If you want to use ddata that can identify me (even in theory), you need to ask me, if I am fine with that. If you want to store data on my computer, you also need to ask me, if I am fine with that. Because, if I request a download, I expect to download the file. If I request a website, I expect the website content. I do not expect data that you or others can use to see how often I visited your site. Like meta-shit, or google-crap, or linkedin-slop...
If you want to do that, just ask m. And explain in clearly understandable words, what you do and why. That is just human decency.
Yes, I can (and strongly do) protect myself against this (and I am working in that business, I know the tricks and tools and stuff). But my late mom can't. Or her 80+ year old neighbor. Or SO#s my 19 year old niece that only uses a tablet and a crapload of apps that target her and spew a shitload of targeted ads for wheightloss onto her since she was an early teen...
So no -> Those companies need to be highly regulated. To me, those companes need to rott in hell, but that is my take. I want people to be protected. From business, from government. Thst is the basis of European privacy law - protecting the small person from the big entities. And rightly so. We have our history from which those protections originated.
Like with meta: They know they mke 7 billion annualy from serving 15 billion scam ads daily. They calculated that they will have at most have to pay about a billion in governmental fines all over the world, if they should one day be regulated for that.
So it is a clear business decision to go on shoing 15 billion+ scam ads per day to their "users". Were some interesting journalistic pieces on that a few days ago.
And exactly those companies are the reason we need stronger protection. And these protections more heavily enforced.
At which point it also counts as PII and is subject to the GDPR rules.