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I think you are missing the bigger issue here.

Many people will not click/not allow if they see a warning message. In fact many people will be either confused and scared and leave.

I.e. its not theoretically a problem if you assume that most users are rational users who read what is in front of them and make reasonable choices.

De facto though that is not the case and that means that a lot of business who put it up will see a drop in revenue even if they normally play by the books.

Furtermore it really does not help anything since those with malicious intentions can just put it up and still do all sorts of shady business on the back.



People should be scared. There are companies that know nearly every website they visit, how often, and how they get there. People don't expect this to be the case, but it is.

You complain about bad UX but the solution is obvious: don't use the tracking services and you won't have bad UX.


I personally never understood the problem. I want adds that are better targeted, I want them to know more about me so they don't waste my time with crap I am not interested in.

But that is just me.


You're in the lucky position of being informed, and being able to make that choice. 99% of people are not informed on this subject, so their data is being gathered without their knowledge, and without their permission.


Not sure what you mean.

I have no idea about what data and how much have been collected about me.


And yet you have no problem with it?


I think most people ignore the warning and click through based on the amount of toolbars I have to remove from PCs.

The drop in revenue hasn't happened for us and we've been compliant for months now. I think, based on the quantity of sites this is occuring on, that it's a non issue. People are used to it now.

The malicious people can be identified easily. Think of these changes as covering your arse rather than an inconvenience.


Different websites have different audiences and monetization schemes making your anecdotal observation uninteresting. It's also at odds with reams of conversion rate optimization data. What did Amazon report - something like a 500ms delay produces a 1% drop in conversion rate. I wonder how long it takes the average pensioner to click through?


Let me introduce you to my mom:

http://000fff.org/anatomy-of-a-noob-why-your-mom-suck-at-com...

Or what about when RRW accidentially rated higher than facebook on google

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebook_wants_to_be_yo...

Most users will do most by automation. I.e. they learn how to do through repetition not through understanding.

So what will happen is that a lot of users will basically get confused and they won't ignore they will leave.




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