There are some valid reasons for using fingerprinting. In the UK, gambling companies use fingerprinting to enforce exclusion lists (i.e. gambling addicts who s

There are some valid reasons for using fingerprinting. In the UK, gambling companies use fingerprinting to enforce exclusion lists (i.e. gambling addicts who self-exclude from gambling websites), and stop people from outside the UK gambling illegally (the latter is used generally, although desktop apps are generally more secure). I believe it is also used in online retail to combat bots (self-evidently, not everyone is doing this). I think it is a concern when websites use this kind of thing indiscriminately. I have worked in web development roles, and I have had devs tell me point blank (once, a lead dev) that fingerprinting is impossible whilst using products that expose their customers to fingerprinting...so it is important to be aware of it. But there are legitimate uses to fingerprinting specifically, exclusive of the APIs that some apps rely on certain features (i.e. WebGL). It is sometimes important to know who someone is.