Should BT.com Website Know my ISP?

When I go to the Home page of BT.com it invites me to "Switch from Orange this Summer".

How does it know I'm using Orange for my Broadband?

Is it sneaking a look at my IP addy?

Isn't this a violation of the Data Protection Act?

Or is this considered just like targeted online advertising?

Just wondering!

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

When I go to the Home page of BT.com it invites me to "Switch from Orange this Summer".

How does it know I'm using Orange for my Broadband?

Is it sneaking a look at my IP addy?

Isn't this a violation of the Data Protection Act?

Or is this considered just like targeted online advertising?

Just wondering!

Every site you visit has access to your IP address at the time. A simple lookup of which ISP that address belongs to is all that is needed.

You experience this every time you do a TBB speed test. If you don't log into the main site it asks you to confirm the detected ISP.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Is it sneaking a look at my IP addy?

If the server didn't have a look at your IP address it wouldn't know where to send the page data to...

In reply to a post by billford:

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Is it sneaking a look at my IP addy?

If the server didn't have a look at your IP address it wouldn't know where to send the page data to...

He could hide behind a proxy...

Yes, I know that the underlying comms layers know all about my IP, but seems a little bit underhand for the top application layer to go about broadcasting who I bought some product from when I am not a customer of their's.

Yes, I expect TBB speedtest to work out my ISP, but it's not for their commercial dealings (nor is your site).

Does it invite you to Switch from O2?

@billford: Very true!

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

@billford: Very true!

There's a lot of information in an http request:

http://djce.org.uk/dumprequest

I used to have a link to another site which showed it better, but I can't find it

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Yes, I expect TBB speedtest to work out my ISP, but it's not for their commercial dealings (nor is your site).

I think the ads on here can target you based on your IP.

That's why you shouldn't (just out of interest) click a link to a website in a (dodgy) Spam email. Gives an address to attempt to hack.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Gives an address to attempt to hack.

Along with details of your OS so that the contents of the returned page can be suitably "configured"...

OK, perhaps I didn't make my concerns clear.

How they do it is obvious but whether they should be doing it is dubious.

After all, when I go to O2 or any other ISP's BB pages, they don't try to dissuade me from my current ISP, not even TT who can get up to some underhand shenanigans.