Consenter Agent

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Privacy questions, answered.

Consent Agent FAQs

What is the difference between the Consenter Agent and other browser extensions?

Browser extensions such as Ghostery or Consent-O-Matic operate within the existing cookie banner system, albeit in different ways: Ghostery blocks all cookie banners without requiring internet users to make a decision. Consent-O-Matic goes one step further. Here, internet users can set their own preferences, which the extension then passes on to the cookie banners. However, internet users generally face the problem here that they do not understand the benefits and risks of giving or refusing consent for a specific purpose. As a result, they may miss out on benefits they might otherwise use, or take risks they would prefer to avoid.

Furthermore, these extensions do not help website operators who wish to set up their websites in a privacy-friendly way and inform their visitors as transparently and trustworthily as possible about their data processing purposes. These browser extensions therefore do not solve the problem that neither internet users nor website operators understand who is doing what with the data, and to whose disadvantage or advantage.

Consenter takes a different approach. Consenter is a trust service that enables internet users not only to overcome their ‘consent fatigue’, but also to make truly self-determined decisions about the use of their data. To this end, Consenter presents the respective benefits and risks for internet users for every data processing purpose for which websites wish to obtain consent, and makes these as comprehensible as possible through visualisations.

At the same time, Consenter supports website operators in obtaining transparent, trust-building and GDPR-compliant consent. In this way, privacy-friendly services are, for the first time, given the opportunity to communicate their level of data protection in an easily understandable way and turn this into a competitive advantage.

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What happens if a website does not accept the consent signals from the Consenter agent?

The Consenter Agent blocks cookie banners from websites that do not accept the consent signals set by the internet users. In this case, no consent can be requested, and the website is not permitted to process personal data.

Why does Consenter provide its own cookie banner, even though the consent agent blocks cookie banners?

Consenter combines a consent agent with a cookie banner that is legally, visually and technically compliant. It is this combination that enables truly informative, trustworthy and legally compliant consent.

The Consenter Agent only blocks cookie banners that do not respect the decisions made by users in their consent agent. Consenter does not block cookie banners that comply with Consenter’s legal, visual and technical requirements.

Why do websites sometimes not display properly when I use the Consent Agent?

Our blocking feature may sometimes cause display issues on some websites. You can easily pause it there:

Click on the puzzle piece icon in the top right-hand corner of the Chrome browser → select Consent Agent → and click on “Pause blocker on this site”. The page should then work normally again and display its original consent banner. By clicking on the pin icon, you can pin the consent icon to the browser toolbar, giving you direct control over the blocking function at all times.

We are constantly working to improve the function and always welcome feedback so that we can resolve issues quickly.

Regarding the background to why the blocking function was not originally intended for our Consenter Agent: German legislation had originally obliged all providers of digital services, such as website operators, in § 26 TDDDG to take into account signals from so-called consent management services (para. 2 no. 3 b). Had this obligation been implemented as such, we would not have been forced to technically block cookie banners that do not take these signals into account. The supervisory authorities would have enforced this. Given § 26 TDDDG, we focused on informed consent and its legally compliant transfer to website operators when developing our agent. Unfortunately, under pressure from the internet industry, the then Ministry, in a regulation (EinwV) setting out the details of § 26 TDDDG, turned the obligation into a purely voluntary measure. Because, with this sudden shift to a voluntary basis, hardly any websites now take the signals from the Consenter Agent into account, we had to implement the technical blocking function at short notice.

Incidentally, by ‘introducing’ the concept of voluntary participation into the EinwV, the Ministry has exceeded its remit in an impermissible manner, as it is subordinate to the parliamentary legislature under the principle of the separation of powers. It must therefore adhere to the mandate set out in § 26 TDDDG, which stipulates an obligation for digital services to take account of our signals, and must not simply turn this into a voluntary arrangement.

In the interests of an interpretation of the EinwV that preserves its validity, it must be interpreted in accordance with § 26 TDDDG to mean that services must take Consenter’s signals into account. Until this understanding has permeated all digital services, we will block cookie banners that still do not respect our signals.

How does Consenter address the legitimate interest of website operators in processing certain data even without consent?

At present, the Consenter Agent is only capable of managing consents within the meaning of Article 6(1)(a) GDPR. It does not yet include a feature to automatically send an objection in accordance with Article 21(5) of the GDPR – for example, against the processing of personal data for the legitimate interests of a service. However, this will be possible soon.

Can Consenter access its users’ browsing history?

The Consenter Agent does not access browser histories or website content in any way. We do not have access to personal browsing histories and, of course, do not pass on any data to third parties.

The extension processes only the information necessary to manage consents in a technically correct and legally compliant manner. To this end, the Consenter Agent merely stores the URL of the visited website and the date, provided the user has given their consent. If they do not give their consent but decline a request to do so, only the URL is stored—not the date—for reasons of data minimisation. This information is stored in the Consenter Agent so that the user can, for the first time, gain a comprehensive overview of which website they have given consent to – or, in the event that a website falsely claims to have received consent – which they have not. This information is stored exclusively locally in the browser in which the user has implemented the Consenter Agent. You can find all the details in our Privacy Policy.

