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Decius comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 20, chapter 90 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Would it be hard to implement without such a law?
Technically? Debatable. Practically, yes, because Lucius Malfoy rules magical Britain and would come down hard on anything that interferes with his and his minions' use of illegal magic. Additionally, it would be political suicide to do something like this illegally and get caught (at least in the Potterverse), and of those in power very few would even consider taking that risk in order to prevent illegal magic use.
Why would Lucius interfere with his own minions?
My point precisely. A universal trace would result in people in the Ministry, not all of whom are reliably corrupt, being aware whenever Lucius's minions used illegal magic.
A trace that was universal except for Lucius and his minions would be a strategic masterstroke, but would probably lead to outright rebellion if it were discovered, and it seems that Lucius doesn't quite have that much influence, or the wizarding world would already have blood purism codified in law.
It's already true that Draco practiced magic underage and wasn't arrested. Whether that is because the trace doesn't apply to him or because the people who see the results of the trace ignore them is open to doubt...
I believe someone just upthread has explained that the trace only applies to Muggleborns.
Clearly not assigned to only Muggleborns (or even Muggle-raised) given that the Weasley twins openly lamented receiving the notices at the end of the first year reminding them not to cast magic over the break.
As to its effectiveness, both I (and apparently at least one other person) already spoke on it.
Draco didn't have a wand yet. Officially. No reason to be tracked.
What Velorien said, but also, if such a spell was implemented it would be hard to use it for law enforcement without giving away that it existed. They wouldn't be able to use it as court evidence, and if they used it to direct law enforcement personnel to the scene they'd get found out eventually.
Sorry, I was implying that it wouldn't be officially sanctioned in any way. Much like Deep Throat's "follow the money", it could be used to point police toward lines of investigation that would prove fruitful.