Crumbled Cookie Exploring E-commerce Websites Cookie Policies with Data Protection Regulations

TL;DR

This study investigates how well 360 popular e-commerce websites comply with global data protection regulations regarding cookie usage to understand ongoing privacy violations.

Contribution

It provides an empirical analysis of cookie policy compliance across multiple countries' e-commerce websites, highlighting persistent privacy violations despite regulations.

Findings

Many websites do not fully comply with data protection regulations.

Persistent violations suggest gaps in enforcement or awareness.

Cross-country differences in compliance levels.

Abstract

Despite stringent data protection regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and other country-specific regulations, many websites continue to use cookies to track user activities. Recent studies have revealed several data protection violations, resulting in significant penalties, especially for multinational corporations. Motivated by the question of why these data protection violations continue to occur despite strong data protection regulations, we examined 360 popular e-commerce websites in multiple countries to analyze whether they comply with regulations to protect user privacy from a cookie perspective.