Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me?

#71

Post by inputcoffee » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 4:23 PM UTC

jehna1 wrote: post #68

FroshKiller wrote: post #2

You can (or at least could) absolutely target individuals with Facebook ads. Check out this prank: https://ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking...

True story: Proposed my wife with a Facebook ad.

Tell us more.

I can't believe this is not a medium post.

Re: Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me?

#72

Post by inputcoffee » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 4:23 PM UTC

I do everything you do, but recently I have added one more habit thanks to Opera's beautifully easy VPN: I google search on Opera using their VPN.

Re: Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me?

#73

Post by georgeecollins » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 4:28 PM UTC

ramshanker wrote: post #30

netsharc wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you have ever signed into FB from home, they know that machine / ip / whatever fingerprint is you. Even after you sign out, its still out. Even if you signed out, they probably still have a cookie tracking who you are, and when your browser fetches that Like button, it will still send that cookie to the Facebook server. It'd be interesting on a shared computer where 2 people (e.g. a brother and sister) log in to…

2 people sharing same computer has amazing effects on those trackers. My YouTube recommendations used to be awesome to my interests till I was single, Now it's all polluted and mostly useless after I married. ;)

The strange thing is sometimes I learn things about my wife from the ads that are served. Creepy.

Re: Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me?

#74

Post by 0xdeadbeefbabe » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 4:39 PM UTC

discreditable wrote: post #56

ramshanker wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 people sharing same computer has amazing effects on those trackers. My YouTube recommendations used to be awesome to my interests till I was single, Now it's all polluted and mostly useless after I married. ;)

Same here. My recommendations used to be video games and tech. Now I'm seeing tons of cat videos and gardening.

Maybe youtube took a more expansive view of tech?

Re: Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me?

#75

Post by ar-jan » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 4:45 PM UTC

Here's an interesting read [0] about making inferences about such questions. Story of someone who deduces audio fingerprinting must have been responsible for a particular promoted tweet (before audio fingerprinting was known to be used).

0: https://slack-files.com/T0317T6QB-F04FJ2YAC-88e35e6787

Re: Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me?

#76

Post by grok2 » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 4:55 PM UTC

This should answer your question -- straight from the horses's mouth! https://www.facebook.com/help/206635839404055

Edit: Using something like https://www.eff.org/privacybadger helps avoid this kind of tracking while not being too painful to use visiting web-sites.

Re: Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me?

#77

Post by kevin_thibedeau » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:02 PM UTC

passivepinetree wrote: post #40

Bedon292 wrote: post #10

Facebook doesn't need to be open in a tab for it to know it was you on that site, and you don't even need to be signed in. You and your computers are connected, even if you think you are careful. If you have ever signed into FB from home, they know that machine / ip / whatever fingerprint is you. Even after you sign out, its still out. Even if you are in ingocnito mode, its still probably you. Then you sign in to FB…

Would using an extension such as Ghostery prevent this?

Ghostery can't be trusted. Noscript + self destructing cookies.

Re: Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me?

#78

Post by gregcrv » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:03 PM UTC

ramshanker wrote: post #30

netsharc wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you have ever signed into FB from home, they know that machine / ip / whatever fingerprint is you. Even after you sign out, its still out. Even if you signed out, they probably still have a cookie tracking who you are, and when your browser fetches that Like button, it will still send that cookie to the Facebook server. It'd be interesting on a shared computer where 2 people (e.g. a brother and sister) log in to…

2 people sharing same computer has amazing effects on those trackers. My YouTube recommendations used to be awesome to my interests till I was single, Now it's all polluted and mostly useless after I married. ;)

And it makes browsing for surprise gifts pretty impossible !

Re: Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me?

#79

Post by passivepinetree » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:04 PM UTC

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #77

passivepinetree wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would using an extension such as Ghostery prevent this?

Ghostery can't be trusted. Noscript + self destructing cookies.

Why do you say that Ghostery can't be trusted?

I'm a big fan of Noscript, but could you explain more about self-destructing cookies?

Re: Ask HN: How was this ad targeted to me?

#80

Post by noir_lord » Wed, Apr 12, 2017, 5:09 PM UTC

gregcrv wrote: post #78

ramshanker wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 people sharing same computer has amazing effects on those trackers. My YouTube recommendations used to be awesome to my interests till I was single, Now it's all polluted and mostly useless after I married. ;)

And it makes browsing for surprise gifts pretty impossible !

Not sure if intentional but Google ran a TV campaign here which featured Incognito Mode as the ideal way to buy "Surprise Gifts" for your partner.

"Surprise Gifts" mode pretty much immediately became a euphemism for "I'm going to watch porn" here.