Uttering the'C' word can trigger this instant anxiety. Until recently, it was hard to imagine how the industry could survive such an upheaval of the status quo. Cookies allow us to target our ads, understand what people do on our websites, and measure how successful we've been. Thanks to murky attempts in the recent past to map and manipulate people using their online data, many people feel strongly about who has access to it. The arrival of GDPR brought welcome clarity on how data consent should be sought and significantly raised public awareness of data protection issues. The upshot is that we've become well-trained to un-tick in the appropriate places when that annoying box pops up on the screen (no matter how gray and obscure the button is).