Consent form FAQs

Why is there a new pop-up consent form?

As a responsible publisher we follow the recommendations of the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB UK) - here's a bit more information about them.

The IAB asks that we allow users to say if you consent to your data being used or not. We've been doing this for quite a while now and this is the pop-up you would have previously seen when you came to Gransnet.

What's happened is that as of Saturday 15th August, the IAB brought in a new standard that publishers have to comply with. The new standard gives the user even more choice over the data that can be collected and used - which is why you are now seeing a new pop-up with far more privacy options.

Whilst it may look a bit OTT it's actually been designed by the IAB to make it better for users and give you more control.

So please don't be worried about this new pop-up - it actually gives you more information and choice over your privacy.

How do I change my settings and access the form? 

To access or change your settings on the form you can go to ‘Privacy Settings’. If you are on desktop you can find a link to this at the bottom of the page in the purple block (at the bottom of the ‘help and information column’. For mobile there is a Privacy Settings link at the bottom of the screen (underneath the Gransnet logo)

Is there an option to edit or change your choices at any time?

Yes, you are able to toggle between consent (blue) and not (grey) by clicking on the sliders.

Does the grey colour indicate that you don't consent?

Grey would be ‘I do not consent’, blue indicates you do consent. The software that controls the popup is provided by Google and we have limited control over what we can change. Unfortunately we’re not able to change the colour of the buttons to make it clearer or easier for people to understand.

Why did Gransnet not to give us prior warning of this change?

Sorry, we got this wrong. The new pop-up is a replacement for the one that has been on the site for over a year, and we thought it would simply be a case of swapping them over. We didn’t realise the words on the new pop-up would cause people to be concerned, which is why we didn’t announce it.

I've just closed all pages and deleted the history on my iPhone, and when I logged into Gransnet the consent page came up and I changed all settings to grey. Will I have to do this each time I log in?

No you don’t need to do it each time you login. You should only need to do it once. However your preferences are stored in a cookie so if you clear your cookies (this can sometimes happen when you clear your history), then you will see the pop-up again.

What exactly is the 'legitimate interest' which enables an advertiser to use our details?

This is to do with the GDPR rules, and we agree it is confusing. When a company wants to process your data, they either need to ask you for consent or they can declare they have a ‘legitimate interest’ to process the data. This means they have a good reason as to why they do not need to ask for consent. For example, when someone posts to the site, we record the poster's IP address. We do this under ‘legitimate interest’ as we need to keep a record of posters' IP addresses so we can police malicious posters. Each company that declares a legitimate interest in processing your data will explain why in their privacy policy. You can find out more about legitimate interest here.  

Will my choices be recorded and apply to any/all devices I use?

Unfortunately you will have to do this on each device you use. The software that displays the pop-up is provided by Google, this isn’t something that we can change. However, you should only need to do it once per device.

Why, when I toggle each button to grey and then submit my choices, are they completely ignored? Each time I look at my privacy settings my choices have disappeared.

The software that displays the pop-up is provided by Google, this isn’t something that we can change. We can see that your choices are being recorded after you have clicked save, however it looks like when you go back into the form the choices are being reset to the default options. We have reported this to Google.

How do I toggle between options?

When you click on 'Privacy settings', and click the 'Manage my cookies' button, all the options you can consent to are displayed. You just need to click the toggle button to change your preferences, and this will change the colour to grey (‘I do not consent’) or blue (you do consent) depending on your preference. If you have any problems with this, please do email us at [email protected].

I have put everything on grey but adverts still come up on the side is this normal?

Yes - you can’t use this to turn advertising off altogether. If you put everything on grey it just means you won't get ads that are personalised to you.

We've been led to believe that we can opt out of all; when in fact, we cannot. Please can you confirm?

The pop-up and the options presented to you are not something that we can control. Those options and the wording have been set up by the IAB and we have to use what they are mandating. We agree it’s confusing, however rest assured that if you have chosen to opt out then advertisers will need to honour your choices. However, this does not mean you will get no ads, it just means the ads won’t be personalised to you.

What personal data can you access? Do advertisers get our email addresses, and if so are they able to read our emails too? 

No - not at all. Neither we, nor any of our advertisers, can read your emails. We collect your email address, but we do this to ensure posters are genuine people and we never pass your email address on to any advertisers or other third parties, unless this is something you opt-in to (for example on a competition entry form, there might be an option to sign-up to receive newsletters from the company). No one is able to access your personal information. 

When you give permission for them to put cookies on your device, they are also putting cookies on all other devices which use the same router. This means other members of your household will be tracked too. 

That’s not the case. The cookie is only stored on the device that you are using.

If you clear all cookies, will you not then be able to access things like your bank?

If you clear your cookies, you will need to log in to your bank's website again.

Why is it that on Gransnet I have to move around so many sliders in order to 'opt out'?

The software that controls the pop-up is provided by Google and we don’t have control over the settings /buttons. There are a number of companies that provide this software and each of them has implemented it slightly differently - which is why you’re seeing different things on different sites. For example, you can see the Guardian are using a different system, but many of the options are the same as us. 

Also many companies have yet to transition to the new standard and are still displaying the old ‘accept cookies’ notices that have been around since GDPR came into effect.

How do I clear my cookies? 

Norton has a guide here on how to delete your cookies on different browsers.