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How did the Ad Networks find my search?
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2025
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Privacy
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If my exit point is my ISP, and my ISP is selling my data to advertisers (hypothetically), then a VPN would make a difference. That's why I mentioned it.
search data would be difficult to obtain for a service provider. it would require a retargeting campaign or something to extract your search values.
search data is already tls encapsulated at the browser. isp can see your tcp metdata, but not the data.
also.. not the point. sorry
I should've known that but forgot. You're right, my ISP shouldn't be able to see anything but that I visited Wikipedia. They wouldn't know that I searched for rambutan.
A vpn is just another isp, which could also sell your data
I would trust something like Mullvad more than ATT or Verizon to not sell my data, wouldn't you?
**this comment was posted like 6 tomes because all of the Lemmy instances I've been using have been super weird lately not letting me post comments and stuff so I kept trying and kept trying and then all of them pushed through at once.
You make it sound like it’s always the case but ISPs in some countries are less centralized/ not on the stock market and rather oldschool so I bet they don’t do anything with your data (yet). Think of utility companies.
Ok, but what if you live in UK or USA? You can pretty much guarantee without the shadow of a doubt that every single one available is selling your data. In fact, I think their terms even say they will do that.
In a case like that I would 100% rather trust a paid VPN service from a country that isn't a privacy nightmare.
And it also could not. Either way it wasn't active at the time so it's down to whether my ISP is selling it.