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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?

#481

Post by vbsteven »

muzani wrote: post #468
vbsteven wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

I do most searches in an incognito window so it can't be browser history. In some cases, it's even something like my wife joking about selling the car to a friend on WhatsApp, and suddenly Facebook show ads where you can sell the car. One time I told my wife to buy something at the grocery store (verbally, no text) and FB shows me the ad for that exact item.

> I do most searches in an incognito window so it can't be browser history.

Incognito mode is mostly a convenience for you to do browsing without saving local history or cookies. It doesn't stop tracking.

I assume the fingerprint is different in incognito versus a regular window. But unless you are using VPN/adblockers/pihole/etc your browser is still executing third party JS and potentially sending tracking data to google using a plain https connection coming from your residential IP.

I can imagine it's not that hard for Google to link different requests from the same IP with slightly different fingerprint data to be coming from the same user.

edit: and for searches it is even easier, because you are communicating directly with google by performing the search, no tracker or JS necessary.

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

#482

Post by drw85 »

anigbrowl wrote: post #433
edoceo wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yep, all the definitions of legitimate equivocate it to legal/lawful. except here, y'all want it to mean not-lawful. I'm legitimately not smart enough to continue this conversation.

That's just not true. Please don't make things up. Here are two (abridged) definitions from the Oxford dictionary: 1. conforming to the law or to rules 2. make legitimate; justify or make lawful. You're choosing to ignore the verb make in the second definition, describing the act of conferring legitimacy on something, which necessarily implies that it was previously lacking.

The second example literally says "make legitimate". You're trying too hard to be right. :D

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

#483

Post by drw85 »

quesera wrote: post #461
icoder wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry but that doesn't make sense to me at all. Is that based on anything more than intuition because if not I'd like to say that mine sides with op. I'll add some numbers too. If a dishwasher has a lifetime of 20 years and a person is 'sensitive' to adds for dishwashers for a month surrounding the time it breaks, you're talking about a 1 in 240 chance if you 'randomly' target people with a dishwasher, which shou…

The reasonable explanation I've read elsewhere is: Something like 30% of purchased products (including appliances) are DOA or returned. The follow-on advertising is hoping to capture your replacement activity.

Pretty sure this doesn't apply to medication or dishwashers. :D

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

#484

Post by moneytide1 »

Someone's tech salary was justified to develop (or refractor) a function to automatically crawl a digitally stored purchase history and waste potentially useful ad space on the suggestion of a product that is guaranteed to already be owned by the user.

Then they can put on their curriculum vitae that they worked as a "Googler" even though they added nothing to society (except confusion and paranoia).

Google may even allocate tax write offs because they "filled a seat" among their ranks.

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

#485

Post by bsimpson »

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…

The straw they moved me to Signal was a Facebook video chat I had with an acquaintance, who mentioned that her sister was working at a ketamine research lab. When I closed the call, my FB timeline was full of ads for ketamine.

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

#486

Post by sushid »

Tokelin wrote: post #460
sushid wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you ever get irrelevant ads? I certainly do. Multiply that by billions. You're going to find someone getting ads irrelevant to them. They could also have looked up something relevant to nappies, stayed in a house (and used internet there) where the owners have a baby, etc.

Recently I started ordering groceries online. I found the site "organically" but searching for products in the space. I found one which satisfied me and stuck with it. Some time later I start getting Ads in Facebook Messenger for the website. Yes, not totally irrelevant, but it's like seeing a billboard for the supermarket you're on your way to.

That's just straight up ad personalization.

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

#487

Post by quesera »

drw85 wrote: post #483
quesera wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reasonable explanation I've read elsewhere is: Something like 30% of purchased products (including appliances) are DOA or returned. The follow-on advertising is hoping to capture your replacement activity.

Pretty sure this doesn't apply to medication or dishwashers. :D

I hope you're right about medication!

People really do return major appliances though. Perhaps dishwashers less frequently than refrigerators, though people never fail to surprise me.

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

#489

Post by kennywinker »

nemothekid wrote: post #389
kennywinker wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Selling cocaine is a great way to efficiently increase revenue, but it's not a legitimate way

Selling cocaine is a legitimate way to increase revenue. If the cocaine is real (i.e you aren't selling flour) then why wouldn't it be legitimate? It might not be legal , but CocaCola is allowed to import coca leaves by the millions.

I think we're getting confused on word meanings here. Legitimate is far too vague a work. I'm trying to get at the idea that just because something would WORK doesn't make it ok to do. There is what is possible under capitalism (anything legal) and then there is what is RIGHT. Selling cocaine isn't JUST illegal, it's also probably wrong due to it's addictive properties. Similarly, selling people's data and tracking people without their consent is legal, but it's also wrong in most people's opinion.
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