alt Hacker News> To me, having a browser setting for cookies is the only sane way to handle this, it's surprising that this was not considered from the beginning.
There is one. It's a DNT header. Knucklehead websites ignore it.
> To me, having a browser setting for cookies is the only sane way to handle this, it's surprising that this was not considered from the beginning.
There is one. It's a DNT header. Knucklehead websites ignore it.
Because it doesn't mean anything specific and breaks entire business models (merely logging that you landed from an ad click and seeing if you check out counts as 'tracking,' doesn't it?) if interpreted purely literally. So, the only way to treat it is to either ignore it or to just send back an error code and message that says "Sorry, having some tracking is the condition to get this free content. Accept or don't."
Like it or not, the Web is a two-way street, meaning that the server end of the transaction doesn't owe the client end anything in particular unless there's some relationship in place (like a payment). It appears the "just ignore it" matches the intent of most web users, though, since an overwhelming majority of web visitors accept a bunch of spammy ads + free 'content,' and a slim minority pay for ad-free alternatives.