What this person mentions is really just the tip of the iceberg. They link credit cards to phones because GPS coordinates and WiFi networks nail down your address, which they cross-reference with the billing address of credit cards.<p>They know who are you sleeping with, or if you aren't sleeping with anyone. They know your age and all the insecurities you have about your body, not to mention your health problems and every embarrassing fact about you. They know where you've been, where you're planning on going, and your political preferences. They know if you've donated to political parties, attended political rallies, if you voted, where, and when. And they know all your friends.<p>And we just let them do this. As tech people, we built this. And all the along the way we told ourselves it was fine, because it was very lucrative for the entire ad tech/fintech/startup ecosystem, and us personally.
I've got a question for anybody who works in ad/marketing tech - is what Robert is describing something that you've worked on/with and seen successful results? If so did you build it that way intentionally? Like, I totally understand that it's possible, but has anybody intentionally built something that tracks or correlates peoples location so they can group them with similar interests and sell them similar products?<p>To me, the stupidest simplest solution is probably the most likely - some naive marketing analyst probably just grouped all traffic coming from the same IP address into the same bucket and blasted ads to them based on recent Amazon purchases at the same IP address.
I'm sure there's a lot of actual data sharing going on, but I also wonder how often these are just the Baader-Meinhof effect (noticing recently mentioned things everywhere).<p>Today I made an insta post about sand that resembled dunes at the beach, mentioning a camel in the description. Less than 5 minutes later I saw the camel logo at the beach bathroom, on someone's discarded cigarettes.<p>Here it's obvious that there is no connection. But if I had instead randomly seen a camel cigarette ad online at that point in time, I might have seriously wondered if it's because I mentioned it in the post.
I have an amazing story.<p>Moved into a new place, in Poland. Bought a new smart TV, it was a Samsung (kaput after 2 years). Me and my wife decided to have an impromptu singing session just bellowing out 'Hotel, Hotel, Hotel, Hotel, Hotel, Hotel' in a Pitbull (Cuban rapper) style whilst looking for holidays to book.<p>Within the next 5 minutes, Trivago was on the TV. Now bear in mind I have literally never seen Trivago being advertising on the TV and all of a sudden their catchphrase at the end of the ad got me 'Hotel, Trivago'.<p>Safe to say me and wife had a few minutes of WTF just staring at the screen then each other. That's when I truly became convinced that everything is listening. Could have been a coincidence though but it was an almighty coincidence to say the least.
I am just amazed people pay attention to the ads. I’m sure this is happening to me but my brain has gotten so good at filtering them out that I have no idea what they’re even trying to sell me!
My wife's family is from Romania. A few months ago while eating with our children we were discussing flags, and I mentioned that Chad's flag is identical to the Romanian flag. The wife's phone, with Facebook and Whatsapp and a million junk apps installed was nearby.<p>The very next day I open Youtube and one of the suggested videos is an explanation of the Chad and Romanian flags. I had not searched for anything relevant, and upon asking the children and wife (only people present) if they had mentioned the conversation to anybody or looked for something online, they say that they hadn't. And I believe them, I'm always presenting to them small bits of information about the world even though I know that 99% of it gets forgotten immediately.<p>That was a few months ago.<p>Lately I have been unable to fall asleep. I refuse to use the phone or any electronic devices after 12 (and wear Gunnars after the sun goes down) but in any case I lie in bed sometimes until the sun rises. I mentioned this to one of my kids (5 years old) a few days ago, I don't know whose phones were where. But the very next day I get an advertisement for "Medicines for those sleepless nights". Now maybe, just maybe, one of the older children or the wife used a phone late at night that specific night. But it seems far too far fetched to imagine that this happened exactly the day after I mentioned that I sometimes don't sleep.<p>I am 100% convinced that our phones are listening for keywords and assigning us to categories based on that.
