Freaked out!!?!

[prozacfree]

oh my goodness, this might be a simple explanation and I apologise in advance but I need someone to clarify it with me.

So I sent an email at work today to a company who is quite obscure and nothing I would ever google whilst at home. My colleague also had a jacket delivered to work and showed me. It was quite unusual but probably from a high street store.

I've come home from work and have just now logged on to facebook and the company that I emailed has come up as an advert and the exact jacket has come up as an ad further down. Is google spying on me?

This happened to DH, I think it was through google, I have an Adblocker on my iPhone, iPad and Mac and don’t get these targeted ads

I think DuckDuckGo doesn’t track you

If you spoke about the items in the vicinity of your phone, it will have picked that up - phones listen.

That said, I clearly have a shit phone because the bugger never does anything useful with the stuff it hears from me :)

It happens when I type something into the search box for google.
Something we have been talking about like "How many legs does a wasp have?" (that isn't the type of thing we talk about, just a random example). I type the word "how" and the whole sentence comes up despite none of us ever having searched it before!

Yup. My friend once told me about an obscure product. Following day Facebook was advertising it to me.

This has just freaked me out, as about 30 minutes ago I had a conversation with a colleague about the very same topic. Advertising for things on different devices from the one toy have used to look them up, and when something has only been spoken about next to a mobile phone.

Aren’t some Android phones run by google or have lots to do with google, DHs is as it is a Motorola, so probably phone is listening. DH gets this shit all the while, I just said what do you expect it’s a Google phone

I think it does happen, but also sometimes you'll notice an ad for something if you've been discussing it recently in another context, when otherwise you might scroll past without it even registering.

A friend explained all of this (in pre cambridge analytica days) in a MH assessment and was labelled as delusional. She was trying to explain that it freaks her out very badly but they assumed she was in the 'tin foil hat brigade' because what she was describing was so clearly impossible

@Aposterhasnoname

We got an Alexa, and decided to test the theory that Alexa listens in and somehow directs adverts to you.

We started to discuss buying an item that we would never google, or indeed have any need for. Specifically a pram. We’re too old for babies, and DD was adamant that she didn’t want any, and at 35, and single, that looked unlikely to change.

So we started talking about prams, what colour pram, what brand is good, how much are they anyway, that sort of stuff.

Two weeks later DD announced her pregnancy. Fair play to Amazon, that’s a pretty impressive sales tactic.

That’s impressive. You dd hadn’t been secretly looking at prams?

That’s impressive. You dd hadn’t been secretly looking at prams?

Not on our wifi, or devices, she lives 60 miles away.

Dh is looking for a laptop for me. He said the brand and when I went on my iPad tonight, up pops an advert for the same one. He has not been looking on my iPad.

Yup I moved to using DuckDuckGo as my browser some time ago when I got fed up with being followed around the web. I confirm it has largely done the trick. I do also clear history and cookies regularly too.

This sort of thing has happened to me recently too. Discussing something on the land line and then ads or topics appearing on my phone! Well that's it then-just have to wrap all devices up in big wads of bubble wrap!

I was at sil on Saturday. Dd nearly two was walking with a wiggle and hands on hips. SIL said she's so sassy, hey little miss sassy pants.

All week on Facebook and Internet an advert for my rocking kids, top with little miss sassy pants. I didn't even have my phone with me!!!!

It’s really useful if you’re looking for a specific thing (boots, rug etc etc) and just talk about it a bit near your phone. The next day you’ll have loads of advert for what you want.

But it is insane really.

This has happened to me, it's my phone listening I'm sure.
I went into a posh shor shop with my mother, my phone was in my bag, I never touched it.
We were discussing some shoes, a brand I've never heard of before. We liked them, she tried them. I opened up facebook on my laptop that eveining and there was that brand of shoes being advertized. It's happened to me a few times.

Yeah, it freaks me right out!

Shoe not shor

The other day my boyfriend asked me why he had ads on his Facebook from a beauty retailer showing makeup and skincare items that had been left in his basket. He'd never heard of the retailer.

Embarrassingly, I'd been browsing the site the day before whilst bored and made an imaginary wish list. I added £££ of lovely things to my basket to see how much it would all cost It was my imaginary basket on my boyfriends Facebook page!

I think I must have logged on to google once using his phone. But I'll definitely be wary about what I search for in future!

This has never happened to me as I have my search engine privacy/targeted advertising settings locked down.

I don’t really believe people when they say they spoke about X and it appeared as an ad as your microphone is not being monitored.

However in terms of privacy Google is the devil, which is why I prefer Apple products. The sheer amount of data google collects is ridiculous.

I’m currently using iOS 14 (which will be publicly released later this month). It shows your whenever an app is using your microphone or camera by adding a coloured dot to your notification bar. Literally no app has done so without my consent eg when I’m on the phone or recording a video. Your conversations are not being randomly monitored for advertising.

clear internet cookies and it won't happen as often.

I’ve had a lot of this recently too.

I have FB
I only use it to buy stuff from a few groups that I follow

When I search for something on Amazon EBay or if I just google stuff It will always come up in my feed
And if I actually buy something then Im swamped with advert for similar stuff

You're probably signed in to chrome or Gmail or Facebook on both work and home laptops. You have an online profile as you use any of these sign in based tools so whatever device you use will 'know' what you're doing on any other device including your phone. It makes sense and ultimately should give you a better experience as your devices use your data to target you better. It's simply artificial intelligence. Nothing mysterious.