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We have created a new 1st party targeting cookie, “prov_tgt”. This cookie collects the information we will use to serve targeted course advertisements. You can find this new cookie in the list of targeting cookies Stack Exchange uses with your consent.

In accordance with our policy on when we request your cookie consent, when the cookie becomes active sometime today, you’ll be re-prompted for cookie consent. We’ll only re-prompt for consent on Stack Overflow, because the targeting cookie is only in use here. (If you consent while logged in, other sites on our network may store a prov_tgt cookie, but it is not used.)

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    Is this why the site is suddenly giving me spurious "cookie time" dialog boxes out of the blue now? 3 times in a row... yes, my cookie preferences are the same as 5 minutes ago. Commented Jan 31, 2023 at 15:35
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    FWIW, I got prompted twice on Stack Overflow within the same session (about 10 minutes apart, I think). Not sure if that is expected behavior. Commented Jan 31, 2023 at 15:35
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    Yeah - there was a minor hiccup rolling out the change, which was resolved in a few minutes. So, if you submitted consent settings in the few minutes after the change went live, you might have had to do it again (but only once). Commented Jan 31, 2023 at 15:38
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    Only twice, apparently, since it did ask me 3 times. Commented Jan 31, 2023 at 15:41
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    Based on the response to the announcement in the first link I'd say that the use of the term: "... with your consent." is rather specious. You would be better off working to improve the user's response to that announcement or advertising products that people appreciate more. --- When I use a free Android App (for example) I may not enjoy the advertising interruption but at least the ad is amusing, their targeting is working fairly well; those courses (advertised here) I suspect we do not want, and could find them easily enough if we did. Commented Jan 31, 2023 at 16:50
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    @Rob Stack Exchange will only store and use this targeting cookie with your consent. Your consent controls the targeting cookie, and therefore, whether we target ads based on your activity on Stack Overflow - not whether you see ads at all. If you do not consent to targeting cookies, you will continue to see sidebar ads as usual, but they will not be targeted based on your activity on Stack Overflow. If you have feedback about EdTech ads, I'd encourage you to leave it on that announcement post. Commented Jan 31, 2023 at 17:08
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    Any other recent changes? I get the consent dialog on each and every page refresh since yesterday. Commented Apr 20, 2023 at 7:15

3 Answers 3

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Yay, cookies. This would be a good time to update the cookie dialog to be GDPR-conformant, as currently it is not:

The dialog has a single button for "Accept all cookies", but rejecting cookies requires opening a menu via "Customize settings" and then saving the settings. This is a dark pattern as you are making it easier to accept than to reject cookies, and the GDPR expressly forbids that. The consent pre-selection in the menu defaults to rejection, so you're not as bad as the worst offenders, but it's still a violation. Google was fined €150m recently for the same behaviour, and have since updated their dialogs to include a "reject all" button. Please add such a button to your dialog as well.

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    Related: John Oliver calling out Stack Exchange cookie dialog Commented Feb 1, 2023 at 17:49
  • Given that GDPR has been around almost 7 years now, it would seem about right time... even without a threat of a fine. Commented Feb 5, 2023 at 19:32
  • Relevant announcement on MSE: Updated cookie consent popup adds a "Necessary cookies only" button Commented Feb 16, 2023 at 18:43
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    @DanMašek - Surely, in this day and age, GDPR would be seen as the pinnacle of privacy settings and sites would want to attract more customers by being truly compliant, not trickily compliant... Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 14:26
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In the browser console, Firefox (current release version) repeatedly reports:

Cookie “prov_tgt” has been rejected because it is already expired.

This notification/error appears in the console of a test profile with no browser extensions or userscripts.

Note: I have only necessary cookies enabled.

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I don't know if this is the same for everyone, but I'm presented with the same very annoying pop-up box asking for confirmation every time I use the site. It's not every page, as per @TylerH in the comments for the OP, though. No, I lied. It is every page, but only on SO...

Screen shot

This previously would present every time I used a different PC. Still annoying, but not as annoying as it is now.

Do we really need more crappy advertising? The web is full of it as it is. Charge me a monthly rate, if you like, but I don't want to see your adverts.

UPDATE

I've found that uBlock Origin solves the problem, certainly for Chrome, Edge and Firefox.

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