Regulatory tailwinds
The EU Digital Omnibus and California AB 566 are pushing browsers toward consent support. The spec provides the API these regulations need, and consent assistants are the natural user-side complement.
From DOM scraper to software category
Consent assistants today are fragile browser hacks: 40 scrapers maintained against 40 CMPs, breaking on every update. navigator.consent turns them into an interoperable software layer with real go-to-market paths, business models, and regulatory tailwinds.
Set up your browser
Choose your default search engine
Choose your consent assistant
Looks good, doesn’t it? That could happen.
More virtuous than adblockers
Adblockers fight the ecosystem. Consent assistants work with it.
The adblocker trap
Adblockers nuke publisher revenue, trigger detection arms races, and create a hostile relationship between users and sites. They block everything indiscriminately, leaving no room for consent or nuance. Publishers fight back, users escalate, everyone loses.
A cooperative model
Consent assistants preserve the publisher-advertiser relationship. They enforce the user’s actual preferences, not a blanket block. Vendors the user trusts keep working. Vendors they don’t are denied transparently, through the CMP, with a full audit trail. The CMP stays in the loop. Compliance is preserved. Revenue from consented vendors is untouched.
Consent Assistant
shop.example.com
50
2/4 vendors consentedVendorConsent
Analytics Coanalytics.example
AdNetworkads.example
Social Widgetsocial.example
Payment Providerpay.example
Go-to-market unlocked
Today, building a consent assistant means maintaining scrapers for every CMP, hoping extension stores don’t reject your content script approach, and reaching users one by one. The spec removes these structural barriers.
One integration, every CMP
No more maintaining 40+ DOM scrapers. A single API integration works across all CMPs that adopt the spec. Your engineering effort goes into the product, not into keeping scrapers alive.
Distribution via choice screens
The DMA mandated browser choice screens for search engines. The same mechanism can apply to consent assistants: a browser-level selection screen that gives every assistant equal access to users, from day one.
Extension store legitimacy
Structured API integration means consent assistants can pass extension store reviews cleanly. No more relying on content script injection and DOM manipulation that triggers policy flags.
Regulation-aware by default
Use getRegulations() to read the browser's detected regulation context, and setRegulations() to correct it for VPN users, travelers, or corporate networks. Only extensions can override; CMPs just read.
Compete on approach, not on scraping
The spec decouples the "what" (read CMP metadata, apply preferences) from the "how" (business model, UX philosophy). When scraping is no longer the bottleneck, the category can diversify.
Privacy-first
Reject all optional tracking by default. Open source, transparent rules. The Consent-o-matic model, scaled to every CMP without maintaining per-CMP scrapers.
Freemium
Basic auto-consent for free, granular per-site controls and consent analytics as a premium tier. The SuperAgent model, unblocked from the scraping treadmill.
Marketing-oriented
Let users opt in to sharing data with brands they like. Loyalty programs, personalized offers, consensual data exchange. Consent as a positive signal, not just a wall.
Values-oriented
Align consent with personal values frameworks: ESG scores, carbon footprint, labor practices. Share data with companies that match your ethics. Deny the rest.
Beyond consent: publisher synergies
The API sits between users and publishers. That position creates natural bridges that go further than consent.
Subscriptions instead of tracking
A user who denies all tracking is not a lost cause. They are a qualified lead for an ad-free subscription. The consent assistant can surface this alternative at the moment the user hits a cookie wall.
Paywall negotiation
When a consent wall meets a paywall, the consent assistant can present both options together: accept tracking for free access, or subscribe for a private experience. Transparent, at the point of decision.
Qualified user signals
Users with a consent assistant installed are engaged, privacy-conscious, and deliberate about their choices. For publishers, that is a higher-value audience segment than passive accept-all clickers.
From consent layer to negotiation layer
The same API channel that carries consent signals can carry offers, preferences, and relationship signals. The consent assistant becomes the user’s agent in a richer conversation with publishers.
The category already exists
These extensions prove the demand. navigator.consent gives them (and you) a standard foundation to build on.
Consent-o-matic
Built by privacy researchers at Aarhus University. Open source. Supports 40+ CMPs through community-maintained rules.
SuperAgent
Splits cookies into categories. You choose once, it applies everywhere. Free for 40 pop-ups per week, premium for unlimited.
Rewarded Interest
Consent choices set once, applied everywhere. GPC support. Plans to reward users who opt in to ads.
Consenter
German-made consent agent. Set preferences once, applied everywhere. Explains data purposes in plain language.
Taste by Axeptio
Rates every website on privacy practices (A through D) and applies granular consent accordingly.
Crumbs
By the makers of Adblock Plus. Blocks trackers, strips tracking parameters, sends GPC signals, and dismisses cookie pop-ups.
Start building
Specification
The full API specification with types, methods, and behavior.
JSON Schemas
Machine-readable payload definitions for all API types.
Shim & demo
A working polyfill for local experimentation.