There are an excellent way to see which sites I really can't trust. Which is unfortunately many of them. If they are willing to use that many dark patterns to try engineer accidentally acceptance of stalking, then I have no doubt that they'd carry drive-by downloaded rootkits if that were still as easy as it once was, there was a fraction of a sniff of profit in it, and they thought they'd get away with it (or could convincingly blame someone else).
The majority of the cookie banners that you see aren't even compliant with the regulations that the site owners claim that they are caused by, some aren't even close to compliant. At that point it isn't “malicious compliance” but instead “overstepping as far as they feel safe”. Almost none of the cookie pop-overs would be needed at all if allowing advertisers to follow you around your life was opt-in. You don't need to ask permission for anything that is strictly necessary, like non-permanent session tracking & auth tokens, presenting that part at all is part of the theatre to try convince users that the regulations are the problem not the sites themselves doing things that need to be regulated.
One of the most annoying bits of many is “legitimate interest” which basically means “we see your opt-out preference, but fuck you and your preferences we want to stalk you and we will”. Note that these are usually implemented in such a way that if you don't explicitly object they'll be allowed, even if you click the “reject all” button without opening the concertina UI element that hides them from default view.
The phrase “cookie banner” itself is misleading, though we are guilty of that as well as them. You are opting in/out of the ability for them to do things, cookies are just part of the options they have for implementing those doings.
And while I'm having a little rant… “We value your privacy!” — no you don't, you lying sack of shit. You value the opportunity to sell the possibility of invading my privacy to the highest bidder.
The majority of the cookie banners that you see aren't even compliant with the regulations that the site owners claim that they are caused by, some aren't even close to compliant. At that point it isn't “malicious compliance” but instead “overstepping as far as they feel safe”. Almost none of the cookie pop-overs would be needed at all if allowing advertisers to follow you around your life was opt-in. You don't need to ask permission for anything that is strictly necessary, like non-permanent session tracking & auth tokens, presenting that part at all is part of the theatre to try convince users that the regulations are the problem not the sites themselves doing things that need to be regulated.
One of the most annoying bits of many is “legitimate interest” which basically means “we see your opt-out preference, but fuck you and your preferences we want to stalk you and we will”. Note that these are usually implemented in such a way that if you don't explicitly object they'll be allowed, even if you click the “reject all” button without opening the concertina UI element that hides them from default view.
The phrase “cookie banner” itself is misleading, though we are guilty of that as well as them. You are opting in/out of the ability for them to do things, cookies are just part of the options they have for implementing those doings.
And while I'm having a little rant… “We value your privacy!” — no you don't, you lying sack of shit. You value the opportunity to sell the possibility of invading my privacy to the highest bidder.