Would you like a cookie - or are you absolutely fed up of being asked?

When the government published its proposals for striking new data-protection plans in the UK, all eyes were on cookie consents - those annoying pop-ups that appear in the foreground on many websites, asking whether you will accept cookies, tiny bits of text that can be used to track things about you, including:

• what you do on the site

• whereabouts in the world you are

• what device you are using

• where you go online afterwards

The companies behind the sites use this information for a number of reasons - ad targeting being a huge one.

But it also, they say, gives you a more bespoke version of the site.

If it knows you look at lots of technology news, it can serve you up more - and less about gardening, for example.

If you choose not to enable cookies, it can mean the site has no other way of storing this choice, leaving you to opt out every visit.

But now, the government wants to limit these cookie consents - suggesting instead a one-stop data-privacy setting applied at browser level.

Advertising revenue

Google tried something similar years ago, a "Do not track," header - but it was not legally enforceable, users could not check to see whether sites were respecting it and it has largely been dropped. A note on the Mozilla developer pages advises against using it.

The more privacy-focused technology giant Apple gives owners of its products regular reports about how many sites and apps are trying to track them.

But like it or loathe it, tracking and data gathering has become the way in which a "free-to-use" internet is funded - by content providers who can turn it into advertising revenue.

Even for those who fundamentally disagree with cookies, it has become a wearying war of attrition. "Yes, you can have my damn cookie!" tweeted a despairing Elon Musk.

Many critics say the pop-ups in their current form are pointless. A 2019 study found most cookies were "not compliant with EU privacy law".