About the Author(s)

Senior Scholar

Mikołaj Barczentewicz is a senior scholar with ICLE, a senior lecturer in law and the research director of the Law and Technology Hub at the University of Surrey.

Related Research Programs

Data Security

Consent for Everything? EDPB Guidelines on URL, Pixel, IP Tracking

Mikołaj Barczentewicz January 17, 2024

How EU Law Influences Tech View Original Source

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You may know that the culprit behind cookie consent banners is not the GDPR but the older ePrivacy Directive, specifically its Article 5(3). The EDPB, a representative body of EU national data protection authorities, has just issued new Guidelines on this law. Setting aside that they arguably didn’t have the authority to issue the Guidelines, this new interpretation is very expansive. They would expect consent for e-mail pixel tracking, URL tracking, and IP tracking. In general, in their view, consent would be required for all Internet communication unless very limited exceptions apply (even more restrictive than under the GDPR).

Read the full piece here.