How To Protect Your Privacy Online

What information is collected?

When you visit a web site, a certain amount of information is automatically sent to the site. This information may include the following:

IP address - Each computer on the internet is assigned a specific, unique IP (internet protocol) address. Your computer may have a static IP address or a dynamic IP address. If you have a static IP address, it never changes. However, some ISPs own a block of addresses and assign an open one each time you connect to the internet—this is a dynamic IP address. You can also determine your computer's IP address at any given time.


Domain name - The internet is divided into domains, and every user's account is associated with one of those domains. You can identify the domain by looking at the end of URL; for example, .edu indicates an educational institution, .gov indicates a US government agency, .org refers to organization, .com is for commercial use. Many countries also have specific domain names. The list of active domain names is available at http://www.iana.org/domain-names.htm or http://www.norid.no/domenenavnbaser/domreg.html.

Software details - It may be possible for an organization to determine which browser, including the version, that you used to access its site. The organization may also be able to determine what operating system your computer is running.

Page visits - Information about which pages you visited, how long you stayed on a given page, and whether you came to the site from a search engine is often available to the organization operating the web site.

If a web site uses cookies, the organization may be able to collect even more information, such as your browsing patterns, which include other sites you've visited. If the site you're vising is malicious, files on your computer, as well as passwords stored in the temporary memory, may be at risk.