To ask why mumsnet won’t save my data preferences?

[Weeeare]

I’m finding it incredibly annoying when every time I try to click on to this website I’m asked to submit my data collection preferences.
There’s no option to opt out of all of them so I have to waste my time going through the whole list, opting out one by one.

To me it just feels a sneaky way to get you to give up and just click accept for all of them. AIBU?

They certainly save your data preferences if you agree to all they want

Did that by accident and the requests stopped appearing

In other cases if I click on to a website and it won’t let me opt out I just go find another website. But I don’t want to stop using mumsnet.

I thought the whole point of GDPR was to give you the choice. Not being allowed to quickly opt out isn’t really giving you a choice is it?

Despite going through and unchecking every single one of the fecking buttons, then clicking ‘submit’, twice so far today, and at least once in each of the previous two days, if I go to the bottom of the page and check my privacy settings, they are all reverted to the default.

Mumsnet needs to realise that this isn’t acceptable. People are making their data preferences clear, and having the system just revert them all to their default as if all have been accepted is not compliant with the relevant legislation.

Not just Mumsnet. I find I get asked over and over again for any site where I've actually set my own preferences. European based sites aren't so bad, but some of the American ones make me seriously uncomfortable. There's no way they can possibly need all the access they want. I click away and don't return, if not allowed to set some proper boundaries.

I don't mind allowing functional cookies or basic advertising - I understand that's how sites make money. But targeted ads give me the creeps, and I don't see that any website should have the right to know my location or access my audio and camera (!) , for example.

Yes me too, all the bloody time, it’s so annoying

YABU to ask here instead of in Site Stuff.

GDPR isn't going to apply to Mumsnet anyway, is it, once Brexit goes through? It's European legislation.

GDPR is enshrined in domestic law via the recent data protection act and will remain in place until its repealed by Parliament. It would be economically disastrous for us not To be GDPR compliant as it would basically stop all trading of services with the EU.

Obviously given who’s in charge that doesn’t mean it won’t get repealed because it’s so tricky to weigh up crashing the economy of the rocks v Dom Cummings wish to relentlessly mine our data in new and exciting ways.

@DrinkFeckArseGirls

They certainly save your data preferences if you agree to all they want

Did that by accident and the requests stopped appearing

I agreed to all yet still get the pop up box every time I open the MN page

There's a thread about this in Site Stuff

When an online product is free, it usually means that you are the product. Mumsnet has everything to gain by selling our data, and nothing to gain from us opting out of it. I just checked mine, and it is exactly as yours, despite opting out multiple times, it has reverted to default.

Mumsnet has also specifically stated that they don't have any control over the popup and how easy it is to opt out, but anyone in web development knows that's a big fat lie.

@contactusdeletus

GDPR isn't going to apply to Mumsnet anyway, is it, once Brexit goes through? It's European legislation.

oh dear.

Mumsnet has also specifically stated that they don't have any control over the popup and how easy it is to opt out

ha ha

anyone in web development knows that's a big fat lie exactly

Even without the pop up it resets the preferences to the default when you leave the Privacy Settings option. It’s fraudulent to lead users to believe they have set preferences that then just revert.

I very nearly started the exact same post as you, OP - I've been finding this infuriating too and it's made me reconsider whether I bother coming on to MN a number of times. Once was annoying enough, but when it asks you again every time, it defeats the object of 'having a quick look at MN'.

I do the same as you do - if I'm looking for info on something and their opt-out pop-up is needlessly complicated or time-consuming, I just close the page down and look for another one instead.

I hate the way they have the vendor preferences and then also the 'legitimate interest' section. Presumably, they're hoping you'll think you've opted out of all, but you've missed half of it. Even the vendor preferences are annoying - who is going to deliberately choose to opt out of one ad company they've never heard of but in to another?

I understand that free websites need advertising to fund them and have no problem with that - I realise it's part of the deal; but I strongly object to the digital equivalent of somebody going through my post or my bins and deciding on sending me what they think (invariably wrongly) I'll like, based on that.

Amazon keep inviting me to let them stalk me across the entire web and constantly suggest products I should buy based on everything I browse. Incredibly, they're actually suggesting this as a helpful thing for me - and I'm guessing there must be people who genuinely sign up for this?!?!

What infuriates me the most of all is the phrase 'your privacy is important to us', as if they're trying to do the best by you rather than trying to capitalise on your online naivete and sneaking in by the back door. To me, it's the same as your handbag being important to a mugger or your bank account being important to a scammer. For all of them, the 'your' bit is a fully 'negotiable' and temporary factor.

When I opted out of everything, including 'legitimate interest' , it kept asking me multiple times every day. It takes at least 10 minutes to go through the list deselecting everything.

Funnily enough, since I gave up and just agreed to whatever default options Mumsnet had set up, I haven't been asked again once. So the choice in practical terms was either go with what Mumsnet wanted or give up using the site because the alternative was time-consuming and repetitive and was effectively an obstacle to using the site.

When an online product is free, it usually means that you are the product
Yes, isn't this what they said in the Social Dilemma documentary on Netflix (I only watched the start though).

Very worrying that a safe place for Mums effectively forces you to give up your data protection with this pop-up being an obstacle to access unless you just give up and agree to it all (since I did that, no more pop-up, funnily enough...).

Just checked mine again and it's not saved my preferences - again. It's fine saying there's a thread in Site Stuff on this but that just gets the 'Oh, we'll get our IT guys who are working really really hard to fix this'

Totally get the ‘you are the Product ‘ angle. It’s the duplicity of pretending to allow options that are then erased that is wrong.

@Saucery

Totally get the ‘you are the Product ‘ angle. It’s the duplicity of pretending to allow options that are then erased that is wrong.

Especially when giving up and just accepting the default options makes the pop-up disappear and not reappear again. The problem only seems to apply if you want to retain some control of your own data...

If people are opting out of granting permission to use/sell their personal data, as is their legal right, and their data are just being taken regardless, MN could be on very dangerous legal ground indeed.

I'm also guessing that it's a bit of a rabbit hole when your data is used/shared/sold, whether legally or illegally, as once it's been given away to a vendor, I very much doubt the vendors - and all the vendors that they've sold it on to - have any obligation or desire (even ability) to keep checking back with their original source, to confirm that there haven't been any changes in people's ongoing privacy preferences.

It's a very poor show indeed - much as I don't want it to happen, if there is an IT issue, they should prevent anybody accessing the site until it's sorted, rather than letting people carry on using it oblivious to the illegal selling of their data.

Especially when giving up and just accepting the default options makes the pop-up disappear hmm and not reappear again.

Is anybody else reminded here of Ireland and their constitutional vote on the Lisbon Treaty? Entirely your choice - but we'll keep on asking you again if you make the 'wrong' choice.

I use the app and haven't had these pop ups at all but I've had them on almost every bloody website I use and unless you press allow all or choose the recommended etc they appear every time I load the page.

Has anyone tried it with this browser?

brave.com/

It is fraudulent to lead a site user to believe they have set certain preferences then reset those preferences to the default benefit of advertisers and other interested parties.

It’s a user’s responsibility to check what they are signing up for and the site’s responsibility to ensure privacy options are logged.