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thelazyl

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 9, 2018
Posts
600
Location
Molalla, Oregon
Hi All, in recent months I am growing concerned about how my Facebook feed is tailored to events happening around me.  My 2 oldest sons take a flight training course and the next day I have advertisement for flight school in my Facebook.  I can think of dozens of examples like this - from both my personal family's activities to my professional work.  It is more complex that simply advertising based on my google searches - somehow the data is collected based on my family members whereabouts as well.  I find it spooky.

Today I learned that our government leaders in the Portland (Or) Metro area want to purchase this kind of information as a way to plan for transportation and government services.  Part of this information includes reporting on an individuals location every 2 seconds.  Personally this scares the hell out of me.  I don't want my personal travels being available to anyone but me at my family. To address this type of concern we are being told there are "rules" to protect us from government abuse.  I have little doubt that abuse will happen.  I am drafting a letter to my congressman to urge him to draft privacy legislation.

I am interested in your opinions please.  I am really hoping to avoid a political debate - rather I am interested in your opinion about information privacy in a model electronic world.

 
Not long ago, I had an in-person conversation with a contractor friend who commented on a recycling company that he uses. The next day, an ad for this facility popped up in my Facebook feed.

I have no use for this type of facility and have never Goggled it, and my friend isn't on Facebook. I can only guess that my iPhone was listening.
 
If you use a smartphone or for that matter any cellphone you will be traceable. I also have seen ads that seem to follow me from my laptop, Desktop and cell phone. They are not sync'ed. The only way to avoid it is to take yourself off the grid. Anything you do today is tracked.
 
It terrifies me, I have stuff like that happen all the time. But I feel like we have to accept it if we want to use technology. I know this doesn't help anything and it's not usually a solution I would recommend, but on this one, I bury my head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist.
 
I have noticed that any time I do a bit of research for a forum member I start getting adds for whatever I was looking up... Kind of amusing actually.

I do have location services turned off for the most part but The Goverment can still track.. Best course of action is my response to the "Secure Folder" option on my phone.. There i nothing stored on digital media I'd be embarrassed by if it showed up on the evening news.
 
RVMommaTo6 said:
It terrifies me, I have stuff like that happen all the time. But I feel like we have to accept it if we want to use technology. I know this doesn't help anything and it's not usually a solution I would recommend, but on this one, I bury my head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist.

And now we are all Happy ;D

 

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Gizmo100 said:
If you use a smartphone or for that matter any cellphone you will be traceable. I also have seen ads that seem to follow me from my laptop, Desktop and cell phone. They are not sync'ed. The only way to avoid it is to take yourself off the grid. Anything you do today is tracked.

:)) :))
 
If you read your Facebook contract you will do what tens of thousands of people did this year alone. You will cancel your FB account. It clearly states that they can and will use all data from your computer, or phone (if connected to FB) to gather info from and about you and your friends. They have the right to go onto your computer and do a search of areas you have visited. All in an effort to provide a better FB experience for you. I've been off FB for three years and do not have of those problems. Also, you can go into your phone and stop all tracking. I did that last year and now I don't get ads for places like Lowe's or Sears just because I passed their locations. You can also switch to Duck Duck Go as your search engine. They do not track your internet searches. (Like Google does.)
 
Gizmo100 said:
If you use a smartphone or for that matter any cellphone you will be traceable. I also have seen ads that seem to follow me from my laptop, Desktop and cell phone. They are not sync'ed. The only way to avoid it is to take yourself off the grid. Anything you do today is tracked.
A friend, who is not on Facebook or any type social media and dislikes cats (sorry cat lovers, we had 2 for 18 years)  Anyways, he and his wife did a test.  They had a very detailed conversation in his car about cats, made up all sorts of stories, for 15 minutes.  The very next day, on his Google Chrome browser, on his iPhone, he had ads pop up promoting cat treats, cat food, etc.  He swears up and down that Google spies on us.  Funny thing, he deleted anything Google on his phone and only uses Apple Safari browser.  I asked him, Is Apple any better? 
 
Back in the day, broadcast television was "free" but we had to put up with the ads.

Facebook etc. is also "free".  How do you think they pay for the servers, the electricity, the internet lines, the salaries, and Mark Z's obscene profits?

Personally, I don't belong to ANY of the social media groups, and my cell phone is left turned off in my truck, for emergency use only.

Neo-Luddite, that's me, these days.  And I used to run a Wildcat BBS for fun and made my living as a Lan Administrator for a state facility . . . 
 
