I’m completely unsold on legislation. Another headline that recently hit the top of HN is about how Apple flagrantly ignored a court order. The judge has recommended the case for criminal contempt prosecution [1].
The comments on the story are completely unconvinced that anyone at Apple will ever be convicted. Any fines for the company are almost guaranteed to be a slap on the wrist since they stand to lose more money by complying with the law.
I think the same could be said about anti-cookie/anti-tracking legislation. This is an industry with trillions of dollars at stake. Who is going to levy the trillions of dollars in fines to rein it in? No one.
With a technological solution at least users stand a chance. A 3rd party browser like Ladybird could implement it. Or even a browser extension with the right APIs. Technology empowers users. Legislation is the tool of those already in power.
The comments on the story are completely unconvinced that anyone at Apple will ever be convicted. Any fines for the company are almost guaranteed to be a slap on the wrist since they stand to lose more money by complying with the law.
I think the same could be said about anti-cookie/anti-tracking legislation. This is an industry with trillions of dollars at stake. Who is going to levy the trillions of dollars in fines to rein it in? No one.
With a technological solution at least users stand a chance. A 3rd party browser like Ladybird could implement it. Or even a browser extension with the right APIs. Technology empowers users. Legislation is the tool of those already in power.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43856795