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Comment by rayvy | Hacker News Reader

OP was probably not a very technical user, else he/she would've understood that

1. They should've deleted _all_ relevant cookies (in the browser, as well as in the browsers cookie database)

2. There are many 3rd party companies that sell data packs that derive residential IPs from VPN IPs (we use some at work). A trusted/good VPN is a must

3. They probably came via the same User Agent (didn't mention changing browsers)

IP + Cookie + User Agent = Fingerprint (not a good one, but will work for Facebook's needs)

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There are many more identifying characteristics

https://panopticlick.eff.org

Great resource, thanks

> 2. There are many 3rd party companies that sell data packs that derive residential IPs from VPN IPs (we use some at work). A trusted/good VPN is a must

Are you implying that ProtonVPN is not trusted/good? I'm seriously interested in what you know about this particular VPN provider as this is the one OP mentions he's was using.

I suspect that the VPN provider has nothing to do with it (ie. they're not getting the data from VPN providers ratting you out). Rather, they're linking your ips using third party cookies.

Yea definitely don't take that as me insinuating anything about ProtonVPN. However _absolutely_ take that as me saying "just because you're behind [insert VPN name], doesn't mean someone can't derive your actual IP" (however that may happen). There are companies that sell this service. Again, I specifically mention this because this is how we at [large, known ad tech company] deal with user VPN traffic

Can you say what companies? or at least how to find them? I tried searching but only found junk.

>2. There are many 3rd party companies that sell data packs that derive residential IPs from VPN IPs (we use some at work). A trusted/good VPN is a must

link to some of those companies?

What is a trusted/good VPN to use?

NordVPN

NordVPN is in a weird spot.

https://restoreprivacy.com/lawsuit-names-nordvpn-tesonet/

I use PIA but do your research.

NordVPN owners are weird, their side businesses are shady, but the VPN is completely legit.

Take all advice on this with a grain of salt please. And never directly trust someone who says "use this specific VPN because it is good". Their threat model may not match yours, so good for them may not be good for you.

If you would like to learn a good VPN using the data yourself, consider using these tools:

This site has a detailed list of all VPN providers and properties of their services.

https://thatoneprivacysite.net/vpn-section/

And this site talks about some of the concerns you may want to have when picking a VPN service.

https://www.privacytools.io/#vpn

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