Masterarbeit im Studiengang IT-Sicherheit von Ken Vogt: Third Party Data Access Manager for Transparent Interventions for Cookie Consent Forms

Abstract: Navigating cookie consent forms and other types of cookie management mechanisms has become a recurring experience for users. Since the GDPR came into effect, website operators have to obtain informed consent before placing non-essential cookies. But this is not always adhered to: Users are frequently manipulated via dark patterns or hiding of crucial information, thus making an informed privacy choice impossible.

While many automated tools for cookie management exist, they often lack transparency, cause breakage of websites or enforce the user’s privacy settings differently. This thesis proposes Cookie Lens, a Firefox browser extension to present cookie information of websites in a clear and unbiased manner. Cookie Lens analyzes the cookie consent forms of popular websites and visualizes the data in a table format. This enables users to obtain transparent cookie information without manipulation or the necessity to navigate convoluted sub menus.

Cookie Lens is tested via a qualitative user study with participants giving feedback on functionality and user interface. The study finds that this form of visualization enabled users to gain transparency on which of their personal data is processed, who it is being sent to and what exactly consenting to cookies on a website entails.

Betreuer*in: Kilian Demuth, M.Sc.
Prüfer: Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Reuter