You know, the toddler crying because his baby brother bit his finger. Almost 900 million views later, Charlie is 18 and says the clip helped him pay for law school. The 55-second clip has earned his family over $1 million. A big chunk of that came in 2021 when the video sold as an NFT for over $600,000.
Your ISP is watching — Here's what it knows about you
You probably know by now that your internet service provider watches what you do. After all, a tiny bit of surveillance helps these companies provide the best services possible. But many ISPs collect data beyond their scope, according to a new report from the FTC.
For instance, some of the biggest ISPs use your web browsing history to target ads. They’ll pinpoint your race, ethnicity, economic status, politics, religious beliefs, and even sexual orientation. An ISP doesn’t need to know whether you find Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie more attractive to provide good internet services.
We put together this guide to the information your ISP collects to protect your privacy. Thanks to ExpressVPN for sponsoring this article. Here are some surprising ways ISPs track you — and what you can do about it.
First off, here’s how your ISP could hurt you
According to the FTC, several ISPs it studied use your data in ways that could cause you harm. For instance, they’ll collect and combine data like this:
- Location history
- What you watch on the TV
- Contents of your email
- Search history
- Data from connected devices
As we said earlier, they’re not collecting this information for fun. They want to make some sweet, sweet cash on the side. And they’re not picky when it comes to customers.
The FTC study says this data can be used by people who would use it “for discriminatory purposes.” Think of bail bond agents, property managers and bounty hunters.
That’s right. Dog the Bounty Hunter could potentially head to your ISP and ask for all your information. If he has deep enough pockets, he could sniff out your secret underground bunker. To make matters worse, he could buy your TV history from your ISP.
That means he could probably guess what you’re watching right when he breaks down the front door. You won’t even be able to hide the fact you were rewatching your guilty pleasure, like “Sex and the City.” After all, there are no secrets from the data collection industry.
Second, ISPs reach way further than you’d think
Did you think your service provider only tracks what you’re Googling on your phone or laptop? Think again.
Your ISP sees everything you do online - Here's how to stop it
We all know that Google, Amazon and Facebook are tracking us, but have you really thought about your ISP? That’s short for “internet service provider.” Depending on where you live, you may have a few to choose from — or maybe there’s only one.