Your IP address is what ties you to all of the websites, videos, emails and social media posts you view, send and receive on the internet.
It can reveal some very detailed information about your location:
- City
- Country
- State/Province
- ZIP/Postal code
- Who your ISP is
It’s possible to identify where you are, the websites you regularly go to, you’re interests, what streams you watch, any files you’re torrent, who you email, contents of your emails. Google for example uses all of this and more from tracking cookies to present you with targeted content and advertisements.
The websites you visit gather even more information about you. By combining your IP address with other information gleaned from metadata, cookies, trackers, and browser-fingerprinting tactics, website owners, marketers, and advertisers can build quite a thorough profile about you. Most ISP’s make a LOT of money selling your internet activity data on to data brokers.
And because you are a customer; your ISP already knows a whole lot more about you…
- Your Name
- Your Address
- Your Phone Number
- Your Credit Card & Number
- Your Bank Account Details
- Your Credit Rating & History
- How Many Internet Connected Devices (PC’s, Laptops, Tablets, Phones, Games, SmartTV’s Consoles, Smart Watches, all other Internet of Things devices)
- How Many People Live In Your House
- What Car You Drive
- Your Car Insurance, Accident & Speeding Fine History
- Your Internet Browsing History
- What Time You Use The Internet
- What Apps You Use
- The Make & Model Of Each Devices You Use
- Who You Send Email To (and their contents)
- Who You Receive Emails From (and their contents)
- What Kind Of Music You Like
- What Films You Like
- Your Favourite Fast Food
If you bundle your TV and Mobile packages with your internet connection – this list grows dramatically longer !
Because you are a customer, your ISP knows your name, address, phone number, credit card number, bank account details, credit history, browsing history, busy and active times on the internet, which devices you own and how many friends and family live & visit you.
In some countries, ISPs are required by law to keep detailed logs of customers internet activity, these can be requested and seized by law enforcement at any time without a warrant.
When you visit websites that are not secured with HTTPS, your ISP can see every single unencrypted page, its contents and how long you spend looking at it.
Even if you’re browsing websites that are secured with HTTPS, your ISP can still monitor the URL you’re visiting (but not the individual pages).
You can prevent ISP’s and hackers from seeing your internet habits and activity by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). This encrypts your connection out to the internet – blocking your ISP from seeing this information.
Take a look through our lists and reviews of free and paid VPN services and secure your online privacy today.