To anyone who uses the internet...

[Starlee]

We've known for a while that search engines monitor our searches. This smacked me over the head when proteinase inhibitor advertisements started to pop up in the adds of my calligraphy searches. Talk about mixing fields! Or the time I was at a department store  and nearly bought a bowl with my dishes (just after the wedding), but had second thoughts, only to return home and find that same Department store's bowl in the advertisements on webpages later that evening. :S

So when my husband (a tech/internet saavy guy) brought this article to my attention, I knew to give it serious thought. And with reason. This concept about Social Cooling is chilling. If you care about personal security, please read.

https://www.socialcooling.com/

Wasn't there a movie about this? :S

[bleair]

For managing some of the information that google accumulates about you -
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/465?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

Your cellphone usage and how you move through the city during the day and unless you use a VPN they also record what websites you visit as you move.   A few US carriers allow you to pay to opt out of this tracking, but the last time I checked there was only one.

Your usage of "social media" websites, e.g. facebook is by far the most dangerous.  Facebook has a vested interest in selecting stories to show you that are going to elicit  a click or response and for-certain they track both what news websites you go to and what shopping websites you have visited, they know which way you lean politically, your approx. age, and your income demographic... It also now seems that law enforcement (in the US) can legally demand access to your facebook account (e.g. returning from overseas trips)..  Did you like a post criticizing a current or former policy of the government? Do you have friends who might have made such posts? Then US Border control can, and is expected, to go to great lengths to "protect the US border".   I'm not saying give up on facebook altogether, but use it selectively (e.g. using it to coordinate meetups with friends is a great low risk option).

What can you do if this bothers you? 
#1 Let your representatives know you do _NOT_ want ISPs to be allowed to track your itnernet usage, and you do not want to allow them to resell this history (this sadly was a new change that just recently passed into law)

#2 When web browsing, if you choose to open a new "private" or "incognito" it's a bit harder for sites to track your shopping interests as you move to other sites (though, if you're using amazon they obviously know who you are if you login!).  If you're especially worried you might have a different web browser (e.g. Firefox, instead of Chrome) that you exclusively use for a subsets of sites (e.g. only visit your banking website with Firefox - make sure whichever web browser you use you regularly check it for updates)

#3 Any website you use (unless you're paying for the service AND they've disclosed their tracking policy) is almost certainly directly or indirectly tracking you... this isn't always a horrible thing - websites need to pay costs (servers, bandwidth, salaries for their writers to create the content you view/read.)   This content is paid for by selling ads... The point is, be aware that everything you do online is likely a means for someone else to sell ads to you.

#4 Don't freak out, but do be aware that this is tracking is happening.

[Estefa]

There were some long articles in the New York Times in the last months regarding keeping your devices and mobile digital live secure. For example, logging out of all social media accounts and sending randomly created passwords to a trusted person at home (before logging out of course), so you can say with truth that you don't have acces to your accounts right now . Or leaving your regular labtop and mobile at home and travel without. There was a lot more, and some of that very complicated … it's for sure something to worry about.

I must admit that I am on the other hand sometimes astonished at how much private stuff people are willingly letting the whole world know – especially when it comes to personal pics of family or friends.

[Erica McPhee]

I was really surprised when I posted about this on my FB a couple of years ago and ... no one seemed to care!    This happens to me all the time - I see whatever we are talking about at dinner in my Instagram feed advertisements. It's really irritating. I stopped going on FB so much because whatever I talked about or ordered or looked at on Amazon was plastered all over the place.

I stopped using Google but it seems like it doesn't matter if I am still on the internet.

Thank you for sharing this article. 

[Estefa]

This happens to me all the time - I see whatever we are talking about at dinner in my Instagram feed advertisements.

I don't even get Instagram advertisments interestingly …

[Scarlet Blue]

@Starlee This reminds me of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror - the first episode in the latest series, on Netflix... but there might be other films that have the same themes.
On Instagram I've noticed that I get adverts that use modern calligraphy....I reckon they I trying to trip me up to get a 'like' from me, I always spot them though :-)

[neriah]

It is true that every single "smart" device we own leaks our data somewhere. But I don't bother with that much. I work in IT, more precisely in security and if someone really wants to find info on you nothing will stop them. For most of us, none cares about our data. Sponsored adds and other click baits are generated automatically using various algorithms. And all that huge amount of data is processed by computers. Chances for your data to be examined by human are very low and there has to be a really good reason for that to happen (such as criminal activity or some serious reports by other users). It is easier for a stranger to infect your computer and obtain every single login you use (including bank accounts info) than to dig up relevant stuff about you using personal data collected by various services (google, facebook, etc.).

The only way to be off gird is not to use internet and use only old style phones which have only two functionalities: calls and text. For most of us this isn't really possible, so at the end it really doesn't matter what you do. Even if you don't have a single social network accounts, your friends do and sooner or later they will leak info about you without even being aware they did it.

For me it really doesn't matter. It all comes down on turning off personal data sending for every app which allows that, being critical and not upload everything everywhere, not click on adds, never open email from unrecognised sources and never ever run stuff on your computer unless you are 100% sure you know what are you opening.

[Erica McPhee]

@Starlee
On Instagram I've noticed that I get adverts that use modern calligraphy....I reckon they I trying to trip me up to get a 'like' from me, I always spot them though :-)

BAHAHAHAHA! 

[Erica McPhee]

I don't even get Instagram advertisments interestingly …

What?! Wow - mine are every 7 posts!

[Erica McPhee]

I get that it is just a computer collecting the data but there is something very disconcerting about talking about your Nana and GG at dinner and then going on Facebook and the first ad is for a t-shirt which says, "I love my Nana and GG."

Or saying we are out of paper towels and then sitting down to go on FB and the first ad is for Bounty paper towels.

The worst is when my husband went to bed earlier than me and was snoring so loud I could hear it downstairs in the family room and I picked up my phone to go on IG and the first ad was, "Is your partner's snoring keeping you up at night?"

Feels an awful lot like being spied on. 

[Estefa]

I don't even get Instagram advertisments interestingly …

What?! Wow - mine are every 7 posts!

Hm – maybe I don't recognize it 😳? Bj it would be stuff from people I don't follow, right? – I'm not on FB, maybe that's the cause ...?

[Scarlet Blue]

@Erica McPhee  I think you are being spied apon!
Do you use Siri?

[Estefa]

I get that it is just a computer collecting the data but there is something very disconcerting about talking about your Nana and GG at dinner and then going on Facebook and the first ad is for a t-shirt which says, "I love my Nana and GG."

Or saying we are out of paper towels and then sitting down to go on FB and the first ad is for Bounty paper towels.

The worst is when my husband went to bed earlier than me and was snoring so loud I could hear it downstairs in the family room and I picked up my phone to go on IG and the first ad was, "Is your partner's snoring keeping you up at night?"

Feels an awful lot like being spied on. 

That is definitely creepy @Erica McPhee !! Do you use an Alexa or something similar? I don't get this sort of thing either. Just the usual Spam, nothing that seems really personally targeted.

[Erica McPhee]

No I don't use Siri - nor do I have Alexa (nor will I ever! Ha ha!). I even turned off my microphone on my cell because it was getting so ridiculous. I spend a lot of time on the internet though between Flourish and FB and I make a lot of purchases on Amazon.

But it really does seem to be cell phone connected because it happens when my cell is nearby but my laptop is closed.

[Erica McPhee]

But did you know cell phones even track where we stop at the store? For example, if you go to The Home Depot and look at lighting fixtures, it will register on your phone. Then when you get home, on Amazon or other sites, it will advertise lighting fixtures to you. It's irritating!