Typically, the process of typing a web address and getting to the page in question is quite fast and seems effortless to a regular user. However, many parties get involved in this process before the requested webpage is delivered to you, and the list grows further as your browsing activity is tracked, analyzed, and stored by some of the parties mentioned above.

The following text provides more details concerning where your browsing data goes.

Understanding the path your browsing activity takes is unlikely to turn you into a paranoid person. Instead, it will make you more aware of what really happens with the personal data you generate every time you go online, which is beneficial.

Your Browsing Data and the ISP

Before your request reaches the website itself, it is directed to the ISP first. It is the company that provides you with the internet connection, whether it is a cable, mobile, or fiber-optic service.

Your ISP is aware of the domain names you visit, the amount of data you send and receive, and approximately the period of time during which you use the internet. In many countries, ISPs are allowed to collect this information according to legislation and sell it to third parties or use it for the company’s own commercial purposes.

Even if a particular page is encrypted, your ISP will still be able to know which sites you are connected to, although not the details of your activities.

This point explains why many people who care about their privacy use virtual private network services. As a rule, a VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between your device and the server of the chosen company. Thus, your ISP only knows that you are connected to a particular server but not the websites you visit.

Some companies provide an additional web-based version of the service, called a web VPN. This kind of service encrypts your traffic but does not require installing a special application and may be a convenient solution for users who do not always use their own computer.

Both types of services do not protect you from being identified online, but they reduce the amount of data that your ISP collects.

DNS Lookups

Once your device understands that you are going to visit a website, it should translate the domain name into an IP address with the help of DNS (Domain Name System). It is like a phone book of the internet.

However, one aspect of this process often remains unnoticed – unless you have configured encrypted DNS, this request will be transmitted in the form of plain text to the DNS resolver, which is usually provided by your ISP automatically.

This DNS resolver will see all the domain names you search for, even if you never opened the particular site.

There are several browsers and operating systems that already provide the opportunity to use DNS over HTTPS and encrypt this request. However, it is not widely used yet, and a great deal of routers and networks continue routing this request via the older method.

Also, encryption of this request does not make it fully invisible. Your device still needs to contact the DNS resolver to complete the task, and the chosen resolver, whether it belongs to your ISP, the router’s producer, or a different company, will become a new keeper of your DNS lookups.

Changing your DNS resolver will affect your privacy, but it means that you will choose another company that will be able to access your browsing history instead of eliminating this visibility completely. You can always check the privacy policy of the company whose resolver you use now and the company you are planning to switch to.

What Your Browser Reveals Unconsciously

Your browser reveals your personal data every time it establishes a connection with a website. Namely, the browser transmits the following data to the website you visit:

• Browser type and version
• Your OS type and version
• Screen resolution
• List of installed fonts
• Time zone

All these pieces of data can create a unique identifier, called a fingerprint, and help to recognize your device without the need to install any cookie or ask you about your identity.

Your IP address will also be transmitted to the website you visit, as it needs this information in order to deliver the content you have requested. An IP address provides your location and the name of the ISP that provides you with the internet.

It is not always harmful to transmit all this data to the website, but in combination with other pieces of information, it may create a detailed picture of you and your device.

Cookies and Third-Party Trackers

A cookie is a small file that allows websites to remember particular pieces of data related to your interaction with the website.

First-party cookies, created by the website that you are visiting, are useful and necessary.

On the contrary, third-party cookies are created by companies other than the site you are visiting. They allow one and the same company to recognize you on several websites where you have visited the ads or analytics of this company and create your interest profile.

Nowadays, the problem of third-party cookies is especially relevant. Safari and Firefox have blocked third-party cookies by default for years now.

The situation with the Chrome browser was more confusing recently – Google changed its plan to remove third-party cookies from Chrome completely and instead introduced a new model based on privacy choice. Thus, Chrome shows users a privacy notice and offers them the option to either allow or block cross-site tracking with cookies.

As a result, third-party cookies remain the source of tracking for a considerable share of the web nowadays, although the number of users affected by them reduces every year with the growing pressure from users and regulators.

Due to the above-mentioned change, many sites started using alternative methods of collecting user identification data that do not rely on the use of cookies. Let’s look closer at them now.

Other Methods of Collecting Data

In addition to cookies, websites can collect data from browsers with the help of two methods described below.

Browser Fingerprinting

When no cookies exist in your browser, websites can use the browser fingerprinting technique, which allows them to combine such pieces of information as screen size, plugins, graphics hardware, and other details to create a unique identifier of your browser.

Server-Side Tracking

This type of tracking does not happen in your browser and is more difficult to block with the help of ad-blocking tools.

According to this method, the website’s server collects information about your activities and reports it to the ad network on the back-end side.

Data Brokers and Their Role in the Process

After you get online, a typical visit to a news or shopping website usually involves the following parties:

• The website owner, who wants to know more about its users and improve the functionality of the website
• Advertising networks, which collect user information to build targeting profiles
• Analytics providers that track how you interact with the website

In many cases, data brokers also get involved in this scheme. These organizations collect behavioral data from various sources and aggregate it, forming detailed consumer profiles that are then sold to other companies.

Most people do not even know about the existence of data brokers, but they operate a whole industry dedicated to buying and selling behavioral data.

Each party typically has its own set of partners to whom it transmits the collected data. As a result, a single visit to a retail site can involve more than a dozen different companies, and not all of them even show up in the privacy policy of this site.

What You Can Actually Do About This

You cannot make your browsing completely invisible to any parties, but you can greatly reduce the amount of data they collect about you and decrease the list of recipients of this data.

Several practical measures can help you do that:

• Use a browser that blocks third-party trackers by default and keep it updated.
• Review cookie consent requests instead of automatically accepting everything and find opportunities to deny access to third-party cookies.
• Activate encrypted DNS if your browser or operating system allows you to do that.
• Use a VPN when you are using a network you do not trust, such as public Wi-Fi, since it protects you from identification by your ISP and other users on this network.

None of these measures require technical knowledge and skills, and none of them significantly slow down your browsing experience.

Conclusion

Thus, your browsing data does not travel to one particular recipient only but rather branches to many different parties, including your ISP, DNS resolver, the website you visit, advertising and analytics companies, and sometimes data brokers.

Some of them get involved in the process because of how the web operates. Others simply benefit from collecting and analyzing this data commercially.

The good news is that knowing the path of your data changes the way you browse online.