Minor rant on internet privacy
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 4,860
Minor rant on internet privacy
If you're a Facebooker, you may have noticed the ads that pop up on your home page. Google something like "telephoto lens" or your favorite pair of shoes and pronto! You start seeing ads for them on Facebook.
I've gotten hooked on the HBO series "Treme." Been bingeing on it big time on Amazon. Great show. The best music ever. Not a selection for early recovery, though. Lots of merrymaking with beverages and pot.
It wasn't until tonight that I scrolled down the Amazon page to see what movies it recommended for me. Given that that "Treme" is set in New Orleans, what seems likely? "All the King's Men" -- either the classic Broderick Crawford version or the remake with Sean Pean? No. Louis Malle's controversial, yet stunning "Pretty Baby." Nope. That bayou country tale of corrupt cops -- "The Big Easy." Uh-uh.
Amazon recommends I watch "28 Days," the Sandra Bullock rehab flick. Followed by the made-for-TV "My Name is Bill W." And why not "Blue Jasmine," alcoholic woman on her way down. Try "The Secret World of Recovery," a documentary. And so on and so on.
Guess my own secret is a little more out than I thought. Not altogether surprising, but not particularly comforting that because I spend time on a recovery site, Amazon seems to have a pretty good idea what to recommend I watch. Interesting how many think Big Gummint is the predator when it comes to our privacy. I think the private sector has wiped the floor with it on that count.
Oh well. Rant concluded. Thanks for listening. As they say at Mardi Gras, Laissez les bons temps rouler. Let the good times roll.
I've gotten hooked on the HBO series "Treme." Been bingeing on it big time on Amazon. Great show. The best music ever. Not a selection for early recovery, though. Lots of merrymaking with beverages and pot.
It wasn't until tonight that I scrolled down the Amazon page to see what movies it recommended for me. Given that that "Treme" is set in New Orleans, what seems likely? "All the King's Men" -- either the classic Broderick Crawford version or the remake with Sean Pean? No. Louis Malle's controversial, yet stunning "Pretty Baby." Nope. That bayou country tale of corrupt cops -- "The Big Easy." Uh-uh.
Amazon recommends I watch "28 Days," the Sandra Bullock rehab flick. Followed by the made-for-TV "My Name is Bill W." And why not "Blue Jasmine," alcoholic woman on her way down. Try "The Secret World of Recovery," a documentary. And so on and so on.
Guess my own secret is a little more out than I thought. Not altogether surprising, but not particularly comforting that because I spend time on a recovery site, Amazon seems to have a pretty good idea what to recommend I watch. Interesting how many think Big Gummint is the predator when it comes to our privacy. I think the private sector has wiped the floor with it on that count.
Oh well. Rant concluded. Thanks for listening. As they say at Mardi Gras, Laissez les bons temps rouler. Let the good times roll.
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Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 418
Hey Venecia, I feel your pain. 3 months after looking for a pair of shoes that would fit my clown-sized feet and I'm still getting ads for shoes popping up everywhere.
Although, you can use this new age of privacy invasion to your advantage. For instance - If you're at a potential new partner's house and you see the pop up ads are primarily for erectile dysfunction products or for stuff which could be used in a kidnapping, then you could be saved!
Probably what we need to do is just browse in private mode and turn our cookies off. Should save me a lot of grief if I get a girl over and she checks my computer
Although, you can use this new age of privacy invasion to your advantage. For instance - If you're at a potential new partner's house and you see the pop up ads are primarily for erectile dysfunction products or for stuff which could be used in a kidnapping, then you could be saved!
Probably what we need to do is just browse in private mode and turn our cookies off. Should save me a lot of grief if I get a girl over and she checks my computer
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 4,860
You rock, Donuts!
I used to be better at clearing cookies on my PC. After five years with my Mac, you'd think I'd remember to do it more often. Just went to the privacy settings and it looks like I've wiped out a lot of stored stuff. Will have to see what Amazon recommends next.
SR wisdom to the rescue yet again! Thanks!
Upon edit: You rock, too, Dee! (And thanks, as always, for being a kind friend to the SR community.)
