Google has come out saying that it will be phasing out third party cookies on its own Chrome browser over the next two years.
It comes after a recent study that points towards cookie consent pop-ups being unlawful and against EU privacy laws.
A spokesperson for Google has stated that its users want more privacy and integrity and that Google is committed to delivering it.
Third party cookies follow users from site to site, tracing their web history and browsing habits.
These types of cookies have already been banned by Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla.
There are a number of studies that have been conducted over the past few years, and there is quite substantial ongoing research into online privacy and cookies.
Some of the top universities in the world have conducted a joint study analysing 5 major companies that offer consent management platforms.
These consent management platforms, or CMPs, design and manage cookies and their use for web users.
The research has flagged up a number of websites that are not meeting the EU privacy regulations of General Data Protection Regulation.
They found that only 12% of websites actually meet the requirements laid out.
These websites are overcomplicated and filled with blanket consent configurations built in, with things like pre-ticked boxes, ‘buried’ decline buttons and multiple clicks just to get to the full details.
Half of the websites reviewed did not have ‘reject all tracking’ as an option for its users.
Researchers are saying that some of these forms can take up to half an hour to read, and that it is totally unrealistic to expect users to read through all of these options.
EU regulations state that consent forms for cookies must be informed, specific and given freely.
It seems that almost 90% of websites today are not within the regulations, prompting browser and developers to take action.
