[kintamanimatt]

Be that as it may, you can still be tracked without cookies (HTTP or similar) just by looking at the browser's fingerprint. This method is less reliable which is why it hasn't been used in preference to cookies.

Requiring explicit permission to store cookies on a user's browser is more likely to encourage privacy-invading companies to use the browser's fingerprint instead. This fingerprint can be loosely tied to a real world identity, and across sites too. The user wouldn't have any knowledge of such happening and they also wouldn't have any degree of control over it. At least presently it's trivial to block the most common form of tracking: HTTP cookies.