Cookie consent banners have become a necessary but frustrating part of web browsing since privacy regulations like GDPR took effect. While serving a legal purpose, they disrupt user experience through repetitive interactions and often employ design tricks that nudge users toward less privacy-friendly choices. The time spent dismissing these banners accumulates significantly for frequent internet users.

Automating Privacy-Conscious Choices

One approach to this problem could be a browser extension that automatically interacts with cookie consent banners to select the most privacy-friendly option (typically "necessary cookies only"). The extension would:

• Detect cookie banners when a page loads using pattern recognition
• Identify and click the most privacy-preserving acceptance option
• Optionally hide the banner after making the selection

More advanced versions could allow users to customize preferences (like always rejecting all cookies) or maintain whitelists for specific websites. The technical approach might begin with simple pattern matching for common banner frameworks, potentially evolving to use machine learning for better detection of new banner types.

Balancing Convenience and Compliance

Unlike existing solutions that either accept all cookies indiscriminately or block banners completely, this approach aims to preserve legal compliance while maximizing privacy. For example:

• For users: It maintains privacy protections without requiring manual interaction on each site
• For website owners: It ensures their compliance mechanisms remain functional
• For the ecosystem: It could reduce "banner fatigue" that leads users to make quick, less private choices

Initial development might focus on creating a lightweight extension that handles the most common banner types before expanding to more complex cases. Making the tool open source could help build trust and allow the community to contribute detection rules for new banner designs.

While legal consultation would be needed regarding automated consent, this approach could offer a middle ground between current all-or-nothing solutions. By addressing a specific, frequent pain point without breaking website functionality, it might significantly improve everyday browsing while respecting privacy intentions.