How does the internet know?

[ColchesterFC]

For Father's Day yesterday Mrs Colch got me a bottle of Laphroaig for the kids to give to me. This was entirely arranged by her during a phone call to her brother who was shopping in Tesco with her telling him what to get - while she was having a coffee in her parent's garden, so not even in our house. The only mention by me of the name was while younger Colch Jnr was trying to pronounce it (Laugh-Throw-Egg was the closest he got) and I corrected him, with my phone close by. I've not searched for Laphroaig or any type of whisky on any of my devices but since then I have been seeing adverts for Laphroaig appearing on my Facebook timeline.

Is that just a complete coincidence and if it's not can anyone explain how these adverts would be appearing on my laptop when it was switched off when the discussion about Laphroaig happened - I assume that if there is a link it's through my phone but I can't see how it happens.

 

[BubbaP]

I blame the 5G masts ??

 

[Hacker Khan]

For Father's Day yesterday Mrs Colch got me a bottle of Laphroaig for the kids to give to me. This was entirely arranged by her during a phone call to her brother who was shopping in Tesco with her telling him what to get - while she was having a coffee in her parent's garden, so not even in our house. The only mention by me of the name was while younger Colch Jnr was trying to pronounce it (Laugh-Throw-Egg was the closest he got) and I corrected him, with my phone close by. I've not searched for Laphroaig or any type of whisky on any of my devices but since then I have been seeing adverts for Laphroaig appearing on my Facebook timeline.

Is that just a complete coincidence and if it's not can anyone explain how these adverts would be appearing on my laptop when it was switched off when the discussion about Laphroaig happened - I assume that if there is a link it's through my phone but I can't see how it happens.

Has she searched for Laphroaig on line at all in the past? If so Facebook will know that, Facebook will know your are married so it will work out you like Laphroaig.

I had a similar incident where an advert for a swingers club came up in my wife's Facebook feed. Long story....

 

[ColchesterFC]

Has she searched for Laphroaig on line at all in the past? If so Facebook will know that, Facebook will know your are married so it will work out you like Laphroaig.

Nope not searched for it. The phone call to her brother was basically "What type of malt whisky is on offer? OK get that one".

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

I had a similar incident where an advert for a swingers club came up in my wife's Facebook feed. Long story....

No problem, we've got plenty of time

 

[Lazkir]

Has she searched for Laphroaig on line at all in the past? If so Facebook will know that, Facebook will know your are married so it will work out you like Laphroaig.

I had a similar incident where an advert for a swingers club came up in my wife's Facebook feed. Long story....

Pics or it didn't happen!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Artificial Intelligence. The bots are out there - and becoming ever more prevalent. See how common online support chat is becoming - that is just AI chatbot technology.

 

[Imurg]

It's the little elves that live in our devices.
Their hearing is superb and pick up everything we chat about...and what other people chat about too..

 

[Bunkermagnet]

My wife has had something like this for quite a while. I don’t get it since I’ve made changes deep within FB on privacy. Siri, Cortana and Alexa all have questions to answer too.

 

[Hacker Khan]

My wife has had something like this for quite a while. I don’t get it since I’ve made changes deep within FB on privacy. Siri, Cortana and Alexa all have questions to answer too.

The vast majority of the changes you can make are worthless. They will still track just about everything you do on the internet. You have to assume they will be tracking you, no matter what privacy settings you change. That is how Google, Facebook and increasingly Microsoft make their money.

 

[GB72]

This is something that I have experienced as well, been talking about something and then ads start appearing on facebook. That is without doing any searches etc. Guessing something is listening more than we would like to think, be it the phone, alexa or another device.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Pics or it didn't happen!

Short version is that I was out with a few mates (and not with my wife) when one lady said that her colleague at work and her colleagues husband frequent a swingers club in my home city. And were very open about it to the extent of approaching other people in her work place to see if they wanted to go down the club with them. And none of us were aware that such a club existed. So I google searched the club, we all had a laugh for about a minute as a lot of us had walked past it for years without knowing what it was and then we moved on.

The next morning I was telling my wife the story and she was on Facebook at the same time. 2 minutes later an advert for said club came up on her Facebook page.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Let’s test it,
Everybody start talking about buying greenhouses

Or holidays to Yosemite National Park
and see what our devices come up with

Big Bro is watching you

 

[Hacker Khan]

This is something that I have experienced as well, been talking about something and then ads start appearing on facebook. That is without doing any searches etc. Guessing something is listening more than we would like to think, be it the phone, alexa or another device.

It's a long book and a bit wordy, but a fascinating read. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N7UERGX/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 You have no idea just how much organisations are tracking what you do on the internet. And now through smart watches and IOT devices in the home we let them track just about everything we do. And they manage to convince us that it beneficial to us as we can see how many steps we do each day. It is a genius business model and we have essentially let them do it with very little challenge.

And for those of us who are extra paranoid, Cummings is well into these kind of business models and big tech disrupters https://bylinetimes.com/2020/05/29/dominic-cummings-whitehall-revolution-is-underway/ . Hence the reason some people are uncomfortable with government produced apps.

 

[Jimaroid]

If you're willing to dig through a minefield of buried information, https://www.facebook.com/off_facebook_activity/

Within there you might find the answer. The tracking technology is pretty scary but fundamentally quite simple, there's nothing very intelligent about it, it's just a lot of data which advertisers pay to ride-on. It may seem like coincidence but Laphroaig seem to have been spending a lot on Facebook adverts lately as they appear to be frequently appearing in any whisky related keywords.

Laphroiag's website is full of advertising trackers. Anyone of your family searching or looking at it, just by typing it into Google, or purchasing online through Amazon for example, is immediately capable of being linked to your relationship in Facebook. An advertising push around father's day for malt whisky is pretty simple to invest in and you'll see an increase in "coincidental" adverts appearing in your facebook timeline.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Promotion working well then
Make sure you no not type in ''laugh a frog'' or you will get caught too.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

The vast majority of the changes you can make are worthless. They will still track just about everything you do on the internet. You have to assume they will be tracking you, no matter what privacy settings you change. That is how Google, Facebook and increasingly Microsoft make their money.

But there are some buried deep within the settings that can make a difference. It also helps if you use privacy software that wipes clean your internet history, cache, cookies, MRU’s and other things they use but tell us they don’t or are harmless

 

[AmandaJR]

So I read this thread and now have the whiskey advert on my facebook feed

 

[williamalex1]

So I read this thread and now have the whiskey advert on my facebook feed

Amanda ! I hope your not drinking too much

 

[Lord Tyrion]

So I read this thread and now have the whiskey advert on my facebook feed

Me too.

Let's have some fun to see if this continues.

Ann Summers

Ann Summers

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