The whole exchange of data on the internet is spooky.

I have a computer at work, a cell phone, and a computer at home.  If I look at something on my computer while I am at work.....when I open my home computer the pop up advertising is related to the stuff I was looking at when I was at work.

I know it is far more advanced that the simple scenario above.....and there is stuff I would like to know how it works and what makes it function out of curiosity - but I don't want to get on somebody's "watch list".....so I don't dare Google it!

Dave wrote on 04/03/19 at 09:25:03:


Are you logged into the same Google account and using google.com on all three devices? If so, what you're seeing is exactly what you should see. Google tracks your history via the logged in account so it can use your info for the targeted ads that pop up.

If not, you should be looking for black helicopters.  

Ad blockers, privacy badger, and no script will severely cut down on the amount of information that your browser leaks to the data collectors. And Google is one of the worst for hoovering data, right up there with Facebook.

If you can't stop them from collecting your data, at least poison it so that it is useless to them. If you give them so much bogus data that they have a hard time sifting the valid data from it, then it (the data) becomes a lot less valuable to them. Your browser tells each website that you visit what browser you are using, the OS, your screen resolution, and chipset architecture among other things. For years my browser said that I was surfing the web on an 8-bit Atari 800, running MSDOS 3.2, and that my web browser was Outlook Express. With that much obviously bogus data being sent, the rest of the data becomes suspect also. Now it costs them time and manpower to verify the data being gathered. If enough people would do the same then the cost of sifting the good data out would be more than the profits of selling that data, ending the data collection schemes.

Walmart is planning to roll out shopping carts with biometric sensors in the handle that read heart rate and blood pressure. They claim that it will be used for health reasons. That same data is very valuable to advertisers too. You get real time response to various advertising campaigns instore so that they can determine what method is the most effective for a given product. That is a big step towards irresistable advertising.

Take Oldfellers advice and install Adbolck Plus. Works quite well for me.

LANCER wrote on 04/03/19 at 11:20:00:


No, but they have the next best thing. The carts transmit a wifi or bluetooth signal so they can identify and locate which cart and where it is in the store. Simply reading the change in heart rate and blood pressure then lets them know how you respond to seeing a shelf display so that they can more accurately tweak the ad to entice you to buy that item.

Have you seen any stores with electronic displays on the shelves that show the price of that item? Some stores are in cahoots with social media and using that data in the same way. Say you make a post on facebook that you are interested in getting a new TV. You go into a store with the digital signs a few days later. Facebook can identify you by your smartphone, and the stores have access to that data. When you walk in they scan for phones and yours responds to the scan. Now the store knows who you are and that you are looking for a new TV. As you approach the TV aisle, they can instantly change the prices on the electronic display when you are in range of their tracker, and influence your choice of purchase by lowering the price on a model with a high profit margin and raising the prices of the others. Without you ever realizing it, the store just controlled your purchase.

Welcome Back Ray ! I knew he couldn't stay gone for long.  

My "social media", is this forum and an antique car forum. That's about it. As far as shopping trolleys reading your heart beat and blood pressure. There must be a sensor somewhere, and a little chewing gum of blue tack over the sensor may impede its function. You could also tell friends and foes not to use organisations using this technology. Twelve letters across a CEOs desk may help a hundred letters may help more and so on. If you feel strongly about this use the cell system, tell two people and get them to tell two people and so on. However would people be bothered to do these things?