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Tuesday, December 12, 2017

What The Heck is Going On?

What The Heck is Going On?
I understand, that when I Google something, I will be inundated by Facebook advertisements for the products I researched.  It does somewhat amaze me that the internet knows, but I get it.

I bought a Guitar last year after researching on the internet, and one year later, I still get ads every day for guitars.  Of course, I read the ads because they are interesting, so they keep coming.  Mrs. C asked me a question last week about outdoor security lights, and now I get ads every day.  And it is not just Facebook, if you leave your email address anywhere, you will get email ads.
Ok, all of this I understand, your searches are tracked and merchants can somehow reach you by your address.  It’s not a problem, you can tell Facebook you are not interested and you can opt out of receiving emails, it just does surprise me a bit.
What is spooky however is when I see ads for something I am interested in but have not expressed that interest in any internet search. 
Mrs. C buys a certain dark chocolate candy at Costco.  Tonight I asked, “Do we have any of those chocolate nut things?” I was informed that we need to buy more next time we go to Costco.
Five minutes later I see an ad on Facebook for “Barkthins.”  Those are the candies!  WTF?
Driving home from bowling (we just moved into first place) I listen to a finance dude who specializes in helping people eliminate debt. Tonight, just five minutes after the Barkthins ad I get another Facebook ad for a Dave Ramsey finance book.  Dave Ramsey, that’s the Radio guy.  WTF?
When I told Mrs. C about the coincidence she suggested I put some tape on my computer camera. 
“They can watch you, you know.”
“OK, they can see me eating the Barkthins, but how the heck do they know what I am listening to on the radio?”
“They have ways!”
All I know, is this is some scary shit.   

21 comments:

  1. Don't quote me on this, but I think remembering hubby mentioning that Smart TVs have a microphone in them that can hear what people are talking about and then aim their advertising based on that. Could be what is happening in your case. Cell phone freaks me out in that you ask it for directions to a place and it can spot where you are and lead you to where you are going. I think we've lost control of our lives to technology somehow.

    betty

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  2. It truly is scary. Years ago when politicians began talking about personal ID cards for everyone, people got very concerned about what these cards would be able to say to "Big Brother" who would now be watching every move they made. So the cards were scrapped. But everyone now has a photographic driver's licence or some other sort of photographic ID card to be produced when someone asks "do you have ID?" And then the internet and Google came along and people are happy to put just about anything on there, so of course "Big brother" now has his ways of keeping track of everyone and their spending.
    I find all those ads extremely annoying too. With Windows 7 I was able to stop them, with Windows 10 there is no such option.

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  3. yes this is scary Joe that we are loosing our privacy very quickly!
    according to recently watched program on t.v our all phones ,t.vs, and laptops have an eye for us and some U.S agency is paying this for to all the companies who are preparing this stuff .

    to exploit someone you have to dig about his weak points .if that agency has not such worst intentions then why it is spending LOTS of money on such works????

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  4. I’ve wondered the same thing, Big Brithervis obviously watching.

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  5. Scary, or what? I have noticed that advertisements follow me around... even those I only glanced at. They even follow me to people's blogs, providing they're geared to receive ads. Yes, it's scary.

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  6. I hate when I look up a restaurant or hotel and then I keep getting requests for a review on websites like TA and Yelp. I mean, what percentage of places do people actually go to when they are researching places?

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  7. Congrats on the bowling. Is that five pin or ten pin? And yes, it IS scary.

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  8. How does my phone know when I'm driving?

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  9. I agree this is scary, it really ticks me off when I look at something and then everywhere I go there it is... I do click on the ad choices and opt out of everything there, this really does help, until the next time you clean the cookies from your device then you have to do it again.

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  10. Privacy is a nonword these days. We really are being watched and listened to most of the time. When I go out on errands or whatnot I always get at least one notice on my phone asking me to give information about at least one of the places I happened to visit. Creepy.

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  11. Yes, they will find a way to snoop on you and that's that. Hubby disabled whatever needed disabled so our smart TV people can't hear us. It's over the top.

    Have a fabulous day, Joe. ☺

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  12. Well, don't get one of those things in your house that let Siri or Alexa listen to you 24/7/365. As if your cell phone doesn't do that already.

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  13. Hi there! There are a variety of methods to track your online behaviour and searches. There are some things you can do to mitigate some of these. If you truly wish to eliminate most trackers then you should subscribe to a Virtual Private Network service (VPN). Like all things, some VPN providers are better than others. I would avoid the free VPN software.

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  14. Congrats on snagging first place!!
    It is a bit scary. I turn off my Echo when I am not using her. I know she listens to TV if I don't so why is it unnatural to think she is listening to me also. I agree with Mrs. C. I do have tape over the camera on my computer.

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  15. Big Brother IS watching you!

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  16. Nothing is private anymore, like it used to be. I turned off my smart TV,so they can't monitor me. But online is another matter especially if you do a lot of shopping on Amazon. I also turned off my microphone and camera on my laptop. If you don't, they'll be watching...

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  17. Yes, they snoop, and mostly i ignore it because there's not much else i can do.

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  18. Our expectation of privacy is going the way of the Dodo.

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  19. I heard ads about sheets on a radio show I listen to every morning on the way to work. The sheets sounded intriguing, so I looked up their website one evening. Never talked about it, just looked at their website. I wasn't logged into Facebook when I did that, so I never got the ads on Facebook.

    But a week later, I received a postcard in the mail from them.

    Creeped me out.

    You should look them up and report if they send you a post card, too. The sheets are called Boll and Branch.

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