As a data scientist, I have always debated the efficacy of the IP address as an identifier. It could be useful, but used as-is, I think it is not that great a s

As a data scientist, I have always debated the efficacy of the IP address as an identifier. It could be useful, but used as-is, I think it is not that great a signal. Just because a signal gets you some positive results, does not make it useful. You have to also look at the second-order effects. Does it creep out people? Does it make people less likely to use your service, thereby negating the positive effect of added connections?