An open letter to EU Director Generals regarding GDPR
- Scott Spencer
- Nov 13
- 2 min read
The European Union is considering significant changes to GDPR that would significantly erode consumer privacy rights. We shared the following letter with the EU Director Generals:
Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen
Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy
European Commission
Commissioner Michael McGrath
Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection
European Commission
November 13th, 2025
Dear Executive Vice-President Virkkunen,
Dear Commissioner McGrath,
Subject: Digital Omnibus: Ensuring Consumer Privacy and Usability Through Alternate Consent Solutions
We appreciate the effort and consideration dedicated to drafting regulation such as the proposed Digital Omnibus Package, and we understand you are receiving a multitude of feedback regarding its language. Our purpose in communicating with the European Commission is not to petition for a specific change, but rather to ensure that the respective Commission teams are aware of existing, in-market solutions that may significantly impact the calculus of negotiations related to the package.
Specifically, we understand that one of the cited justifications for the proposed changes in the Digital Omnibus Package is the issue of “Consent fatigue.” This justification rests on the supposition that it is not possible to provide consumers with the option of informed consent without creating frustrating, interruptive experiences (i.e., consent banners).
We therefore wanted to ensure the Commission is aware of a commercial solution that provides consumers the ability to manage their consent elections on a per-site basis without the need for site-by-site consent banners.
Our solution, one of several already in market, empowers consumers to pre-set their consent settings as a default or on a site-specific basis. These settings are then made available to websites, Consent Management Platforms, and subsequent data controllers or processors via industry-standard APIs. Such an approach not only delivers a vastly improved user experience without sacrificing privacy controls but also enables new, critical functionality, including:
The ability to see and change historical consent settings easily.
The ability to block minors from consenting inadvertently.
Support for browser-based consent signals (e.g., the Global Privacy Control).
We recognize that certain organizations may position the current GDPR as impractical to adhere to without significant harm to usability or a site’s ability to generate revenue. Rewarded Interest’s existence serves as a counterpoint to this argument. We hope this information demonstrates that consumers can, in fact, have both robust individual privacy protections and unfettered usability of the open web.
Regards,
Co-founders of Rewarded Interest, Inc.
Scott Spencer
Thede Loder
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