I recognize the intent behind the GDPR and its efforts to enhance user privacy. However, the extensive corporate training sessions and the incessant cookie consent requests that greet users on almost every website are less appreciated. In response to this annoyance, the latest version of the Brave browser introduces a new feature aimed at eliminating these pesky pop-ups. Developers have named this feature “Cookiecrumbler.” This innovative tool detects and blocks the prevalent cookie consent notices scattered across the internet through various methods.
While Brave already possessed a mechanism for blocking these pop-ups, the challenge lay in the subtleties of cookie consent notices, which can vary from one website to another. Cookiecrumbler employs a combination of automated detection using large language models (AI) and oversight from human reviewers. This dual approach addresses potential errors in detection and translation, ensuring that the tool functions effectively across different sites. Currently, Cookiecrumbler operates on Brave’s backend servers, allowing it to crawl the web and develop tailored rules for each site.
The team has plans to eventually transition this functionality to a browser-based version. Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of this development is that Brave is releasing Cookiecrumbler as an open-source tool. This allows other teams to adopt, modify, and enhance the feature, potentially leading to a broad improvement in user experience across the web. In summary, Cookiecrumbler represents an exciting advancement in the ongoing battle against intrusive cookie consent pop-ups.