Ask HN: How prevalent is non-cookie based web tracking today ?, Hacker News

You give a USA specific example, so I’ll give one from where I live: aside from a few (like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn) that I suspect do things based on our static IP address, in the Netherlands it’s virtually nonexistent. And illegal, at least without telling us that they do tracking (no matter if it’s through cookies, the law never even mentions cookie).

Same in Germany, but there they have rotating IP addresses (which is both a pain (hosting ) and a blessing (privacy)).

Hmm, would MAC address tracking count? That happens here and there (same in any EU country as far I can tell), mostly with WiFi captive portals where you sign away your soul in the terms of service. I’m not sure about the legality (hiding GDPR consent in the TOS) but it happens. If you find out, you send them a fake ID and they’ll happily give you all the data they have on any MAC address you claim.

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