Google Being an Ad Money Winner

In all events, this is always the bigger fishes, which have the more chances to succeed when things are getting harder.

Google says it is showing nonpersonalized ads on websites that can’t prove they have users’ full consent

Interesting. it means that implicit consent (the cookie banner) "seems" to be fine with non personalized ads in spite of confusing information at the Adsense's site about non personalized ads and cookie consent.

and will deploy other workarounds until it fully joins a third-party system for websites to transmit consent, run by IAB Europe, an online-ad trade group.

This is something which should have been ready and available when the GDPR was enforced, IAB/Google had 6 years to prepare, and 2 since the final text was defined. Now , I understand that the IAB might be common to all sites using it. In other words, if a user accepts (or reject) personalized ads, at one site, then this choice will apply automatically to all other sites, so no need to bother showing/asking people , if they've already answered at another site. Less annoyance.

This is the downside of regulation, it's often a net benefit for the huge corporations. It keeps the competition at bay as the smaller companies don't have the same resources to keep on top of all this..

I wish duckduckgo would have started a clean and clear ad network, based on their policy of no privacy intrusion, and things like that. I am sure there is an opportunity. Lot of web publishers would certainly like to (at least) try an ad network with which they'll be sure to be compliant with GDPR (and other form of regulations and laws).

I would think Google has a reserved seat at the table in Brussels.

This is the downside of regulation

Yes indeed, every time, again and again. And government in Europe has long been at the forefront of, intentionally or not, raising the digital entry barrier.

Then every once in a while they'll fine a big internet company for some arbitrary thing and make bank.

Not saying they're doing it on purpose, but it's working out well for them.

Meanwhile they have dystopian science fiction laws and systems in place in terms of surveillance and government agency access and storage of personal data.

Note: Regulation isn't fundamentally bad. In the modern world of giant corporations it's a necessity. But so far virtually all attempts to regulate internet tech have been ill conceived.

I still cringe every time I see a "this site uses cookies" banner/popup. Ever present reminder of government cluelessness.

Coming soon: "This site delivers content using the HTTP protocol".

In all seriousness, I wouldn't be overly surprised to see the EU try to go after core internet protocols at some point. The internet as it currently exists is fundamentally open (read: not private) and outside of direct government control.