initialConsentState inconsistent?

[dev21]

I have been playing around with the initialConsentState setting. I have set two cookie categories (analytical and marketing) to initialConsentState: 'on' but, on first page load, the toggle buttons are in the "off" state.

If I then click the "Accept Recommended Settings" button and refresh the page, the cookies have been set.

Shouldn't the toggle buttons have been set to "on" when the page is first loaded?

I'm not saying that having initialConsentState set to "on" is GDPR-compliant but I'm sure some clients are going to want it set up like this and it seems a little confusing to have the toggle buttons initially set to "off" when initialConsentState is set to "on".

[Elaine Wildash]

Hi,

The documentation https://www.civicuk.com/cookie-control/v8/documentation says:

initialConsentState : string = off

Possible values are either on or off. All categories set to "on" will be accepted as part of the user granting consent to the site's recommended settings, meaning they will be turned on when the user clicks on the "Accept Recommended Settings" button.

[dev21]

But how does the user know what the "Recommended Settings" are, especially if the cookie category toggle buttons are set to "off"?

It seems strange that initialConsentState can be set to "on" but the toggle buttons are initially in the "off" position.

I would have thought that, in this case, people would see the toggle buttons set to "off" and assume that this is what "Accept Recommended Settings" will use.

[Elaine Wildash]

Hi,

I think the toggle buttons have to be set to OFF to begin with otherwise as soon as the visitor comes onto the site you are loading cookies.

However it would make more sense if the Cookie column/box stayed open after the visitor clicks Accept Recommended Settings - that way they could see the buttons toggle to ON and they would know that was the recommended setting.

I have asked about keeping the column/box open in another thread.

Elaine

[Artur Kirkoryan]

If you set everything to ON, the sliders will still show up as OFF initially. This is just for adjust the recommended settings.

[Zen4All]

This is very confusing for people visiting a site. They see the cookie slider set to off, press accept recommended settings, and find out later the cookies are turned on. IMHO the button should reflect the initialConsentState settings.

This may need some core changes to the consent module to stop cookies from being set on opening the site first time.

[dev21]

Do the cookies get set as soon as a slider is moved from "off" to "on"?  If not, then technically it should be possible to use "initialConsentState" to control the initial state of the sliders.

Of course, this goes against GDPR's opt-in requirement but I think many website-based businesses are worried about losing ad revenue if most users turn all cookies off.

Is it a case of "adjust your business model" to cope with the loss of ad revenue versus adopting a loose interpretation of GDPR with regard to cookies?

Cheers,

Kevin

[Zen4All]

Cookies are already set when arriving on the site.
In this case we are taking about google analytics with anonimized ip

I know most cookies on load are not according to GDPR, but I have a hard time convincing my cutomers that it is. They do not want to lose tracking, and advertising

[dev21]

I know most cookies on load are not according to GDPR, but I have a hard time convincing my cutomers that it is. They do not want to lose tracking, and advertising

Same here.
 

[Gerasimos Tzoganis]

Normally, if you have configured Cookie Control correctly, no non-essential cookies should be set on page load, as Cookie Control will delete everything when it runs. They would only be set when the users toggles them on and the widget runs the relevant "onAccept".

If you believe you have reasons to have cookies set by default prior to any user action, you could do this programmatically, by using Cookie Control's toggleCategory function. However, we would strongly advise against this as in our view this is in no case GDPR compliant.

Regards,

Gerasimos