The French Data Protection Authority, CNIL (Commission Nationale Informatique & Libertés) published its first evaluation criteria for cookie walls.
As the CNIL notes, most services offered on the Internet are presented as free. However, this financial gratuity is not without compensation: the personal data of Internet users collected are very often used by web players to finance the services they offer by using, in particular, targeted advertising.
Faced with European requirements linked to the collection of the Internet user’s prior consent to the deposit of these trackers, many sites have chosen to use a cookie wall.
What is a cookie wall ?
The expression “tracker wall”, or “cookie wall ” in English, refers to the fact of conditioning access to a service on the acceptance, by the Internet user, of the deposit of certain trackers on their terminal (computer, smartphone , etc.).
Certain sites resort, in the event of refusal of trackers by Internet users, to implementing an alternative choice consisting of the latter having to provide another consideration.
The publishers of these sites seek to compensate for the loss of advertising revenue resulting from the absence of trackers through another method of remuneration.
In most cases, the compensation is financial, we then speak of a “ paywall ”: the Internet user who refuses to accept cookies is obliged to provide a sum of money to access the site.
Legality of cookie walls: evaluation criteria
The CNIL underlines four criteria focused on the most commonly observed practices, but in any case, must be used as part of a case-by-case analysis. In brief, the four criteria/questions are:
- Does the Internet user refusing trackers have a fair alternative to access the content?
- Paid alternative: is the price reasonable?
- Can a “ cookie wall ” or a “ pay wall ” systematically require acceptance of all website trackers?
- The user chooses paid access without consenting to cookies: in what (limited) cases can tracers still be deposited?
See more at cnil.fr