We have been accredited for the Consenter Agent by the Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). This means that an independent, competent data protection supervisory authority has officially confirmed that Consenter meets key data protection requirements and can be used as a trustworthy service.

How does Consenter make money? Does Law & Innovation’s business model involve the use or sale of user data in any way?

No, our business model is not based on the use or sale of user data to generate revenue or conduct analyses – you can read more about this in our Privacy Policy.

We developed the Consenter Agent following more than 10 years of scientific research to solve the problem of non-transparent and intrusive cookie banners – not to make money from user data. Revenue is generated exclusively by website operators who use our consent banner on their site. This banner is able to communicate with the Consenter Agent in a legally, visually and technically synchronised manner and to receive the consents of Consenter Agent users.

Websites do not have access to browsing history neither, but only to the information necessary for the lawful management of consents. This data is securely stored in our Consent Store. Consenter Agent users therefore do not contribute to our revenue in any way.

We have been accredited for the Consenter Agent by the Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). This means that an independent, competent data protection supervisory authority has officially confirmed that the service meets key data protection requirements and can be used as a trustworthy service.

Is the Consenter available as open source?

We are developing Consenter using a hybrid open-source model. This means that some elements are open source, others are freely accessible (open access), and yet others are protected (proprietary).

The documentation containing all essential elements, including the Consenter risk assessment of the technologies, is freely accessible. All methods and concepts that we have developed for the design of the visual user interfaces are also available under an Open Access licence (see https://www.consenter.eu/research). Numerous design elements are also freely accessible, such as various layout suggestions and the Privacy Icons Library (see https://github.com/Privacy-Icons). Individual technical elements of the Consenter Agent are also available under an open-source licence (in connection with the blocking function).

Based on our scientific studies, we assume that the designs developed using these methods represent the state of the art, i.e. the most effective implementation of informed consent currently available on the market. In accordance with Article 25(1) of the GDPR, this state of the art must be taken into account by all other websites when they implement their own cookie banners. To ensure that other website operators are not forced to purchase our Consenter cookie banner, but can instead implement effective cookie banners themselves or even further develop the state of the art, we have made the necessary methods freely available.

Furthermore, upon request, we make the Consenter cookie banner available to non-profit organisations if they wish to run the banner via their own servers.

Please understand that, as a small academic spin-off, we have very limited capacity – therefore, some steps may take a little longer.

Individual elements remain proprietary and are not visible in the source code. However, we would like to point out that the essential information relevant to data protection and data security can be viewed in our Privacy Policy and our Data Processing Agreement. Furthermore, our data protection and data security concept has been reviewed by the Federal Data Protection Commissioner (BfDI) for compliance with all requirements under § 26 TDDDG and the relevant implementing regulation; the Consenter Agent has been officially recognised by the BfDI as a consent management service according to § 26 TDDDG.

Is the Consenter Agent a ‘government app’, i.e. a browser extension operated by a government agency?

No, Consenter was developed by a research team as part of the academic spin-off Law & Innovation Technology GmbH. The development of Consenter is based on an independent research process that has now been ongoing for more than 10 years. The following funding bodies had no influence whatsoever on the research process or the results:

The interdisciplinary basic research on which Consenter is based was carried out as part of several projects, partly through private institutional funding (the combination of data protection and innovation economics methodologies within the Entrepreneurship Research Labs at the HIIG, funded by Google), public-private partnerships (the combination of UX/UI methods and empirical research within the framework of the Chair of Digital Self-Determination at the ECDF and the UdK, funded by the City of Berlin and DKB) and purely state funding (the development of the research demonstrator within the framework of the academic spin-off Law & Innovation by the BMFTR).

Enjoy the benefits, control the risks
of sharing your data.

Turning your decisions into respect.

Digital privacy — finally taken seriously.

What it is

Your consent agent.
Set-it-once and get-it-all.

Set preferences for websites that respect your choices and block cookie banners that do not.

Enjoy the benefits, control the risks

More convenience, less annoyance

And the best: It’s free!

How it works

Make informed decisions. Enjoy the benefits, control the risks.

Your path to privacy-comfort browsing.

Control the risks. Enjoy the benefits.

Need help?

Privacy questions, answered.

Consent Agent FAQs

Your choice

Your decision matters.
Let's put the power back in your hands.

Turning your decisions into respect.

Digital privacy — finally taken seriously.

What it is

Your consent agent. Set-it-once and get-it-all.

Set preferences for websites that respect your choices and block cookie banners that do not.

Enjoy the benefits, control the risks

More convenience, less annoyance

And the best: It’s free!

How it works

Make informed decisions. Enjoy the benefits, control the risks.

Your path to privacy-comfort browsing.

Control the risks. Enjoy the benefits.

Need help?

Privacy questions, answered.

Consent Agent FAQs

Your consent agent.
Set-it-once and get-it-all.

And the best: It’s free!