Cookie wall, the Privacy Guarantor investigates some newspapers

Restrict access to a site to subscribers only or to whom accepts the tracking of their personal data is not excluded in principle from the European legislation on the protection of personal data, the Gdpr. This is what was declared by Privacy Guarantorat the end of a preliminary examination on particular cookie walls appeared in recent days on the sites of numerous Italian newspapers. Despite this initial opinion, the Guarantor has however opened a series of investigations to ascertain compliance of these practices with the European legislation.

The banners in the center of the guarantor’s survey report a very simple message: if you want to access the site’s content or do a subscription or you accept the profiling of your personal data. This kind of cookie wall, recently used by various Italian media, represent a binding mechanism, in which the non-subscriber user is in fact obliged to give his consent to the receipt of cookies. The practice has sparked many protests, both on the internet and through official channels. For this reason, following the numerous reports received, the Privacy Guarantor immediately put these initiatives under examination, in order to “Evaluate the adoption of any interventions in the field”.

Because there is a discussion about the cookie walls of some newspapers

Some outlets have decided that non-subscribers must accept ad tracking to read articles. The Privacy Guarantor wants to see clearly

The response arrived a few days later and the Guarantor noted how “The European legislation on the protection of personal data does not exclude in principle that the owner of a site subordinates access to the contents by users to the consent provided by the same for profiling purposes (through cookies or other tracking tools) or, alternatively, to payment of a sum of money “. A comment that seems, at least for now, to allow the use of the cookie walls in question to be kept active. However, in the statement released by the authority for the protection of personal data, the Guarantor stressed that he had opened “A series of investigations to ascertain the compliance of these initiatives with European legislation”, therefore postponing the definitive response at the end of further investigations.