The second you call it a pop-up it's just more hell, should just be a browser setting that has to be abided by. No popup, no constantly asking me for consent.
> should just be a browser setting that has to be abided by
It should be a browser setting that is enforced by the browser.
If I open something in private mode, or use the multi-account containers extension (Firefox), cookies are isolated or forgotten without any involvement from the remote party. The site doesn't need to know or care.
A per site consent dialog, with per "partner" option, with easy to use "Decline all" / "Allow all" buttons, is much more granular. Maybe you're OK with a random community website "tracking" you because you know it makes them more money from ads; but you're not OK with Meta tracking you across the whole web.
Other settings are per site and this one can be as well - you can select "reject all", "accept all" (or "reject non-essential") and be done with that... or use "ask each time" like with mic/camera and there would be small, tiny, browser-ui pop-up in usual place...
The second you call it a pop-up it's just more hell, should just be a browser setting that has to be abided by. No popup, no constantly asking me for consent.
I should consent once, ONCE!