this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2024
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Crappy Design

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Noticed that theres no equivalent to r/crappydesign here yet so i made one

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The culprit: https://trustarc.com

Been noticing this provider getting used more frequently on other websites. Why are so many sites using this when it makes the user experience significantly worse?

And when it finally does process (which took about 40 seconds) you get this:

"Some vendors cannot receive opt-out requests via https protocols so the processing of your opt-out request is incomplete. To complete the opt-out process, please click here to resubmit your preferences." image

So there's no way to opt-out of all vendors... Am I being dumb or is this solution an utter failure in every regard.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Do you think the goal of this company is to make it easier to opt out of tracking?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

Considering Trustarc themselves have nothing to gain in allowing vendor tracking for services that use this, and the primary goal being to "ensure you remain compliant with global privacy regulations" (their words). Unless their market audience are services who want it to be as intentionally shit as possible? Maybe.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago

A company who wants to promote customer privacy has a very simple job, they simply don't harvest data on their customers, they don't install tracking files on people's machines. What Trustarc does for it's customers (the websites, not you) is to help them harvest as much data as possible without running afoul of the various data laws around the world. They are a compliance company, not an individual rights company.

[–] actionjbone 6 points 8 months ago

Their primary goal is to ensure the company remains compliant with global privacy regulations.

They're lying. They don't care about you at all.

[–] mindbleach 3 points 8 months ago

Or they're fucking lying.

Have you considered the possibility they're just fucking lying?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

They might market themselves as having a high opt in rate, such if they were properly informing people might be high, or providing a broken experience like this, would also be high.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago

Tracking companies selling ads: multiple trillion dollar corporate valuations, realtime activity and ML modelling, personally tailoring adds at an individual level, all within milliseconds

Tracking companies saving your opt out preferences: 👉👈 savings thwings is hawd mmmkay... Howd on while I save youw pwefewences, it'll be 30 days untiw they appwy.

[–] mindbleach 13 points 8 months ago

Why are so many sites using this when it makes the user experience significantly worse?

To force you to "agree" to whatever bullshit they're pushing.

I hope the EU eats them alive.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

Set up your browser to delete your cookies on close. Don't add this site to the exception list. Use ublock to block the popup. Never have to worry about it again.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

RedHat: The crusty asshole of the Linux world.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

That's a HUGE asshole, man. I mean, they have their own yearly, worldwide gathering and everything.