I find it very spooky how everything seems to be tracked. We were talking about wine the other day and bang . . . . Wine adverts appeared. On FB and Instagram. Same with various discussions. These apps seem to be ‘listening’ to everything.
Just carried out a speed test and noticed this popup when it finished. I knew Facebook knows everything you do on Facebook but it seems it tracks you everywhere else as well.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
I find it very spooky how everything seems to be tracked. We were talking about wine the other day and bang . . . . Wine adverts appeared. On FB and Instagram. Same with various discussions. These apps seem to be ‘listening’ to everything.
Alexa monitors everything you ask it to do in order to get your profile but it also listens to your conversations my advice turn the damm thing off.
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
We do it because the object in question is made out to be your “ friend” with whom you bond and develop a relationship nowhere are you given the impression that Alexa, Google, Yahoo etc are data mining.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fjdz
Last edited by mart broad; 27th April 2020 at 08:57.
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
You can see what they are monitoring under Settings > Off Facebook Activity. It is defaulted to On (which I find quite unsettling) but you can switch it off - although I'm not sure if this means that it actually stops gathering personal data.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
^ This. It was introduced in February with little explanation and defaulted to on :-(
I've just been and amended my settings and deleted the history.
Cheers,
Nigel
Tbh, I’ve given up worrying about it now, I’m sat in the camp that you have 2 options. Either have it and just accept that you’re going to be monitored and listened to or don’t have it.
I keep getting loads of adverts for plus sized sex dolls - don't know why
Well, if you are going to have adverts on most every site you visit, is it not better to have those adverts filtered a bit so they are at least partly relevant to your interests? I think it’s not a big deal. Unless you have something to hide of course?
I'm in the don't have it camp, why make it any easier for 'big tech' to monetise you, your existence and experiences, they are not your/our friends, and self evidently do not have our best interests at heart. Also there is the question/phenomenon of how, and to what extent the act of observation influences and changes the behaviour of the observed. Raises the question of who's life you are living, how far are your choices/decisions your own, issues of authenticity and free will.
There's a cracking book called The Circle by Dave Eggers, published a few years back now, it's a work of fiction but the tech company and the activities it describes is/ are pretty recognisable...I believe there was a film made but apparently it didn't do the book justice.
There was an interesting article on BBC radio 4 about a year ago, it was trying to prove and disprove that Alexa monitors you full time then targets you, they had a guy who would mention something (I forget what) randomly every day, something like wanting a tent. He then wanted to see if adverts for tents would ever pop up, they didn’t.
Reminds me of the joke.
A young lad is standing at a bar and he realises it’s President Obama stood next to him, So he says to the president “My dad says you are spying on all of us with hidden surveillance”. Obama reply’s “That’s ridiculous, and he not really your father”.
Facebook tracks you with a unique Id even if you don't sign up. Plenty of facebook trackers are blocked in my pihole even though I never signed up.
Noone in my house has facebook and still tracking
Thing is, internet advertising is typically relevant and targeted.
If I'm searching for a camping weekend in Cornwall, I will likely see adverts for tents, campsites in Cornwall, pubs near campsites, that sort of thing.
If I mention to Mrs Gyp that I'm searching for a camping weekend in Cornwall, I'm likely to see brochures for 5* hotels or resorts in Fiji, Hawaii, the Seychelles or Dubai.
Alexa and Mrs Gyp both listen, process data and make a recommendation that is intended to persuade me to a purchasing decision. I'm happy to have Alexa round the house as at least the Amazon suggestions have a modicum of sanity about them.
I dont know all about the technology.
But one obvious thing i have noticed is the social media buttons on various web sites.
Sites also have scripts running in the background that you dont see.
One thing you can try is to install the browser extension "ghostery" and it will give you all the trackers it know on the current web site you are on.
I have it on firefox but i think chrome has it as well.
I know as i see facebook being blocked in the query log of my dns blocker pi-hole.
Last edited by trott3r; 28th April 2020 at 20:10.