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Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

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Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#301

Post by cicko »

jeroenhd wrote: post #107
baybal2 wrote: post #29

Opt out of VISA marketing https://marketingreportoptout.visa.com/OPTOUT/request.do Second, disable GPS, and cellphone tower ID reporting (root needed.) So Google can't correlate you with sales records. At the moment, there is no way to disable Google AGPS spying on the stock Android. Third, block Google apps from reading your IMEI/IMSI/serial number, so they can't get AGPS data from your cellphone provider if it sell…

This is the dumbest ad strategy ever. Why on earth would ads about a product you just bought be effective marketing material. This is like how you get a million ads about dishwashers the day after you Google around and buy one. At least wait for a short duration of time to let the target run out of medicine before adversiting new stuff.

No, it is not. In many countries, one can return the product within two weeks, no questions asked. Why wouldn't they, if they get a better deal from an ad?

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#302

Post by IX-103 »

newswasboring wrote: post #280
syndacks wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it that no such scandal has been uncovered? Surely by now some hacker would have been able to prove that a phone is recording, sending to server, processing, and returning relevant ad. Or surely someone would have come forward or whistle blown by now. So I'll quote Hitchen's razor for you: "What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence."

I have acknowledged that my reasoning is less sound than the occam's razor, and I didn't really assert data impropriety. So calm down. But about your first point. I don't think even the designers and maintainers of this blackbox understand the system. Looking at it from that point of view, the chances of a hacker finding proof for this is pretty low.

The thing is you can disapprove one piece without understanding the whole system.

It would be pretty easy to show that a) sound is not being continually recorded and streamed over the internet and b) the device is not using enough processing power to decode speech. Both have been done, so this is veering into conspiracy theory territory.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#304

Post by dehrmann »

beervirus wrote: post #285
dehrmann wrote: post #275

> How does google know I bought Voltaren? > Is my bank purchase history shared with google somehow? Google buys Mastercard (if not more) transactions and ties them to your Android location history. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/google-an...

Presumably that data would include time, amount, and vendor... but not item-level details. Right? There's something else going on here.

It's in level 3 data.

https://www08.wellsfargomedia.com/assets/pdf/small-business/...

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#305

Post by otterley »

jonahbenton wrote: post #205

Not coincidence. Not "bank purchase history" shared with google- in most cases banks and credit cards don't know item level detail. Lots of ways this data flow could happen, at least in the US. Happy to go through specific details I have seen if you want to share more about this, but two high level points 1. Remember that when you purchase something, the data about the purchase is BOTH yours AND the entity from whom…

In the US, you can’t use personal health information for marketing purposes. If you can prove this link, a lot of very large organizations could potentially be in serious trouble for HIPAA violations.

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance...

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#306

Post by otterley »

dehrmann wrote: post #304
beervirus wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably that data would include time, amount, and vendor... but not item-level details. Right? There's something else going on here.

It's in level 3 data. https://www08.wellsfargomedia.com/assets/pdf/small-business/...

“For Level III data, only Mastercard® and Visa® corporate, purchasing, and fleet cards can qualify.”

So consumer credit cards can’t get this.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#307

Post by hunter-2 »

jeroenhd wrote: post #107
baybal2 wrote: post #29

Opt out of VISA marketing https://marketingreportoptout.visa.com/OPTOUT/request.do Second, disable GPS, and cellphone tower ID reporting (root needed.) So Google can't correlate you with sales records. At the moment, there is no way to disable Google AGPS spying on the stock Android. Third, block Google apps from reading your IMEI/IMSI/serial number, so they can't get AGPS data from your cellphone provider if it sell…

This is the dumbest ad strategy ever. Why on earth would ads about a product you just bought be effective marketing material. This is like how you get a million ads about dishwashers the day after you Google around and buy one. At least wait for a short duration of time to let the target run out of medicine before adversiting new stuff.

Well it makes sense in this particular use-case. Voltaren is an arthritis pain relief gel. This is something you will continue to need and would rather buy online instead of walking to a chemist when your joints are not in great shape.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#308

Post by vbsteven »

continuations wrote: post #297
jonahbenton wrote: post #205

Not coincidence. Not "bank purchase history" shared with google- in most cases banks and credit cards don't know item level detail. Lots of ways this data flow could happen, at least in the US. Happy to go through specific details I have seen if you want to share more about this, but two high level points 1. Remember that when you purchase something, the data about the purchase is BOTH yours AND the entity from whom…

How does Google link the real life person who bought Voltaren at a store to the online account or fingerprint that browses the Internet?

I don’t think Google linked the account directly to the purchase. My guess would be that Google linked the account to the medication based on patterns from one of its many ways it gathers data.

* visits to websites about that medication

* visits to websites talking about symptoms for which the medication helps

* searches for the above

* I would not be surprised if Google picks up interests from other accounts using the same WiFi (or even other devices on close proximity)

* there are some scary stories about Google/FB/Amazon listening to conversations

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#309

Post by Spooky23 »

otterley wrote: post #296
Spooky23 wrote: post #231

Prescription data, at least in the US, is not very private. Many entities know that you met a doctor and they know when the doctor prescribes. Between PBMs, subrogation, wholesalers, and other factors, marketers are easily able to de-anonymize your identity for targeting purposes. In my family’s case, my wife’s hospital admission and prescription was sufficient to correctly identify her as likely 10-12 weeks pregnant…

If you can prove this, at least in the USA, this would be a serious violation of HIPAA and severe penalties would apply to entities who disclosed, knowingly received, or paid for personal health information without the patient’s consent and used it for an improper purpose. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance...

Lol. No. You can comply with HIPAA and “anonymize” in a manner that a marketer can use to retarget, especially by combining with other data sources.

HIPAA protects you against receptionists gossiping and wholesale release of your records. Not much else.

When your doctor writes a script, that data is in the hands of a data aggregation company before your pharmacist looks at it. Every pharma rep has a report card for each doctors prescription practices as a result.

Insurance companies and others sell claim data in aggregate and so do downstream partners like subrogation services. Some states even shared Medicaid claim data to aid in targeting ads and analysis to fight opioid abuse.

Re: Ask HN: I bought Voltaren at the chemist, now Google shows me ads for it. Why?

#310

Post by michaelcampbell »

KaseKun wrote: post #210
zubi wrote: post #203

March 2020, heydays of coronavirus paranoia. I came back home from somewhere, put my keys onto the dining table and went to the bathroom to clean up. My girlfriend, upon seeing the key-chain on the table started reproaching me for being careless about hygiene. When I returned from the bathroom I saw her washing the key-chain in the kitchen sink. This time I got angry and asked how come she hadn't thought that the usb…

Unfortunately, though this is an excellent story, this is just an example of a bias known as "frequency illusion". It happens with a lot of things, like seeing the clock at 11:11 more than you do at 11:09. Or seeing lots of your make/model car but being blind to the hundred of other variants on the road. How many times have you opened up your laptop and not seen a Facebook add for something you just did, or something…

I don't know how many times I internally chuckle when I glance at the clock some time before I go to bed and it's "21:12"; a meaningful number to me as the "2112" album and the band Rush was a big part of my youth.

That, and I tend to go to bed between 21:00 and 22:00. But I don't attribute it to anything but me being in a position to look at the clock around that time, and I haven't wondered if I see it any more than 21:09 or 21:30. Would be an interesting histogram, if nothing else.

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