Hacker News Reader

Comment by iamben | Hacker News Reader

Not defending cookies - but I just don't think most of the rest of the world cares. Outside of the tech bubble that really cares, I'm not sure I know a single non-tech person that, other than 'the popup', even knows what a cookie is (let alone gives a damn). 99% of my non-tech friends/relatives are just bored of 'the box thing that comes up every time you visit a website'. No one it them and everyone just clicks the quickest button ('Accept All') to just get on with whatever they were trying to look at.

View on HN

Just because people don't understand the technical details doesn't mean they don't want the outcome.

Like how 96% of iOS users asked apps not to track them.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/96-of-us-users-opt-o...

Turns out, when you follow the GDPR and make it as easy to give as it is to remove/reject consent, people will generally reject consent to be tracker and personally identified unnecessarily.

When you get prompted with a mandatory dialog that you must answer where one of the two choices offers no clear benefits, of course no one is going to pick that one. This is a meaningless statistic.

That’s why phrasing questions and choices in any kind of poll or survey is a complex subject if the goal is to ensure minimal bias.

What would then be a way to phrase the question with minimal bias in your opinion? What are these benefits I'm missing out on when I deactivate tracking?

Also, judging by the screenshot in the article, Apps can show text to justify the tracking, so they have all chances to phrase that with bias in their favor! Still people don't want it.

I don’t know. I’m not saying it should be.

I’m just saying Apple clearly built this modal to encourage everyone to press no.

This is true... but it's also why we, as the informed parties, must actively push change. The 99% of folks who don't understand are going to be taken advantage of, and actively harmed, by privacy issues they don't understand. It's why the default needs to be the right one for consumers.

Isn't it our jobs as the people who understand these things and are implementing the technologies to not take advantage of the fact that most people using them are ignorant to how this stuff works?

I wouldn't expect the people who built bridges to install technology that secretly tracked you every time you crossed over them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com