Inappropriate advertising

[BigBlueHen53]

Somebody in a thread I was on randomly mentioned their cat, and the next ad I saw was for cat food. So yeah, what you look at on line generates the ads you see. We don't all see the same ads. I've never seen that shirt ad.

 

[jonalisa]

Have you been Googling looking for shirts to buy someone?

No. This is a device where I have the byc app. I don't use it for much else except podcasts.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm only in middle school and I don't shop for anything so it couldn't have been from my search history and I'm getting these ads too.

Do you share an account with other people? Your parents or sibs? I get ads for makeup and hair products. I have a teenage daughter on my account.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Somebody in a thread I was on randomly mentioned their cat, and the next ad I saw was for cat food. So yeah, what you look at on line generates the ads you see. We don't all see the same ads. I've never seen that shirt ad.

It’s not that way for me at all, I just get the weirdest and most random things. It depends on your Google account settings I believe.

 

[fluterose]

Do you share an account with other people? Your parents or sibs? I get ads for makeup and hair products. I have a teenage daughter on my account.

Do you share an account with other people? Your parents or sibs? I get ads for makeup and hair products. I have a teenage daughter on my account.

nope, its my own account.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

nope, its my own account.

Hm. No other phones? I don't know, then. Is a mystery!

 

[fluterose]

Hm. No other phones? I don't know, then. Is a mystery!

Hahahahaha

 

[CSAchook]

It is can be very difficult for the site host to police ad content. However, if you get an ad you feel is inappropriate, you can usually report them to the ad service (Google) so that you will not get that ad again.

Click the X in the upper right of the ad. Then click “feedback”, then “inappropriate”

 

[jonalisa]

It is can be very difficult for the site host to police ad content. However, if you get an ad you feel is inappropriate, you can usually report them to the ad service (Google) so that you will not get that ad again.

Click the X in the upper right of the ad. Then click “feedback”, then “inappropriate”

View attachment 2664798View attachment 2664799

Yes, I did that earlier. Thank you!

 

[Tankueray]

Ads are based on search history, what have you been shopping for?

Neo is correct, and then some. Ads are based on your search, browsing and all activity history, not just your shopping history. And depending on whether you're using a computer or a phone, it gets worse. (You're only slightly more protected on a computer.)

Example: I have a Samsung watch, one day I was talking to a colleague in his office about the impending birth of his second child. I was wearing my watch, but my phone was on my desk in my office. For days afterward, ads on my phone, facebook, and personal computer were offering up maternity and baby things. (Work computer was not affected because I do not access any of my personal accounts through it.)

Lesson: When you use portable devices, social media and other apps downloaded onto those devices ask for permissions. Most people ignore that and allow them to install as is. Those permissions allow an app like Facebook to see ALL the data passed through your phone and access your microphone and camera without you knowing. Lock down your privacy settings on all devices, on all social media and browsers, and any apps you may use, even something like a calculator app. (Ever wonder why someone you don't know at all is offered up as a "person you may know" on the desktop version of facebook? It's because someone you're very close to, based on your phone call and text records, is interacting with them often on facebook or messenger. cough...maybe cheating...cough.)

Windows 10 has "apps" as well as the traditional "computer applications", so say using a PDF reader "app" instead of the Adobe Acrobat "application" to read a PDF that you've opened from your hard drive (not something from online) gives that app access to the content of that PDF. @jonalisa So if you were innocently reading an old article or a novel that mentioned hawaiian shirts or how to sew a shirt, or your phone heard someone say "hawaiian shirt", guess what ads are going to pop up on you? @CHlCKEN (nice "L" there btw) You probably searched a phone number for something or typed in seven to ten digits that were interpreted as you looking up a phone number. Or you may have a spam blocker app installed that searches for phone numbers as you get a phone call.

For a less scary explanation see here: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/are-targeted-ads-stalking-you-heres-how-to-make-them-stop/

To understand how worried you really should be, watch these two films (both on Netflix):
https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/the-film/
https://www.thegreathack.com/#the-film

Note on The Great Hack: I used to develop apps for iPhone, Android, and FB. I'll tell you right now that Cambridge Analytica did not exploit or hack anything. That was part of the FB app developer agreement from day one. If I could get you to answer a survey or play my stupid game, I could access all the private data and posts of ALL of your friends. (That's since been changed, but not much.)

The bottom line is, if you're using a free service, how do you think they pay all their employees? YOU are the product, not the customer.