"When I use my discount card at the grocery store? Every purchase? That's a dataset for sale."<p>He's just using that as a general example, right ? He does not, himself, as a data privacy expert and knowledgeable user of networks <i>actually use a grocery discount card</i>, right ?<p>Further, the more general set of examples that make up his narrative rely, to some degree, on using a mobile device that is connected to, or even registered in, his actual, real name.<p>He doesn't do that, right ? Is anyone here doing that ?
I went for a coffee with an old friend. He briefly mentioned he got a new puppy in our conversation.<p>Note, i don't own a dog. I didn't google or search anywhere about dogs or made any related purchases.<p>After i went home i opened facebook... low and behold, i see dog toys ads.<p>This has happened a few times that it became plain creepy. That was around 2014, i have since uninstalled facebook and barely open the website.
Here is the interesting part:<p><i>> If my phone is regularly in the same GPS location as another phone, they take note of that. They start reconstructing the web of people I'm in regular contact with.</i><p><i>> So. They know my mom's toothpaste. They know I was at my mom's. They know my Twitter. Now I get Twitter ads for mom's toothpaste.</i>
I truly don’t get why all technically inclined people don’t block ads systematically. Ublock origin plus ghostery on computers. Pi hole for mobile.<p>I realize he was at his mom’s house, but when he gets home ads should be blocked!<p>These types of stories absolutely bother me, but it’s all totally abstract because I don’t see ads on the internet essentially anywhere.
Why is it that if I deny Instagram mic access on iOS these “coincidences” stop happening? I’m convinced Instagram listens, too many experiences to suggest otherwise. I’ve read all the articles and tweets on this subject and yet remain convinced. And when I deny mic access, issue goes away.
A friend received hair loss ads after using wifi at my place -I, the one with hair loss, use an ad blocker.<p>Reddit app shows me ads for US restaurants. I live in Europe.<p>AdTech is depressingly bad. You tell me the smartest and best paid software engineers in the world work on this mess?
So, this is going to be slightly beyond me to accomplish. At least, I'm not really willing to apply the effort. But what if there was a service to pump out garbage data for these ad services to collect? Like, what if everyone used every toothpaste all the time (theoretically). Thus, marketers are flooded with bad leads. Enough to make a critical mass to stop relying on data collection tactics. To make sure this gets enough market usage, it would have to be free, thus the funding of such a project would be difficult. Perhaps a Wikipedia type of public funding rounds, maybe patreon and create merch. I don't know. I'm just interested in a way to dilute the data market and make it absolutely meaningless for anyone to buy. Hopefully, destroying the market. A handful of people doing a wee bit of ad blocking isn't working. Will this have 2nd and 3rd level repercussions? Absolutely. Will this hamper corporate surveillance on people? I think so. At least I think it'll be a better ride than the Gamestop market ride. Just a drunk idea. Throwing it out there. Maybe someone will think of something better off of this.
Are they listening to mics? That is constantly debated/debunked.<p>But yes...geolocation, networks you log to, phones you are near, what you search. That all seems to play a part.<p>Linkedin has in the past for me suggested connections based on the wifi I was using. Someone who I don't have common friends or career as and I was getting their contacts as suggestions just after using the same wifi. I have no facebook account...but it seems every phone I buy has it preinstalled.<p>To me I have long assumed this was going on. With the number of sensors and the capability to have a near constant data connection it boils down to "if they can...they will".
But as a good friend of mine says "I thought this was what we wanted". People seem to enjoy that the first button they see when they log in is the button they were actually looking for. (not saying everyone...some take security/privacy very serious...but the flame is bright for the masses).<p>I constantly have ads served to me for something that has been discussed in the room near me...or topics I would never have an interest in but the conversation was happening near me. My assumption is someone I was near enough for my phone to "see" their MAC address (if via common wifi or if it is adhoc...doesn't matter) and they searched the terms later.<p>I have become so used to this it has stopped bothering me. The real concerns I have are when I start getting served ads for things like Cancer or other medical treatments. It makes me say in my head "Does the bot know something I don't? Is there some sort of symptom I am having and the AI has picked up on it before me?"<p>At any rate...welcome to the future. Accept that tracking is a thing. I don't personally see a way to force the companies who have already become some of the biggest in the world by storing/selling data that they need to stop. Even through regulation. My personal opinion is we have passed the point of no return...it is the new normal until "the great reset" which will take a near extinction level event to force us back.
