Vienna (AFP)

The online privacy protection NGO Noyb announced on Tuesday the filing of more than 400 complaints against websites in Europe, deploring "breaches" of the rules on cookies, these highly contested computer tracers.

At the end of May, this Austrian organization had given notice to 516 companies, giving them a month to comply.

"According to the law, the + yes / no + option to cookies must clearly be offered to users", explained Noyb (for "None of your business": "It is not your business").

"However, it is often" extremely complicated to click on something other than the + accept + "button.

"Improvements" have since been noted, underlines the NGO in a press release, noting that nearly half of the irregularities noted had been corrected.

Many sites have thus added a "reject" button or have ceased to use different colors, a trick that encouraged the Internet user to click on the "accept" button.

"Big names like Seat, Mastercard or Nikon have instantly changed their practices", welcomes Max Schrems, head of Noyb known for having won a series of legal victories on the protection of personal data.

However, the situation is still far from ideal, according to the NGO which has therefore decided to bring 422 cases to justice, at the level of the competent national authorities when possible and Austrian for the rest.

"Main obstacle", most sites are reluctant to give Internet users the possibility of easily reconsidering their choice.

Activists also point to digital giants like Google and Facebook, which refuse to comply while "cookies" allow them to personalize advertisements according to the tastes and habits of consumers.

Against these more important platforms, 36 additional procedures were launched.

Noyb wants to comb through "up to 10,000 sites" over the next few months, hoping to end this "terror" of cookie banners, which goes against EU privacy regulations ( GDPR), which entered into force in 2018.

Statistics published in May show that only 3% of Internet users are really ready to accept cookies, but that more than 90% are pushed to say yes because they cannot easily be rejected.

In France, the Cnil, the gendarme of personal data, has launched a similar offensive to force websites to comply with the law.

In mid-July, she thus announced a new series of formal notices targeting "forty" recalcitrant actors.

© 2021 AFP