The Boards.ie Subscription

I'm sorry this is incorrect and misleading…Mostly by boards.ie (Or lets blame there advertisement company), not by you smacl, as ill explain below..

(I was preparing my psy as @gipi replied with the same point)

Your post actually highlights how sneaky this is from them both, and what you can easily miss!!

And how it probable exactly why it is against EU Law. (Your compliance rates are interest however)

I done exactly the same as you…

After clicking the first 6 toggles off, you think your done - Great or not so Great actually

But you're not done at all I'm afraid, they have a further Hidden (hard to see/notice) option, it is a link at the very bottom called

"Vendor Preferences"

When you click on this there are a further 60 Tracking Toggles that need to be unclicked individually

And these are amongst about 300 or more toggles in total in a section that scrolls forever (Almost), and I'm still not sure if I missed any other links, amongst it all!!

I'm waiting for someone to tell me how this complies with EU Law, that I summarised from Gemini above, when they get back from holidays of course…

Here is one of the 60 Legitimate interest toggles, that you and many others probably missed.

"

Consent:

• Store and/or access information on a device (retention: 365 days)
• Create profiles for personalised advertising (retention: 365 days)
• Use profiles to select personalised advertising (retention: 365 days)
• Measure advertising performance (retention: 365 days)

Legitimate interest:

• Use limited data to select advertising (retention: 365 days)
• Develop and improve services (retention: 365 days)
• Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors (retention: 365 days)
• Deliver and present advertising and content (retention: 365 days)

Legitimate interest claim

Data collection methods:

• Match and combine data from other data sources
• Link different devices
• Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically
• Use precise geolocation data

"

At the moment as you said it a cat and mouse game, and its true to assume on the internet you are being tracked, but that does not mean we should always accept it.

If it's harder to get out of it it's a pain alright, but there's always a work around with a bit of code.

It's bad form that subscribers should even have to consider using "a bit of code", they're essentially already paying to go ad-free while creating the very content that allows the site to sell advertising. I'd be píssed to say the least if i'd subscribed and then had to deal with this crap and zero support over the christmas period where I had downtime and would want to be using the site.

:)
emmm
for boards it might be harder and longer, than for me(you, anyone) to do what is described in #1143 (or alternative means)

Why would one want to pay for a forum when you are likely to get warnings or bans ? Do paid members get more preferential treatment.

some are starting to use it as leverage though, there's a thread about Russian shills or whatever, where the OP & several other subscribers are stating they won't renew if it's not dealt with.

I might be wrong , but this is my uneducated understanding of this matter
user profiling is taking place and its not only boards involved. You will come across in consent statement(s) about "partners" - information shared. And partners do have their own "partners" - its chain reaction
"they" have your IP, location, device ID and your browsing habits to mention few. As we discovered above, this info might be stored up to 10 years. Not certain what it means "uses other forms of storage" - data stored on server side? This could mean you no longer in control of deleting data(clearing cookies)
Now, with this info from several websites but same metrics(IP,ID,location, etc) its not difficult to derive your life style and interests - was it you who consented to those 60 odd hidden "legitimate" interest claimers :(. You not alone, dont get upset to much :)

I guess "they" can "rightfully" claim that they dont collect "personal" data(but they might have) - this is because they dont treat you as a person, you (me, anyone) are a unit, number, node.
You have family(group of people that are related and share same interest)? - IP,ID,location set upgraded to lets call it "cell" , because cell members might share common interests.
All they care is to know your interests/lifestyle so they can serve you with targeted ads because it increase chance you might get convinced look-up or even to buy.
And if you click, even by mistake - €€€.
I even suspect someone is getting paid just because "node" spend more than x amount of time on the same page where the ad is displayed.

I am getting headache of my own paranoia :) , so yes, as many less concerned might say - the less i know the better i sleep.

However, in my own personal right, i dont want this to be happening behind my knowledge/awareness.
I would prefer and expect that boards, only as a sample, with all good and honest intentions to value my privacy, would oversee this and ensure that there is, as per GDPR regs, ONE and CLEARLY displayed button to decline ALL , no faffing. But there isn't, perhaps because this is the plan/financial interest(?) or boards just don't care(?).
Worse , when official institutions act the same way - gov, bank, etc - you might not have option NOT to visit site , because its requirement for one to be registered in this system to get your wages paid, you social entitlements/benefits , so on…

Hence i take certain steps to reduce my exposure to this sort of crap on my own, where possible.

I didn't checked, but would like to believe there were T&C's defining subscription entitlements (who read small print :))
And as far i remember it is volunteer based, so yeah anyone free to opt-in or -out.