ANNOYING website pop-ups requesting consent for the use of cookies could be a thing of the past after the EU agreed to water down its tough digital privacy laws.
Instead of having to click accept or reject on a cookie pop-up for every website, new laws will allow users to set their preferences for cookies at a browser level – such as Microsoft Edge, Safari or Google Chrome.
Under the terms of the proposal, put forward by the European Commission, some ‘non-risk’ cookies – the name given to small files that remember user information – will not require pop-ups at all.
The move is part of a new sweeping package of proposals designed to simplify the EU’s notoriously stringent digital privacy rules.
Under intense pressure from tech giants and the US government, Brussels will change core elements of its flagship General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), allowing companies – including those running AI models – to freely share anonymised personal datasets.
Other tweaks to existing legislation include simplified AI documentation requirements for smaller companies, a united interface for companies to report cybersecurity incidents and an extension to a grace period for rules concerning high-risk AI systems believed to pose ‘serious risks’ to health, safety or fundamental rights.
That has been indefinitely pushed back from next summer.
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“We have all the ingredients in the EU to succeed. But our companies, especially our start-ups and small businesses, are often held back by layers of rigid rules,” said Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for tech sovereignty at the European Commission.
“By cutting red tape, simplifying EU laws, opening access to data and introducing a common European Business Wallet, we are giving space for innovation to happen and to be marketed in Europe.
“This is being done in the European way: by making sure that fundamental rights of users remain fully protected.”
The package of measures will now head to the European Parliament, where they will be voted on by MEPs.
In order to pass, the reforms will need to obtain the support of a qualified majority – at least 55% of member states, which must represent more than 65% of the EU’s population.
According to The Verge, leaked drafts of the proposals have already provoked outrage among civil rights groups and politicians, who have accused the EU of bowing to pressure from Big Tech and President Trump.
In order to sweeten the deal, the European Commission has sought to frame the reforms as simplifying the EU’s legislation, not weakening them.
But the changes are still likely to face strident opposition in parliament.
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