Jeff Hamerbacher, one of the founders of Facebook, once said, "The best minds of my generation are figuring out how to get people to click on ads, and it sucks." If you're wondering why a life insurance ad suddenly appeared in your browser after starting parachuting, or you became interested in special services after accidentally searching for radioactive substances on Google, we recommend paying attention to some services.

70 spies from Google

Google owns over 70 products: the Google browser, mail, search engine, drive, Android. Almost every Google product collects information about its user. How does this happen? For example, you use Google Chrome. You went to an online store where you changed the language, selected their city, and indicated that you were looking for an Android TV Box. This site sent cookies to your browser - pieces of text information about preferences: Polish-speaking Marek from Wroclaw wants to watch football in Polish on IPTV.

Based on these preferences, Google "sells" the user's interests to the advertiser. Perhaps Marek will be interested in an online TV retailer or a digital device manufacturer. Then YouTube (owned by Google) will start making videos about watching live sports channels and contextual ads – recommending buying an Android TV box at a low price. And this is just based on data from one place.

Facebook knows you better than your mom

The collection of information on Facebook comes from the same cookies. When you click "like" and "share," Facebook will record your page visit, even if you weren't logged in to the social network. Facebook's job is to keep users online for as long as possible. To do this, they consider "like" tags, website visits, personal information, and friends.

For example, by accessing your friends list, Facebook might determine that your grandmother from Warsaw is having a birthday soon. A few days before that, you'll receive an ad for flower suppliers in Warsaw. If you decide to attend a Halloween party on October 31st, be prepared to advertise your carnival costumes on your Facebook page.

In this context, buying WhatsApp in 2014 is interesting—because Facebook already has its own messenger. How exactly the app generates profits for its owner is unclear, as it remains free and doesn't display ads. Worryingly, the app has access to your device's camera and microphone by default (just like Facebook and Google) and shares data with the parent company.

Your internet provider knows what you were doing three years ago

You decided to check your social network's news feed. For example, Facebook uses the "https" encryption protocol (these are the green letters at the top before the website address), which means that the provider only sees that you have logged in to the social network and are still there. You can reply, watch videos, and write new statuses. Without a special request, all these movements on the website will not be recorded.

The internet provider does not store the same files, but only records information about the subscriber's actions: login, time.