You're right, it is a whack-a-mole situation, which is why I'd move more towards a browser and user level solution. The OP made a fine suggestion that bridges responsibility between user, website owner and browser
> The gist would be using a rel element like so:
<a href='privacy.html' rel='privacypolicy'>Privacy</a>
and then using that as a means of consistently linking to a privacy policy. As a result, policies would have consistent language for users ('look for the "Privacy" link') but could also be detected automatically by browsers or testing tools.
That way you could actually test your site is properly linking to a policy, and users could have browser preferences like "disable cookies until I've seen a policy" or whatever.
> The gist would be using a rel element like so: <a href='privacy.html' rel='privacypolicy'>Privacy</a> and then using that as a means of consistently linking to a privacy policy. As a result, policies would have consistent language for users ('look for the "Privacy" link') but could also be detected automatically by browsers or testing tools. That way you could actually test your site is properly linking to a policy, and users could have browser preferences like "disable cookies until I've seen a policy" or whatever.
[edited for clarity]