Government surveillance and censorship is now practiced in dozens of countries to varying extents behind the guise of national security, resulting in the erosion of the digital privacy of their citizens. Nations such as China, which owns all ISPs in the country, can block IP addresses en masse and prevent users from accessing content overseas (the most prominent example of this that springs to mind is the country's ‘Great Firewall’ blocking Google and WhatsApp in China completely - hence the popularity of using VPNS in China). Governments: Aside from requiring ISPs to keep logs of all their customers’ browsing activity, some governments go to great lengths to monitor and censor users inside their country. Countries like the US, UK, and Australia force ISPs to keep logs of their customers’ browsing activity, ready to be handed over without a warrant if needed. ISPs are also obliged to keep logs of this traffic if the country’s government requires them to. As you use an ISP to access the internet, the ISP also sees all of your internet traffic too, which, as of 2017, can be sold to third-party advertisers who will use this information to target ads at you. ISPs: Your IP address is registered with an ISP, which means as a customer, your ISP knows all the personal information you gave them when you registered.
Watching Netflix and Amazon Prime are the biggest examples of this, with access to specific shows varying widely from country to country. Geoblocking, as it’s called, is practiced by companies that, for instance, don’t want people outside the US accessing their websites. These ads are annoying to say the least, and are only possible because organizations can trace searches to your IP address.Ĭompanies can also block people from accessing content if they see users are based in another country. This sort of information is useful not just to the company, which wants to tailor and customize your experience on its site, but to third-party advertisers and marketers who want to target ads at you based on your searches. But unlike your home address, people, companies and governments can also track the things you search for and the sites you visit with your IP address, which can have far-reaching consequences for you.Ĭompanies: Firms cram their websites with cookies that track every time you visit their page and what buttons you click on.
Just as with your home address, anyone with your IP address can pinpoint your physical location.
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