics scripts running from Google's domain.
However, Tracking Protection generally targets previously identified tracking servers. Assuming you are visiting normal websites, the site's first party cookies and scripts are NOT going to be blocked by Tracking Protection or the cookie settings to block Tracking or Third Party cookies. If you don't want the site to set first party cookies, you'll have to either use a more aggressive setting or an add-on to manage those.
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Hi
My "day job" involves this kind of thing, so hopefully I can help.
Different websites use different GDPR cookie warning tools which makes putting a solution in place a bit challenging. Some of the tos are fairly simple, while others give you a range of choices to make.
I do keep hearing rumours from time to time of people looking to build an add-on that would take you through these screens automatically based on pre-determined choices, but the challenge is that the screens are offering more choices as they evolve.
Those two factors make it a real challenge, but in the meantime, websites are offering you the opportunity to take control of your data. That is not really a bad thing but yes, I do understand how answer those questions can be a pain.
Thanks Seburo - a personal bugbear of mine is that it should be as simple as clicking "decline" next to "allow" - not having to go into a menu of nested categories with sliders that are hidden until you expand each section - and that's the better websites. Some make it even more difficult, deliberately, or impossible to opt out. This needs to be regulated. But I digress! Thanks for your reply - my question is about whether tracker blockers make all this redundant; that is, can I simply tap "allow cookies" and let the cookie blockers block them regardless? Or does tapping "allow" send a signal to the tracker blockers that this website is whitelisted, etc? Thanks again,
- Ed
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Hi Ed, as far as I know, what you click in a page has no effect on whether Firefox blocks things or not. For example, if you tell the site you don't mind Google Analytics but you have Firefox blocking trackers in the page, you still won't get Google Analytics scripts running from Google's domain.
However, Tracking Protection generally targets previously identified tracking servers. Assuming you are visiting normal websites, the site's first party cookies and scripts are NOT going to be blocked by Tracking Protection or the cookie settings to block Tracking or Third Party cookies. If you don't want the site to set first party cookies, you'll have to either use a more aggressive setting or an add-on to manage those.