Dark patterns after the GDPR: consent pop-ups and their influence
These regulations seem worse than nothing. We already have browsers, we can block and filter cookies based on our individual preference and adjust depending on our tolerance for privacy vs functionality. How has this changed the data collection practices of Facebook or Google in any meaningful way? Not enough people are asking what effect the many new regulatory burdens will have for the internet. It entrenchs the existing players (know who has the money to hire 20 compliance officers for every Tuscan villa?) and makes the barrier to entry to compete more difficult. Plenty of proto facebooks have fallen by the wayside. Remember AOL? Remember Myspace? Now the big players have a hand in writing the law that potential competitors will have to comply with.