Have you ever searched for something online that you would not want anyone else to see? We all have. Recently there has been talking about being able to see your search history on your wifi bill, which I know sounds a little scary, but I am here today to show you if that is actually true.
Each month when you receive your wifi bill, there are multiple things on it. The first thing you are most likely to see on your wifi bill is a monthly breakdown of the charges. The second thing you are most likely to see on your wifi bill is your previous balance from what you paid last month.
Your bill will also contain your personal information like your contact information and account number, which can be helpful for any time you need to access your account because when you need to sign in online you cannot do so without your account number and your average person does not know it by heart.
However, one thing you will not see on your wifi bill is your search history, which brings relief to all of us.
It is a little unfortunate for parents because you know they are dying to see what their kids look at on the internet but who knows it could be for the better because if these parents saw what their kids were looking at they might just be scared for life.
Expert Tip: Your Internet Service Provider also known as ISP will not track your online history unless told to by formal request by the government. With that being said the government does require that ISP keep your online history for 90 days.
This is due to the Electronic Communication Transactional Records Act of 1996, which requires all ISP to keep customer’s reports for 90 days and in other countries, the required time period is even longer. After 90 days your records are discarded, however, they may keep billing records on file after the 90 days.
From my research, I have found that no one else besides a government agency can see your browser history, and the only way a government agency can see your history is by putting in a request to your ISP.
Even if that does not make you feel a little bit better about your search history just remember how many people are also living at the same time you are and also probably have search histories they most likely would not want others to see.
In just America alone their 329.5 million people who all use the internet and all have a search history of their own.
The ISP does not have even remotely the number of employees it would take to be able to view everyone’s search history. However if the ISP did have enough employees to view everyone’s search history, there are laws put in place to make it illegal to do so.
About half the states in America have passed bills to make it too where your ISP is required to keep your information private.
The states that have passed bills against internet privacy are California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah Vermont, and Wyoming.
With all of this talk about people getting to see your online history, there is one way to relieve the stress that comes from that and that is by using a VPN. VPNs are virtual private networks. A VPN puts you on an encrypted server that hides your IP address from everyone including your ISP and government agencies.
It does not matter what kind of wifi you are on, it could be Starbucks public wifi or the wifi at your house. VPN will have not only you protected, but also your search history.
To feel even more secure while using a VPN, you get to choose between many different servers in different cities, states, and even countries.
I’ll even let you in on a little VPN secret. When you use a VPN server in another country you get access to Netflix and other online platforms that are different from America’s, because Netflix puts different movies and tv shows in other countries to better suit what they would prefer to watch.
There are many different VPNs out there. Some are like monthly subscriptions and others are free apps you can install on your phone or computer. I personally use and would recommend the free app, VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy.
While many people believe that you can see your internet search history on your wifi bill, that just is not true. The only people who can see your online search history are the ISP and government agencies and that is only when they specifically put in a request to do so.
Living in a highly populated country actually benefits you when it comes to online privacy. There simply are not enough employees at your ISP facility to be looking at everyone’s search history, but their also laws in place that make them unable to do so anyways in certain states.
On average most of the things, you are googling that you do not want others to see, everyone else is googling it too. It could be anything from why I have a weird rash on my body to is my pee suppose to be that color which is all normal everyone does it.
One thing about the current generations is that we rely on google way more than we should which is a good and bad thing at the same time, yet I highly doubt it is going to change anytime soon, so why be concerned with your search history, we all do it.
Even if this article did not bring you some peace and mind over people being able to see your search history, just use a VPN the next time you search something you would not want others to see.
Overall you cannot see your search history on your wifi bill and as long as you are not doing any acts of violence or harming things on the internet you should not have a problem.