Security News > 2021 > May > Activists Launch Action Against 'Cookie Banner Terror'
A group of online privacy activists said Monday it is taking action against hundreds of websites over their use of pop-up banners asking users to consent to "Cookies", the files that track users' activity.
The Vienna-based NOYB group said it would be presenting more than 500 draft complaints to companies over what it calls the "Cookie banner terror" which has turned the internet into "a frustrating experience for users all over Europe".
NOYB says it will file the complaints to regulatory authorities in a month's time if the sites haven't taken action to make the cookie banners comply with the requirements of privacy laws and rectify what NOYB calls their "Unfair" and "Frustrating" design.
The founders of NOYB include Austrian activists Max Schrems, who has notched up a series of legal victories over online privacy, including scuppering major EU-US data exchange arrangements.
NOYB says it has devised an automated system for identifying cookie banners that violate privacy regulations which could enable the group to file up to 10,000 complaints over the course of a year.
The group hopes that if its action is successful, "Users should see simple and clear"Yes or no" options" for data collection on more and more websites over the coming months.