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The case for banning cookie banners

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The case for banning cookie banners
Published: April 07, 2026 at 13:02 | Source: theverge.com
Podcasts Close Podcasts Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Podcasts Policy Close Policy Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Policy Tech Close Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Tech The case for banning cookie banners On The Vergecast: the pop-ups nobody reads, the AI future of Google Maps, and E Ink phones. On The Vergecast: the pop-ups nobody reads, the AI future of Google Maps, and E Ink phones. by David Pierce Close David Pierce Editor-at-Large Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by David Pierce Apr 7, 2026, 1:02 PM UTC Link Share Gift David Pierce Close David Pierce Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by David Pierce is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired. You almost certainly encounter cookie banners all the time. They’re the kind of low-level annoyance that just seems to come with being a person on the internet: a pop-up asking you to agree to share some kind of information, with someone, for some purpose. You could find out more, but you don’t. No one does. You just click “Accept” and move on. Verge subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Vergecast wherever you get your podcasts. Head here . Not a subscriber? You can sign up here . Are these banners sort of annoying, or are they something more? On this episode of The Vergecast , Kate Klonick , a professor at St. Johns and a senior editor at Lawfare , makes the case that cookie banners are a much bigger problem than you realize. She recently published a paper arguing that while there may have been good intentions behind cookie banners, they’ve become bloated and useless — and in the process, they’ve created a new kind of interaction that means trouble all over the web. The only solution is to get rid of them, and do it now. After that, The Verge ’s Allison Johnson takes us on a Gemini-fueled journey through Seattle . With the new Ask Maps feature, Google Maps uses AI models to answer deeper, more complex questions about the world around you, and Allison put the new tool to the test. It went surprisingly well! But it does bring up lots of questions about what information we’re willing to share, and how much we want our computers to know about us. Finally, Allison sticks around to help us answer a question from the Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about E Ink smartphones, and whether simpler displays could be the answer to our smartphone problems. We have some ideas, and some reservations. Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Pocket Casts | More If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started: Ban Cookie Banners: A Case Study in Tech Regulation by Kate Klonick Kate’s website Google Maps is getting AI-powered ‘Ask Maps’ feature and more immersive navigation I let Gemini in Google Maps plan my day and it went surprisingly well TCL’s new Nxtpaper phones have a dedicated button for maximum monochrome Boox Palma 2 Pro review: one step forward, one step back Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates. David Pierce Close David Pierce Editor-at-Large Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by David Pierce Podcasts Close Podcasts Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Podcasts Policy Close Policy Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Policy Tech Close Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Tech Vergecast Close Vergecast Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Vergecast Most Popular Most Popular Is the Slate Truck too minimal for its own good? Logitech’s haptics-enhanced MX Master 4 mouse is on sale for under $100 Can AI responses be influenced? The SEO industry is trying Iran threatens OpenAI’s Stargate data center in Abu Dhabi Suno is a music copyright nightmare The Verge Daily A free daily digest of the news that matters most. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Advertiser Content From This is the title for the native ad
  • Podcasts Close Podcasts Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
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  • Follow Follow See All Tech The case for banning cookie banners On The Vergecast: the pop-ups nobody reads, the AI future of Google Maps, and E Ink phones.
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