I used to be better at clearing cookies on my PC. After five years with my Mac, you'd think I'd remember to do it more often. Just went to the privacy settings and it looks like I've wiped out a lot of stored stuff. Will have to see what Amazon recommends next.
SR wisdom to the rescue yet again! Thanks!
Upon edit: You rock, too, Dee! (And thanks, as always, for being a kind friend to the SR community.)
Sober Alcoholic
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 3,539
In addition to using anti tracking software, make sure to log off of sites when you are done. Many sites will track you for years, even if you have not used them. (Amazon is infamous for this.) This can be true even after restarting your computer and having have anti tracking software running. Use anti tracking software and log off everywhere.
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Gatineau, QC, CA
Posts: 5,100
They know everything about you anyway. Internet profiling and probing is inevitable unless you want to hide in the woods for a living.
Thanks to terrorism governments now have a green card to scan and sniff all Internet traffic.
Forget your privacy. Personally I don't care. I am not particularly interesting. LoL!
Thanks to terrorism governments now have a green card to scan and sniff all Internet traffic.
Forget your privacy. Personally I don't care. I am not particularly interesting. LoL!
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 8,637
Patman nailed it.
The reality of today's reality is that our habits and our profiles are tracked and aggregated and analysed way more than we realize.
There are things we can do to 'minimize' that - but realistically, short of living off-the-grid and forsaking technology altogether.... 'they' know a lot.
The good news here is that for the most part, 'they' don't really care. At the individual level, there is no actual person watching your habits and tracking what YOU do. There are bots and algorithms and auto-profiling that serve to send you messages and tailor offers to you.... there is annoyance of marketing and there is the ability to draw correlations about you. Most of this is used in aggregate and / or for targeted ad efforts that involve hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other consumers.
The fact is; if you are being investigated or there is a 'they' interested enough in you individually that 'they' want to know things about you.... 'they' aren't going to get it from your cookies and browsing habits. 'they' will get it regardless of what features you turn off and what browser you use.
The reality of today's reality is that our habits and our profiles are tracked and aggregated and analysed way more than we realize.
There are things we can do to 'minimize' that - but realistically, short of living off-the-grid and forsaking technology altogether.... 'they' know a lot.
The good news here is that for the most part, 'they' don't really care. At the individual level, there is no actual person watching your habits and tracking what YOU do. There are bots and algorithms and auto-profiling that serve to send you messages and tailor offers to you.... there is annoyance of marketing and there is the ability to draw correlations about you. Most of this is used in aggregate and / or for targeted ad efforts that involve hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other consumers.
The fact is; if you are being investigated or there is a 'they' interested enough in you individually that 'they' want to know things about you.... 'they' aren't going to get it from your cookies and browsing habits. 'they' will get it regardless of what features you turn off and what browser you use.
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Gatineau, QC, CA
Posts: 5,100
Originally Posted by FreeOwl 
Patman nailed it.
The reality of today's reality is that our habits and our profiles are tracked and aggregated and analysed way more than we realize.
There are things we can do to 'minimize' that - but realistically, short of living off-the-grid and forsaking technology altogether.... 'they' know a lot.
The good news here is that for the most part, 'they' don't really care. At the individual level, there is no actual person watching your habits and tracking what YOU do. There are bots and algorithms and auto-profiling that serve to send you messages and tailor offers to you.... there is annoyance of marketing and there is the ability to draw correlations about you. Most of this is used in aggregate and / or for targeted ad efforts that involve hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other consumers.
The fact is; if you are being investigated or there is a 'they' interested enough in you individually that 'they' want to know things about you.... 'they' aren't going to get it from your cookies and browsing habits. 'they' will get it regardless of what features you turn off and what browser you use.
The reality of today's reality is that our habits and our profiles are tracked and aggregated and analysed way more than we realize.
There are things we can do to 'minimize' that - but realistically, short of living off-the-grid and forsaking technology altogether.... 'they' know a lot.
