• Tigbitties
    8•2 years ago

    Google basically uses the same tricks “mind readers” do except they have a lot more information. They don’t need to read your thoughts or listen in to your conversations. If you start looking at cribs online they’re going to send you ads breast pumps in a few months followed by baby food makers 6 months later.

  • @[email protected]
    15•2 years ago

    I’ve been doubting my sexuality lately and I freaked out when Google recommended an ad with LGBT couple on it. Not even my friends or family know that side of me.

    • @[email protected]English
      5•2 years ago

      I can understand being freaked out by that for sure. Think of it like this, you might like similar artists and articles that LGBT folks like. Maybe you click on more links on stories that affect LGBT folks. But also, lots of ads have LGBT couples nowadays, it’s what gets the red hats so upset. Either way, it’s nothing to be ashamed or worried about, and there’s at least a chance that you took something to be more deeply targeted at you than it really was. Chin up there, yeah?

      • @[email protected]
        5•2 years ago

        What really upset me though was the privacy aspect of it. Imagine your friend wants to show you a meme or something, and you suddenly see an ad with an LGBT couple on it on his/her phone. If that was me I would immediately think they’re being targeted with that ad for a reason. And like, I don’t have a problem being part of the LGBT community, but this thing could out me to everyone without me being ready you know? What if I want to play a YouTube video for my family and I get a targeted recommendation? That would be a problem for me.

        • @[email protected]English
          2•2 years ago

          I do totally understand that, and that must’ve been jarring and anxiety inducing. What I was trying to convey is that straight folks get those ads too but I don’t meant to downplay the emotional disturbance of it all whatsoever, just help ease your mind now.

    • Rozaŭtuno
      8•2 years ago

      Oh, it’s been proven Google and corporate social medias (and Walmart?!?) can figure out that stuff before you do.

    • @[email protected]
      7•2 years ago

      I’m going to push back against everyone saying that the algorithm knows. While not unthinkable, I believe it is much more likely that it is a coincidence, and what you’re experiencing is called the frequency illusion. Simply because your sexuality has been on your mind lately, you’re more likely to notice things that remind you of it - not because those things are more prevalent but simply because you, subconsciously, pay more attention to them.

      That said, privacy is important and you should definitely try to maintain it - e.g. use a private browser window in a fresh browser instance to research things related to sexuality.

      • @[email protected]
        5•2 years ago

        It’s hard to believe anyone missed this:

        As Pole’s computers crawled through the data, he was able to identify about 25 products that, when analyzed together, allowed him to assign each shopper a “pregnancy prediction” score. More important, he could also estimate her due date to within a small window, so Target could send coupons timed to very specific stages of her pregnancy.

        This article is from 2012

        I wouldn’t underestimate it. I also wouldn’t buy into the “I have nothing to hide” narrative. It’s not about hiding or not hiding. The fallout from the Dobbs decision is a great example of why, if you aren’t concerned with privacy now, then you will be in the future. All of a sudden, the right of 51% of the population to make decisions about their own bodies was suddenly gone, and handed over to state governments. The day before that decision, people needing abortions and the doctors who provide them had “nothing to hide.” The day after? They’re suddenly criminals. Their social media can be monitored. Their online and in-person purchases. Where they travel and why. Their medical records. And maybe worst of all, their fellow Americans are offered prize money if they turn someone in so that they can be charged in criminal court.

        Or what about Florida’s “risk prediction” software that supposedly can predict which “at-risk” (aka non-white) kids will become criminals? Maybe I’m wrong for finding that unsettling. This is from 2015

        https://theweek.com/articles/495147/floridas-minority-report-crime-prediction-software

        What about social credit scores? Which we already have, we just don’t get to see them (LexisNexis “risk solution” software). But sooner rather than later, every word and action will be recorded and held against us in every aspect of our lives, rather than just when applying for jobs and mortgages. And anti-discrimination laws don’t do shit. They always find a work around. Although with the current supreme court I’m sure all forms of discrimination will be perfectly legal soon enough.

        Btw private browsing doesn’t prevent tracking. It just doesn’t store anything in the broswer history.

        • @[email protected]
          1•2 years ago

          Even using a VPN only protects you from your ISP.

          If you’ve got Gmail or Google location services or FB installed, or an app running their SDKs in the background, your VPN IP address can be linked back to your device.

          Privacy is really hard in 2023.

      • @[email protected]English
        3•2 years ago

        Yeah, the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon is fascinating and something that I experience constantly. I would be surprised if that’s not what’s going on here. I’ve never experienced it for something as personal and important as doubting my sexuality though, that must be jarring as hell.

    • @[email protected]
      12•2 years ago

      They either don’t know adblock exists or are listening to YouTubers like Linus, who claim that blocking ads on their videos is “stealing”

    • @[email protected]
      5•2 years ago

      I don’t care. I’m not worried about it. It’s not that important. I’m not refusing, I’m just not giving two fucks about it. Why are you so militant about people doing the same thing as you do?

    • @[email protected]
      1•2 years ago

      The more ubiquitous ad blockers are, the more incentive companies have to pour resources into the “problem”. I’m really not sure what the endgame is of calling out why every user doesn’t have ad blockers on. The more we push on it, the harder it is to block ads. Honestly, in 2023 if someone allows ads in their spaces, let them. But I’d rather continue with what we have than push all users to something. I say this as a sports fan who knows all too well what happens to streams once they get too popular. I’ve gone through countless quality streamers that haven’t survived once word of mouth got out. Ad blocking will go the same way if it grows in popularity

  • regalia
    18•2 years ago

    I haven’t seen ads in years lol. I’m very aggressively adblocked on every layer possible. Even down to setting my router to use an adblocker dns as a final protection layer.

    • stebo
      3•2 years ago

      that doesn’t prevent them from spying tho

      • Sabre363English
        1•2 years ago

        Very true. I was more just predicting what inevitable gets said with posts like these.

  • @[email protected]
    12•2 years ago

    You get ads about things you have photographed. If you give Facebook image access, it will scan ALL of your photos locally. I had some photos of couches it started giving me ads for them.