SpencerPJ said:
A friend, who is not on Facebook or any type social media and dislikes cats (sorry cat lovers, we had 2 for 18 years)  Anyways, he and his wife did a test.  They had a very detailed conversation in his car about cats, made up all sorts of stories, for 15 minutes.  The very next day, on his Google Chrome browser, on his iPhone, he had ads pop up promoting cat treats, cat food, etc.  He swears up and down that Google spies on us.  Funny thing, he deleted anything Google on his phone and only uses Apple Safari browser.  I asked him, Is Apple any better?

This explains what just happened......I just went to Lowe's and on the way there and back I was singing without the Radio...I get home and back on the computer and I get ad's for muffler shops and Vet clinics for my sick cat ;D

OK Just kidding...But yes phones, smart TV's and pretty much anything that can pick up sound could be listening.

 
My cell phone stays in airplane mode most of the time, only coming out when I have a specific need for it. My landline gets enough spam calls, but I don't need the tracking -- and my battery life is improved, too.
 
I turn off all applications on my smartphone, except for a few. I don't do email, search the web, or use the voice commands on it either. I also don't link it to my pc and I don't log into any google type accounts from my cell phone. I don't have ads personalized for my events or search history. There are ways to turn off tracking features on cell phones and ways to turn off ads on facebook, do a web search for them.

There is huge money in selling data mined from search engines, clicks on websites, etc., etc. etc.

By the way, my facebook account does not contain correct personal information. My hometown, age, date of birth, etc are all wrong. I don't link to family members, or any of that other crap. I don't answer questions that relate to possible passwords, year you were born, year you were married, spouse names, in-law names, pet names, favorite car, first pet, favorite teacher, all the questions your bank and others require you to pick as security question/answers. I also give incorrect answers to those questions. I have a pattern, however I won't share it. Sorry!
Phone applications are the worst, they require access to contacts, photos, and other profile type information. That free app, is data mining you.

Fill out any survey's, on-line or otherwise. Data collected, mined.

Heck, my real name isn't Hanr3. It's a portion of my name. I use one fake name, address, etc. for my social media profiles.

The list goes on, however you get the idea. Your personal information is just that, personal. Protect it.

One last thing, google assistants (Alexa and the like) listen all the time. Don't buy them.
Did you turn the camera off on your pc, restrict its access? It can be turned on without your knowledge.

I wouldn't worry about the ads you see. Its the other information being gathered that you will never see to be concerned about.


How do I know?
I once worked for a company that mailed out 8 Billion (b) pieces of direct marketing mail per year. Every piece of mail was personalized to you and your family. Every piece. It left our facility on US postal semi-trucks every day. Each pallet went to a post office in the US, each tray on that pallet went to a letter carrier, every piece of mail in that tray was organized to the exact route the carrier walked/drove every day. In other words, the first piece of mail in that tray went to the first house on his/her route, second piece to the second house, third to the third, etc. Eight billion pieces of mail. Personalized by data mining. IT is a huge market. I was the Quality Manager.

Every marketing company in the world wants that data and they are willing to pay big bucks for it. Google mastered collecting and selling the data. But they are not the only ones. Facebook, Twitter, etc. Data mining is used in political elections, it's used to target an age, race, religion, etc. in a geographic area. Wall Street Journal has different headlines depending on where you live. TV, newspaper, radio all target their audience. You don't hear funeral advertisements on pop country stations, or rap stations. The list goes on. Marketing is big business and there are thousands of ways to collect data.
 
One day I got tired of all the adds about stuff I had already bought, or was just thinking about once. So I (mid 50's single male) Googled women's underwear.

Now instead of a bunch of useless stuff clogging up my web pages, I have cute scantily clad ladies sprinkled all over my screen. Occasionally I click on one of the really cute ones to keep the ball rolling.

Yeah, I'm a dirty old man.  So what?
 
check out ggogle map timeline. it shows everywhere you and your cell phone has been by the day,month and year. very spooky
 
Just to be clear, Google does not "sell data". That would be entirely counterproductive to their core product, selling access to your eyeballs. Companies pay Google to display ads based on the desired demographics for a given product.
 
Optimistic Paranoid said:
Personally, I don't belong to ANY of the social media groups, and my cell phone is left turned off in my truck, for emergency use only.
You belong to this social media group...

This thread really cracks me up. There is only one reason companies track you, it is to make advertising more effective. There is no other reason. I don't see why people are so paranoid about more logical advertising.
 
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