It’s 2020 and the EU still thinks more bureaucracy is the way to go. I am not entirely sure US websites should necessary spend more to accommodate GDPR, which itself should be revised and made less inconvenient.
If you are using tracking technology based on cookies or anything that collects information specific to a user, you will need to show the cookie banner and give an opt-in. Otherwise tracking/analytics is not allowed.
So... Every site you see this banner on has some dead bodies in their cellar and wants you to move on and not take a closer look. Just click "Accept all" and everything will be fine...
My 70 years old grandma or 12 years old cousin do though. Of course as tech people we know how to bypass most of the tracking happening on the web, that's not the case for the average user.
Really a great accomplishment by the EU... in addition to clicking a shitty "I accept cookies" banner on every damn website I visit, I now frequently also have to click another popup for GDPR and multiple checkboxes for GDPR when I signup somewhere. As if anyone ever bothered reading those.
As far as I'm concerned, it's all just a huge waste and the internet was better off before politicians got involved.
I bother reading those, and it's my fucking right to do so, as well as to stop using a service if I don't think it's worth the data they're taking as payment.
Arguing that I shouldn't have that right, because it bothers some people is like arguing against price tags because "they're annoying" and "Who looks at those before buying something anyway?".
And no, you don't click "I accept cookies", you click something along the lines of "I accept necessary cookies plus everything I've explicitly enabled", otherwise site is not GDPR compliant and you can just report them.
And if a foreign website wants to expand into the european market, then yes, no matter its country of origin, it will have to follow EU rules.
So, in conclusion, geoblocking the EU is just plain stupid.
Yes, there's nothing wrong with that. If you take money from EU citizens, then you can be expected to treat at least them in accordance with european standards. If you don't like it, then we don't want your busyness, as simple as that (even though that might not be the position of every citizen, it's essentially what GDPR states)