I’m I turning into a tin hatter or…

[Keeva2017]

Do you get adverts linked to conversations you’ve had?

So I have asked people IRL but can’t get a straight answer, same deal with google really.

We all know that if we search for something then we get adverts for said thing on social media. But I swear a few times this week I have had scarily specific adverts for things I know I haven’t search for. But have spoken about IRL or on watsapp.

Examples;
Went old fashioned shopping for kids trainers, didnt pre research or price check after. Suddenly getting adverts for the exact trainers.

Tonight had a convo about (forgive me I’m the mum beautiful but minging under 5’s) not sticking your finger up your bum. Que advert for a finger puppet where it says finger access is in the bum (this sounds weird but it looks legit, please don’t judge me or my children).

Daughter talking about rapunzal and me and partner wondering where the new obsession came from. Que advert for Rapunzal Lego.

At work Friday me asking about Mermaids Purse charity - Amazon toy advert for a mermaids purse.

ALL of these - Amazon?

AIBU and a conspiracy nut or is my phone and possible Amazon listening to me?

Ive been out on my lunch hour and saw an artist painting a street scene. Back at work, scrolling through FB, and the same artist pops up as a follow suggestion

Yes this is a thing and has been for a long time. No tin hat, it's common knowledge. There are settings on your phone to turn it off but it's not bothered me enough to want to do it so can't tell you how.

Sorry a bit late to this thread. Yes this does happen. I think India Knight wrote about it in the Sunday Times? It happened to her and a friend.They were casually discussing canoes, (as you do!) They we’re not researching, googling or anything like that. They then began to receive ads for canoes.

I don't believe it's happening, no. It would be illegal in most countries, has been denied by the big tech companies, and analyzing that amount of data would be a really inefficient way of tracking peoples interests (compared to simply tracking your browsing history).

It's not illegal because you agree to it in all the app T&C's that no one reads because they are multiple pages long. They aren't analysing whole data it's just microphones picking up on buzzwords

You can turn the mic off in settings for each individual app but it still happens anyway!

Right, I’m going to talk about the things I would like as birthday presents near DH's phone…

“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not watching you” as the phrase goes 😂

This is why I have zero permissions enabled for any app- except WhatsApp has access to my microphone and pictures, but not my camera (no video calls)

I never have location on except when very rarely and specifically needing directions on google maps - I turn it off again immediately when I close the app.

I don’t have any identifiable social media where I let it all hang out online eg fb, insta etc - only mn, anon Twitter, LinkedIn and WhatsApp. Deleted fb over a decade ago before they bought in that DeepFace thingy 😱😱😱😱. I don’t have and can never imagine having an Alexa in any house I live in. I would never contemplate using siri and have never enabled this on any of my phones. I also have a phone cover which covers my camera unless I’m using the phone & I place it with the back camera down as well through habit)

I work in cybersecurity so am even less inclined to use these “services” as for me, it’s not worth it to be able to be on fb if the trade off is essentially giving every facet of your online presence to zuckerberg stored in a data centre somewhere and analysed/sold to any bidder. Haven’t yet accepted the new WhatsApp terms,.. atm just ignoring the pop-up but am contemplating if it’s worth sacking it off under the new terms.

It’s getting harder to fly under the radar or have anything private but the most you can realistically do is just not give any app access to permissions unless necessary, and not use the service at al if you’re not happy with the terms (which does mean missing out to some extent)

Generally the main ads I get targeted for are remarketing ads for items I’ve been already looking at on the device I’m on. It’s not foolproof- but the eavesdropping element can be reduced greatly by just saying ‘NO’ (which is often as pp state an arseache to implement), or totally avoiding those apps/companies/products unless vital and enabling permissions when you want to use the service and disabling straight after - admittedly, a pita but ultimately it depends how important it is to you to do this or not. (I do do this, but am seen as weird- ironic considering that I’m doing this because of my role in tech rather than the expectation of working in tech thus embracing these things such as gps tracking etc 😂😂😂😂 ummmm no.)

I have literally just read this thread (quietly, no talking), switched over to FB and there is an ad for a "finger access hole in bottom" worm on Amazon

I have literally just read this thread (quietly, no talking), switched over to FB and there is an ad for a "finger access hole in bottom" worm on Amazon
Yes I think everyone knows this happens, it's the audio stuff that's less clear.

I must admit I've been testing it (I.e. speaking to my phone about things I don't normally purchase). No related ads yet but let's see

I saw a woman I used to work with years ago in passing the other week. We have no Facebook friends in common, but she came up as a FB friend suggestion. Never seen her as a suggestion before.

@TheDevils

I work at a university and visit our website regularly to find information. This means I get targeted ads for our open day quite a lot. One year the university was using a picture of me in its advertising so I was regularly faced with an advert with my face on it!! It freaked me out the first few times especially as I wasn't aware my picture was being used!! 😂

I used to work in a university as well. In publications. When the students register at the start of their degree they signed something to say their image could be used in publications, marketing. However I can see that, under GDPR, you might not be happy. I would contact your marketing team as they probably provided google with the image. It could be changed.

@doctorsnoddy

I saw a woman I used to work with years ago in passing the other week. We have no Facebook friends in common, but she came up as a FB friend suggestion. Never seen her as a suggestion before.

Your phones were in close proximity and both have the same app or browser data. That's nothing new.

@doctorsnoddy

I saw a woman I used to work with years ago in passing the other week. We have no Facebook friends in common, but she came up as a FB friend suggestion. Never seen her as a suggestion before.

Same way the covid app knows you've been in proximity to random strangers

Last week I was sure my phone was reading my thoughts because things I thought about but hadn't said out loud were appearing

This keeps happening to me too!!

My alexa speaker is next to my TV. I was watching grace and frankie and they got into a discussion about vaginal dryness.

Guess what I got constant adverts for after that episode

Alright chill out @IRanSoFarAway1

@IRanSoFarAway1 I accept im being listened to but its a bit much to get ads for products to solve problems that Jane fonda had on a fictional show! She's 50 years older than me

@Ratalie

I don't believe it's happening, no. It would be illegal in most countries, has been denied by the big tech companies, and analyzing that amount of data would be a really inefficient way of tracking peoples interests (compared to simply tracking your browsing history).

There have been occasions where something seemed so coincidental that I thought there was something to it, but its also happened when I've thought (but not spoken) about something. I suspect there's a lot of confirmation bias at play.

Big Tech said it's not happening? That's like the paedo prince not sweating...

This has absolutely happened to me, in my case Facebook ads for things I had discussed verbally in 'earshot of my phone, which was on but not being used. I'm not remotely tin-hatty or a conspiracist but its clearly happening, they were too niche to be a coincidence.

Check you have the 'microphone' setting switched to 'off' on FB Messenger.