This crosses into the same territory as our discussion of the Loupe app.
There’s a certain degree of stuff that your browser “leaks” because it pretty much has to. There’s another category of stuff that your browser “leaks” because the average user (a) expects websites to function, and (b) doesn’t want to be prompted about dozens of things every time they load a page.
And when you combine those things, toss in centralized companies that aggregate data, and throw in AI analytics, it’s possible to make deductions.
Sometimes those deductions are wrong. My wife and I, out of nowhere one day, started getting TONS of ads in Spanish. I’m guessing that our fingerprint was confusingly similar to somebody else in the same geographic region, and we got inadvertently targeted.
But when those deductions are correct, it’s creepy as heck.
Also, related, you don’t actually have to SUBMIT data on a website for them to capture it. Any JavaScript capable of autofilling a field (like an Amazon search bar) is just as capable of grabbing your info before you click “submit.”
So if you type “beanie babies” into Amazon, but thnk better of it before you submit the form, it’s completely plausible that you’ll be stalked by beanie babies ads for the next few days. 