When going through the cookie settings for a website or an app, some of the cookies are marked as “legitimate interest”. What exactly does that mean?
It’s not thaaat soft. It’s not quite clear what it means, exactly. The courts still have to work that out. But you will not get away with just any argument.
It’s never legal to collect more data than necessary and/or for an unspecified purpose.
Tracking for personalized ads could be based either on consent or on legitimate interest. If it’s consent, then they need to tell you up front what specifically they use the data for and some other things. If it’s legitimate interest, they can just start doing it, but still have to tell you afterward and also inform you that you have the right to opt out.
I guess, practically, whether a company claims one or the other is whether it feels lucky about a court case. With consent, you are on the safe side but it’s a little harder to get. Legitimate interest may get you more ad money in the short run but eventually, maybe or maybe not, a fine.
I don’t think I’ve ever been given an apparent choice to opt out of “legitimate interest” cookies, aside from blocking cookies at my browser
Then again I’m just trying to freeload off EU privacy protections
That’s because they don’t have to let you do that and mostly it’s counterproductive to let you do that.
A prime example for a cookie with “legitimate interest” is a session cookie. Your shopping cart or even staying logged in wouldn’t work without it, so it’s not a good idea to even give the user the choice.
Legitimate basically means “needed for the function of what you’re trying to do on that website”, so ads are not it, but session cookies are. Everything in between is up for debate. (Usage tracking etc.)