Location data is truly very powerful, this has been shown already.<p>As an example: I live in a large apartements complex. I mostly always see the same people, because we have the same in/out hours and days. There are people I know who live here that I almost never bump into by chance, sometimes not even once in a year. This give an idea of how timestamped location data is personal and identifies you. This is quite impressive if you think about it.<p>That's the reason why Google keeps pinging you if you change the location privacy settings on your Android phone.
Ok, now I want to know who the hell around me has a bunion. Please Social Media Algorithm, if you read this comment and can cross my HN account with whathever other information you have, I don't need a bunion remedy!
Weirdest anecdote for me: My wife and I were peeling shrimp for dinner and we were chatting how great it would be if there was some kind of tool that would make the task easier.<p>A while later after we ate, I was browsing Facebook and I was being shown ads for shrimp peeling tools. We had not done any kind of online search, etc. for it. We don't even have any "voice assistants" like Alexa, Google Voice, etc. (Though we both have iPhones so we have Siri).<p>So how did FB know we had been talking about shrimp peelers?
My wife got a news article pop up because it included a Getty licensed stock image that was from a location and time she had physically been present at.<p>The article itself was unappealing in any other way.
I have a similar experience. I take all the precautions for disabling ads. I opted out from all the targeted ads. And still when my brother visits me, the ads on YouTube change.
A couple weeks ago there was an HN post about some lockpicking tool. I watched a video about it in Firefox Focus on my iPhone. Later that day, I was on YouTube on Safari, logged into my gmail account. It recommended videos on lockpicking.<p>I assume this is based on IP address? What can be done about this? If Firefox Focus/incognito isn't enough, what should I be doing? I already use NextDNS and mostly use Brave incognito on my laptop.
Or mabye he used the Wi-Fi and they detected that his phone was loggedin with the same ip. I don’t buy that people are being corrected on physical location. Some services probably do, but the normal ad network’s? Nah. where would they get my actual location data from.
Companies make billions off <i>free</i> products. It shouldn't be surprising to anyone there are extremely shady things going on.<p>Don't use a phone and pay in cash.
I constantly get ads for things I just purchased. Note to Self: Need to figure out how I can get paid to sell useless advertising to marketing chumps:)
The craziest thing I’ve ever seen with targeted advertising (on iPhone) is when I was vacuuming the room one day & as soon as I finished & opened Safari, was seeing ads for Vacuums<p>I hadn’t even ever said the word ‘vacuum’ - iPhone literally seemed to have cued the sound of the machine in the background. And mind you it’s an iPhone 7 with few apps & not some Pro Max future phone ..<p>From that moment I’ve been convinced 100% microphones listening, cameras probs watching.
I wonder: is this a bad thing? Obviously, the tech wasn’t smart enough to show him better ads.<p>It put him into to the same bucket as his mum. And that is clearly not very “personalized,” not targeted.
This Twitter thread is hilarious. The author decries advertisers for evilly collecting all the world's information in order to... sell him toothpaste? The cherry on top is at the end when he discovers that his tweets have gathered some attention, he uses those eyeballs to flog his role-playing game and his brother's book.
Funny sidebar related to a top post yesterday about topical engagement on Twitter, the author of the tweet describes his feed as follows:<p>> If you like D&D consider sticking around, my account is 85% tabletop RPG development and 15% leftist politics.<p>Kudos to the author for taking his audience what they should expect after following. But isn’t this a really narrow audience? Why not have 2 accounts: robertgreeveathome and robertgreeveatwork so I can pick which content I’m interested in?