German government plans redesign: cookie banners to become more clearly

Anyone who spends a lot of time on the Internet knows the situation: a banner appears over the page and the user is asked to select which cookies are permitted. Annoyed, many simply click away - and often accept the maximum selection. The German Ministry of Justice now wants to change that.

The Federal Ministry of Justice is pushing for changes in queries about cookies on the Internet. "In the future, we want to make it just as easy to reject cookie settings as it is to consent to them," Consumer Protection State Secretary Christian Kastrop told the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung." Until now, he said, the sites were often too consumer-unfriendly.

Website operators must ask whether and to what extent users agree to the installation of small service programs known as cookies. The arrangement, size and color of the cookies often suggest comprehensive consent or even provoke erroneous approval.

Kastrop spoke of manipulation in this context. Consumers are also often annoyed by the complicated design of the query and click on "Accept" to shorten the process. A new law is however not planned, quoted the sheet the secretary of state. Rather, the ministry is counting on the establishment of a competence center for behavioral consumer research, as the "FAS" reported. According to the report, psychologists and economists will work together in this center.

Cookies store data on the user's hard drive when surfing the Internet. With their help, users and their settings can be recognized when they visit the website later. Cookies are used, for example, to present consumers with individualized advertising.

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