The good news here is that for the most part, 'they' don't really care. At the individual level, there is no actual person watching your habits and tracking what YOU do. There are bots and algorithms and auto-profiling that serve to send you messages and tailor offers to you.... there is annoyance of marketing and there is the ability to draw correlations about you. Most of this is used in aggregate and / or for targeted ad efforts that involve hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other consumers.
The fact is; if you are being investigated or there is a 'they' interested enough in you individually that 'they' want to know things about you.... 'they' aren't going to get it from your cookies and browsing habits. 'they' will get it regardless of what features you turn off and what browser you use.
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Dallas, Texas
Posts: 2,459
Originally Posted by Venecia
I've gotten hooked on the HBO series "Treme." Been bingeing on it big time on Amazon. Great show. The best music ever. Not a selection for early recovery, though. Lots of merrymaking with beverages and pot.
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
This thread made me smile... reminding me of my sometimes overactive concerns about privacy. I'm nowhere as near crazy about it though as I used to be. Some old childhood issues
I don't use Facebook, and don't tend to worry much about what Amazon or any other site recommends me -- interesting, I just now realized it reading these posts. I tend to focus on my own searches I guess. The only thing I worry about is password security, hackers, and viruses -- in other words, things that could cause practical disruption and damage. I do notice, for example, that when I'm on youtube, many of the ads I see are about drug and alcohol rehabs... blah. It may be because I use SR, but might just as well because I'm reading about addiction on the internet all the time, for work as well. I definitely think that my internet usage history could be interesting, entertaining, shocking, whatever depending on who got into it... again, I could not care less; darn, I'm a curious person.
The guy I was dating a few months back once got on my laptop to check his own email while I was making some food in the kitchen. When I came back, he looked at me with a curious expression saying "you've got some interesting bookmarks and browsing history here..." I responded "yeah I know. you can copy-paste some links and email to yourself if you want to check the sites". I never again got a similar comment.
At least the old computer I was using during the last ~4 years of my drinking is dead now, with all the madness it ventured into with drunk myself
I don't use Facebook, and don't tend to worry much about what Amazon or any other site recommends me -- interesting, I just now realized it reading these posts. I tend to focus on my own searches I guess. The only thing I worry about is password security, hackers, and viruses -- in other words, things that could cause practical disruption and damage. I do notice, for example, that when I'm on youtube, many of the ads I see are about drug and alcohol rehabs... blah. It may be because I use SR, but might just as well because I'm reading about addiction on the internet all the time, for work as well. I definitely think that my internet usage history could be interesting, entertaining, shocking, whatever depending on who got into it... again, I could not care less; darn, I'm a curious person.
The guy I was dating a few months back once got on my laptop to check his own email while I was making some food in the kitchen. When I came back, he looked at me with a curious expression saying "you've got some interesting bookmarks and browsing history here..." I responded "yeah I know. you can copy-paste some links and email to yourself if you want to check the sites". I never again got a similar comment.
At least the old computer I was using during the last ~4 years of my drinking is dead now, with all the madness it ventured into with drunk myself
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Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Canada! wtf eh?
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I'm friends with a retired gentleman who served a pretty distinguished career high up in the government... And he refuses to use any device that is capable of connecting with the Internet. He says he misses the ease of access to information, but the invasion of privacy isn't worth it.
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Join Date: Oct 2013
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Posts: 4,860
Thanks, everyone!
I clearly am among more tech-savvy folks than myself. Truth is, I'm not particularly upset by what Amazon recommended -- and I know it is all done by bots, not people. It was just rather stunning to know that bots know things about me that some people (quite a few, actually) close to me don't. And while I have taken part in a few protest marches, I'm not interesting enough to ever be investigated.
You all rock. Thanks so much for the tips and the feedback. It is, as always, truly appreciated.
I clearly am among more tech-savvy folks than myself.
Truth is, I'm not particularly upset by what Amazon recommended -- and I know it is all done by bots, not people. It was just rather stunning to know that bots know things about me that some people (quite a few, actually) close to me don't. And while I have taken part in a few protest marches, I'm not interesting enough to ever be investigated. You all rock. Thanks so much for the tips and the feedback. It is, as always, truly appreciated.
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