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Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

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Re: Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

#71

Post by vokep »

Lordarminius wrote: post #61
txsh wrote: post #11

This was happening to me until I removed Facebook and Facebook Messenger from my phone. I believe these apps listen to conversations even when you aren’t using them. I am not alone in believing this.

> I believe these apps listen to conversations even when you aren’t using them. I am not alone in believing this. I have evidence of same and it may not be just FB and Messanger Last week a co-worker engaged me in a discussion concerning her father-in-laws diagnosis of prostate cancer. This lasted about 20 or 30 minutes. I had my cell phone on me. I do not have FB or Messanger. I do not deal with cancer cases at work…

Even getting ads for related things could happen now. I'd suggest thinking of something entirely new, and begin talking about it, but make sure you do not enter that term or anything too closely related to it into any kind of text field. (or rather, only enter into text fields which should be 100% private)

Re: Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

#72

Post by otakucode »

patcheudor wrote: post #41
adtechperson wrote: post #24

I have worked for a number of ad tech companies over the years. If this really is happening (and it seems possible it could be coincidence) the most likely explanation is cross device targeting using IP address. So, most ad tech companies do cross device targeting, using device maps bought from other companies (Drawbridge being one). These companies attempt to assign a variety of devices from the same person to a sin…

This is the correct answer. We noticed this happening in our small lab and decided to run some tests and in fact if one person searched for something odd like 'Swedish fish' then visited sites selling Swedish fish, everyone in the lab would start to get ads for candy and snack food. Similarly, searching for "mountain bike" would result in everyone else seeing ads for bikes and bike accessories. It sort of became a ga…

Many would probably hear of experiences like that and think 'hey that sounds unintentional or like behavior the advertiser wouldn't want' but it actually sounds brilliant from a pure effectiveness point of view. You don't just show an ad to an interested person.... you increase the chance that the person will hear about the thing from people in their immediate vicinity. And what's the best advertising in the universe that no one can buy? Word of mouth.

Advertisers had better be paying through the nose for this sort of access, because it's insanely valuable.

Re: Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

#73

Post by untog »

TYPE_FASTER wrote: post #66
adtechperson wrote: post #24

I have worked for a number of ad tech companies over the years. If this really is happening (and it seems possible it could be coincidence) the most likely explanation is cross device targeting using IP address. So, most ad tech companies do cross device targeting, using device maps bought from other companies (Drawbridge being one). These companies attempt to assign a variety of devices from the same person to a sin…

Makes sense, especially since I think the IP for multiple devices on a home broadband connection would be the external IP of the broadband router, right?

Correct. About the only solution is for everyone to have an independent VPN connection.

Re: Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

#74

Post by justboxing »

adtechperson wrote: post #24

I have worked for a number of ad tech companies over the years. If this really is happening (and it seems possible it could be coincidence) the most likely explanation is cross device targeting using IP address. So, most ad tech companies do cross device targeting, using device maps bought from other companies (Drawbridge being one). These companies attempt to assign a variety of devices from the same person to a sin…

Since this seems to be the most accepted answer, I did some search on IP address re-targeting, and came across this, which is kind of creepy and annoying.

> Cookie-based retargeting uses online data while IP Targeting uses offline data, which is verified and drastically reduces the potential of non-human bot traffic. IP Targeting essentially takes the traditional direct mail approach and matches home and business postal addresses to computer/device IP addresses.

Source: http://www.accudata.com/why-ip-targeting-takes-the-cake/

Re: Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

#75

Post by Lordarminius »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #64
Lordarminius wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I believe these apps listen to conversations even when you aren’t using them. I am not alone in believing this. I have evidence of same and it may not be just FB and Messanger Last week a co-worker engaged me in a discussion concerning her father-in-laws diagnosis of prostate cancer. This lasted about 20 or 30 minutes. I had my cell phone on me. I do not have FB or Messanger. I do not deal with cancer cases at work…

What kind of phone? The rest of us might want to get in on this test too.

Motorola running the latest version of Android; but I suspect it is the google search feature that is doing the snooping.

Re: Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

#76

Post by rurcliped »

Suppose I operate a small general practitioner healthcare facility that often has only two patients at the same time. If I offer free Wi-Fi in the waiting area, should I consider that a HIPAA violation, because I'm reasonably confident that one patient will see ads related to the other patient's medical condition?

Re: Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

#77

Post by asadlionpk »

untog wrote: post #73
TYPE_FASTER wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes sense, especially since I think the IP for multiple devices on a home broadband connection would be the external IP of the broadband router, right?

Correct. About the only solution is for everyone to have an independent VPN connection.

VPN that anonymizes IP and isn't 1-to-1 mapped to person/device. Tor network?

Re: Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

#78

Post by jstarfish »

ppod wrote: post #22
Talyen42 wrote: post #14

did you invite her to come see the open house by texting her "hey, wanna come see an open house"?

if you mean whatsapp, the content of messages is not available to whatsapp/facebook systems (it's end-to-end encrypted).

...unless your software keyboard is logging your keystrokes and sending those home.

Re: Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

#79

Post by BLKNSLVR »

The brilliance and scariness of the possibility that this may be where advertising technology is at reminds me of this sentiment that I can't remember the source of:

"All the brightest human minds in the world are working for advertising companies"

Re: Ask HN: Girlfriend is being shown ads depending on what we do together. How?

#80

Post by BLKNSLVR »

vokep wrote: post #69

Since the video of the guy talking about dog toys with chrome closed, and then seeing dog toy ads shortly after, I've become skeptical of this. So, I've begun testing it myself. I thought of something somewhat specific but random, unrelated to me, unlikely for me to see regular ads for, and now from time to time I talk about that thing. Until maybe a few weeks from now when I stop doing this, I will not be typing the…

Antiquing?
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