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comment by cliffelam
cliffelam  ·  4083 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: So, I found a pair of sunglasses on the footpath last week ...

Oh, well, yeah it might have come from there, but it might be that the search they remembered was only one of the data points that was used to display the ad. One AdEx I know claims they use over 50 factors, including a large search history, to determine ad categories.

There is a local company here that does neighborhood level ad targeting to show you local coupons and specials.

If you think it's creepy (doesn't bother me, I like ads that show me things I'm interested in) the you should use ad blocker and block cookies and scripts. Then it all goes away.

-XC





briandmyers  ·  4083 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Understood. In spite of the creepy factor, I kinda prefer to see this sort of thing, out in the open. A reminder that some 'bot is watching a lot of what we all do in public.

cliffelam  ·  4082 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's not really watching you, there is no agency. Your choices (cookies, registering as a user) create database entries or provide the data.

The NSA, now, THEY are watching you. :-)

-XC

humanodon  ·  4082 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'd kind of like to know which NSA agent is watching at any one time. You know, since the cat is half out of the bag anyway. That way, I could kind of explain myself a little, or give a heads up, like, "Hey Jeff, I've been drinking a bit and I've been going through some stuff, so things are going to get a little weird."

Or have people not watching everyone . . .

cliffelam  ·  4082 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Well, at the end of the cold war, the STASI in East Germany employed about 1/3 of the population to spy on the other 2/3, so maybe "shovel ready" was Obama-code for that sort of program?

But I agree that it would be cozier if we knew our watchers.

-XC

thenewgreen  ·  4082 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You could always pull a elahi and just say, "You want to track me? Here you go F.B.I"

Cut out the middle man.

humanodon  ·  4083 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Kind of blurs the lines between public and private, no?

briandmyers  ·  4083 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yep - and maybe showcases that what we assume is private is often actually not. That's actually sort of the reason I posted this account.

cliffelam  ·  4082 days ago  ·  link  ·  

If you read the TOS and Privacy Policies of the websites you use one of the things you'll find is that... not much is what you'd call private.

-XC

briandmyers  ·  4082 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Ain't nobody got time fo' dat! :-)