Strategy for managing web browser cookies?

[triangle]

Are there any browsers that provide elaborate options for managing website cookies? So that there is some control over long term cookie storage, while also avoiding interacting with every new website that is visited? While I think the general data protection regulation (GDPR) law is well meaning, asking for consent does make browsing more cumbersome.

I don't think this feature exists, but I would like something that would blindly accept cookies when visiting any site reached through a search engine and immediately delete them when the back button is pressed or the browser tab closed. Alternatively the ability to whitelist some sites, but auto delete cookies for all other sites might also work.

Any tips for managing cookies? And avoiding pop-ups asking about cookies.

 

[braumeister]

Ghostery is a browser extension that gives you a lot of flexibility in this area. It's free, although there is a more robust version (Ghostery Plus) that has a fee.

 

[OldShooter]

I use Adblock Plus, Ghostery, and clear cookies when the browser is shut down .

 

[sengsational]

Delete cookies on exit, along with maintaining a white list is what I do.

So if a site (like a bank or something) gets in a twist if it thinks it's a "new device", I'll add it to the white list. But if it just makes me authenticate each time, it doesn't get into the white list. Instead, I have the password manager populate the credentials and log in each time.

I also have ublock origin (AdBlock) and Facebook privacy add ons, the latter prevents Facebook getting pinged on every site that has a Facebook widget. I also have referrer headers off, but since that breaks some sites, I have an add on to quickly flip it on. This is all on Firefox. If a site is not doing what I think it should, rather than disabling things, I'll fire up plain chrome and see if it works there.

Kind of a PITA, but I think it's a bit like being the guy on your block with a security system...the bad guys go for the softer target?

 

[jim584672]

https://www.bleachbit.org/

"With BleachBit you can free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didn't know was there. Designed for Linux and Windows systems, it wipes clean thousands of applications including Firefox, Adobe Flash, Google Chrome, Opera, and more. Beyond simply deleting files, BleachBit includes advanced features such as shredding files to prevent recovery, wiping free disk space to hide traces of files deleted by other applications, and vacuuming Firefox to make it faster. Better than free, BleachBit is open source."

 

[braumeister]

Firefox has a new feature that I think just about meets the OP's desires.

Firefox 91 Introduces Enhanced Cookie Clearing

lets you easily delete all cookies and supercookies that were stored on your computer by a website or by any trackers embedded in it.

It's different from other methods I've seen, in that all cookies from a website are stored in a "cookie jar" for that site. Deleting that jar removes everything the site stored in there.

 

[qwerty3656]

Delete cookies on exit, along with maintaining a white list is what I do.

+1

 

[triangle]

Thanks for the comments. I use a couple of different browsers to minimize the cross site interactions, but wish it was a little easier to manage tracking while still getting some of the benefits.

This Forbes article highlights concerns with FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) and usage by google chrome. Though the article also states that the FLoC trial was ended last month. I have been using google chrome a lot lately, but I should stop.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdof...-10-android-and-apple-iphones-ipads-and-macs/