Yes. It’s when the UI leads YOU to do the thing you don’t want. So unless the banner telling you that the site uses cookies is doing something to make you accept them when you don’t want to accept them (such as by not having a button to not accept them visible) having cookies itself isn’t a dark pattern.
Most sites I’ve visited since they had to disclose their use of cookies have clearly visible “accept all” and “reject all” buttons, along with a “more information” button that often lets you configure what cookies you want and what you don’t.
Given that cookies are just one of many ways you can be tracked on the web, isn’t the who cookie banner thing kind of pointless to begin with? You can be identified by the fonts on your system, browser size, add-ons, and canvas fingerprint, WebGL fingerprint, screen resolution, time zone offset, hardware specs, what peripherals are plugged-in… It goes on and on.
We don’t need tracking cookie banners, we need tracking everything banners.
Isn’t it when ui/ux uses deceptive practices to confuse the user into doing something?
Yes. It’s when the UI leads YOU to do the thing you don’t want. So unless the banner telling you that the site uses cookies is doing something to make you accept them when you don’t want to accept them (such as by not having a button to not accept them visible) having cookies itself isn’t a dark pattern.
This is… exactly what most sites do with their consent banners.
Most sites I’ve visited since they had to disclose their use of cookies have clearly visible “accept all” and “reject all” buttons, along with a “more information” button that often lets you configure what cookies you want and what you don’t.
You must be visiting much more upstanding sites than I do! 😆
For those still curious, here’s an article with some examples of dark patterns.
Given that cookies are just one of many ways you can be tracked on the web, isn’t the who cookie banner thing kind of pointless to begin with? You can be identified by the fonts on your system, browser size, add-ons, and canvas fingerprint, WebGL fingerprint, screen resolution, time zone offset, hardware specs, what peripherals are plugged-in… It goes on and on.
We don’t need tracking cookie banners, we need tracking everything banners.