Nicholas Shepherd and Anna Oberschelp de Meneses of Covington & Burling write:
On 30 November 2018, the Austrian Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) decided that the website of an online media publisher – which offers users a choice between consenting to advertising cookies or paying for a subscription – gives users a free choice that is compatible with the requirements of consent under the GDPR. (The decision is available in German here.)
Background. The Austrian publisher in question set up a functionality on its website whereby users are given the option to either: (i) consent to advertising cookies and receive full access to website’s content; (ii) refuse consent and receive partial access to the website’s content; or, (iii) pay for a subscription to receive full access to the website’s content for 6 euros/ month and not be tracked by any advertising cookies, third-party scripts, or social media plug-ins (unless the user chooses to personally re-activate these features).
Read more on InsidePrivacy.