I’ve been using a VPN for a while, and I’m shocked by how many websites I simply can’t access privately. Websites use cookies to the maximum, taking everything from you without you even noticing. They are pure pickpockets.
Newsletters that can’t be read, comparison sites that freeze, and links from Google that require me to give up my privacy just to access them are all too common. When did accessing information become a transaction where personal data is the mandatory currency?
The Cookie Consent Theatre
As Sam Jones, founder of Gener8, accurately explained on BBC’s Dragon’s Den, cookies aren’t chocolate chips, they’re data-harvesting scanners that often make money by selling your information without your knowledge. It’s “the best marketing trick” dressed up as a technical necessity. (Watch this short 50-second clip in which Sam Jones explains it perfectly: here).
Yet here we are, bombarded daily with consent banners that offer the illusion of choice while making privacy the more difficult option. ‘Accept all’ buttons are displayed in bright colours, while ‘Manage preferences’ requires you to click through deliberately confusing menus multiple times. This digital architecture is designed to wear you down into compliance.
The Hidden Consent Problem
Am I the only one who feels that the current consent model is dishonest? When a website presents you with a banner stating ‘We value your privacy’ alongside 847 data partners you’ve never heard of, that’s questionable transparency at best. It looks more like obfuscation through overwhelming detail.
Even more concerning are the pre-ticked boxes and the assumption that silence equals consent. How many times have you hurriedly clicked ‘Accept’ just to access an article or compare prices? This friction is intentional and is designed to make privacy feel like an unreasonable barrier to normal internet use.
This isn’t just a poor User Experience, it’s a fundamental breach of trust between businesses and their customers.
When Data Collection Goes Too Far
Even when we consciously provide information via forms or uploads, few organisations properly consider the lawful grounds principles of the GDPR. Why does a recipe website need your postcode? Why is your phone number required for a newsletter subscription? Why is your company’s headcount required to download a white paper?
More often than not, the answer is that they can collect it, not because they need it.
I’ve seen contact forms requesting everything from job titles to industry sectors for what should be simple enquiries. The data collected often has no bearing on the service being provided. It’s digital hoarding masquerading as customer insight.
The Real Cost of Data Greed
This obsession with data collection creates numerous contradictions with a well-designed Customer Experience:
Consent fatigue: The constant stream of cookie banners has conditioned users to click ‘Accept All’ without reading them, thus undermining the entire concept of informed consent.
Trust erosion: Every unnecessary data request signals to customers that the organisation prioritises its marketing database over their convenience. When customers feel exploited, loyalty suffers.
Accessibility barriers: Privacy-conscious users, VPN users and individuals in regions with strict data protection regulations are increasingly being excluded from digital services. This creates a two-tier internet where privacy becomes a luxury.
Competitive disadvantage: While your competitors are collecting every possible data point, organisations that prioritise privacy often deliver superior customer experiences through simplified interactions.
What Genuine Transparency Looks Like
True transparency is about collecting only the information you genuinely need and explaining why you need it. It isn’t about providing 50-page privacy policies or listing hundreds of data partners.
Some organisations are getting this right. They use privacy-respecting settings by default, explain data usage in plain English and make it easy to access their content without compromising personal information.
These aren’t technical limitations, they’re design choices that prioritise respecting customers over maximising data.
The Customer Experience Connection
An increasing number of customer-focused organisations recognise that respecting privacy is fundamental to building trust. Every unnecessary data request, confusing consent banner and assumption about what customers should accept undermines the relationship you’re trying to build.
A good Customer Experience means enabling people to engage with your organisation on their terms, rather than forcing them to surrender personal information just to access your services.
When privacy becomes part of your value proposition rather than an obstacle to overcome, you gain a competitive advantage by showing respect to your customers.
A Better Way Forward
The solution isn’t complex regulation or technical wizardry; it’s organisational honesty about which data you actually need and which you would just like to have.
Default to Privacy: Make the option that respects privacy the easy choice. If users want to share more data in order to access enhanced services, allow them to opt in proactively.
Purposeful collection: Before adding any data field to a form, ask whether you can deliver your service without it. If the answer is yes, remove it.
Plain English: Explain how you use data in language that your customers can actually understand. ‘We’ll use your email address to send you the newsletter’ is much clearer than ‘processed for legitimate marketing interests’.
Respect the ‘no’. When customers decline to share their data or be tracked, don’t punish them with a degraded experience or repeated requests.
Conclusion: Looking Forward
The current model treats customer data as a resource to be extracted, rather than as trust to be earned. This approach is becoming increasingly unsustainable as privacy awareness grows and regulations tighten around the world.
Organisations that recognise privacy as a competitive advantage rather than a compliance burden will build stronger customer relationships and establish more sustainable businesses.
The question isn’t whether your customers value privacy. They do. The question is whether your organisation values their trust enough to prioritise privacy by default.
After all, genuine Customer Experience excellence means respecting your customers enough to avoid harvesting their data while they’re trying to read your content.
Have you noticed how cookie consent has affected your online experience? How would you define genuine respect for privacy from the businesses you interact with?
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