DNS helps software look up information associated with a domain name, including addresses used to contact a service. A resolver answers the request, sometimes from cached information. The chosen resolver may come from network, device or browser configuration. It is not always your internet provider.

A lookup is not a complete browsing history. Applications can request names for background resources or prefetching, and cached results can avoid a new request. A party’s ability to observe information also does not establish what it actually retains.