I didn’t even know there were 1600 different distinct trackers around.
But for this to be effective, the browser should be cooperating and working on the user’s behalf to limit tracking. (You know, the whole reason why WWW calls it “user agent” — it should be on the user’s side.)
Unfortunately >90% of browsers use an engine made by the greatest beneficiary of user tracking. Hundreds of billions in future profits might be endangered by giving users actual control. The proverbial fox guarding the hen house.
I hear Microsoft is working on a new browser that gives the user more control over cookies:
1. It shows a confirmation dialog before setting a cookie
2. The site can declare a machine readable policy (P3P) specifying what the cookie will be used for, which the browser uses to automatically decide if the cookie should be permitted.
They plan to call it "Internet Explorer" or something.
Just the other day I was appalled by a new record, 1604.
I'm increasingly of the opinion this stuff needs to just be banned outright by law. None of the businesses I've talked to seem to be aware of how dishonest it looks to say "we value your privacy" while trying to get users to agree to get more companies than there were pupils in my secondary school to analyse them.