Gyroscopic Investing

I have noticed for a long time that whenever I shop for something online, ads start popping up for whatever it was that I was looking for. This seems to be especially true if I'm browsing on Amazon. Strangely, the ads are even more predictable if you actually buy the thing you're looking for.

Not that big of a deal, I thought. I know you can turn off ad targeting in the browser but didn't see any reason to do it. Sometimes it's even beneficial though not very often.

But just a few hours ago I took my car to Tires Plus to get new tires. I didn't do any online shopping at all beforehand, but I wasn't home for more than an hour before ads for tires started to show up.

So how did they know I was looking for tires? I hadn't paid for it yet so they didn't get it from a credit card transaction (which would be stupid since I would have already bought them).

Right now there is only one thing I can think of and that is the work order that was sent to my Gmail account.

Google couldn't possibly be looking at our emails, could they?

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:24 pm I have noticed for a long time that whenever I shop for something online, ads start popping up for whatever it was that I was looking for. This seems to be especially true if I'm browsing on Amazon. Strangely, the ads are even more predictable if you actually buy the thing you're looking for.

Not that big of a deal, I thought. I know you can turn off ad targeting in the browser but didn't see any reason to do it. Sometimes it's even beneficial though not very often.

But just a few hours ago I took my car to Tires Plus to get new tires. I didn't do any online shopping at all beforehand, but I wasn't home for more than an hour before ads for tires started to show up.

So how did they know I was looking for tires? I hadn't paid for it yet so they didn't get it from a credit card transaction (which would be stupid since I would have already bought them).

Right now there is only one thing I can think of and that is the work order that was sent to my Gmail account.

Google couldn't possibly be looking at our emails, could they?

That's why Gmail is free. Analyzing your email for advertising purposes was the innovation there.

Xan wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:27 pm

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:24 pm I have noticed for a long time that whenever I shop for something online, ads start popping up for whatever it was that I was looking for. This seems to be especially true if I'm browsing on Amazon. Strangely, the ads are even more predictable if you actually buy the thing you're looking for.

Not that big of a deal, I thought. I know you can turn off ad targeting in the browser but didn't see any reason to do it. Sometimes it's even beneficial though not very often.

But just a few hours ago I took my car to Tires Plus to get new tires. I didn't do any online shopping at all beforehand, but I wasn't home for more than an hour before ads for tires started to show up.

So how did they know I was looking for tires? I hadn't paid for it yet so they didn't get it from a credit card transaction (which would be stupid since I would have already bought them).

Right now there is only one thing I can think of and that is the work order that was sent to my Gmail account.

Google couldn't possibly be looking at our emails, could they?

That's why Gmail is free. Analyzing your email for advertising purposes was the innovation there.

I use Edge for browsing, not Chrome, so Google and Microsoft must be working together. Or maybe somebody at the NSA has a side gig selling the information.

In general I'm not one of those who is big on privacy issues. However I do find those ads that pop up after I've viewed a certain item for sale to be rather creepy. They are never helpful as I buy on my own timetable and plans, not impulsively from an ad popping up like that.

For me it has to all be coming from Amazon as that is where I go to look almost all the time to buy anything. I do have gmail email but rarely use it due to me wanting to own my email and not dependent upon any entity having any control of it in any way.

I've also observed in the past that it's mostly Amazon selling our information. I've heard the same thing about Google but they have done a pretty good job of hiding it from public view until now, at least for me. Same thing with Facebook, but I haven't detected anything yet.

I believe Amazon and Google are both becoming major government contractors. Not sure about Facebook.

I think this is a problem, at least a potential one. As long as "they" are just trying to sell us stuff it's harmless until "they" become "big brother" and I can easily see that happening. You don't have to believe in conspiracy theories, you just have to believe what Thomas Jefferson said - "Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."

He was a slave owner however, so he needs to be cancelled.

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 3:48 pm
I've also observed in the past that it's mostly Amazon selling our information. I've heard the same thing about Google but they have done a pretty good job of hiding it from public view until now, at least for me. Same thing with Facebook, but I haven't detected anything yet.

I believe Amazon and Google are both becoming major government contractors. Not sure about Facebook.

I think this is a problem, at least a potential one. As long as "they" are just trying to sell us stuff it's harmless until "they" become "big brother" and I can easily see that happening. You don't have to believe in conspiracy theories, you just have to believe what Thomas Jefferson said - "Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."

He was a slave owner however, so he needs to be cancelled.

For me it definitely has to be Amazon as that is the place I go to purchase and to look at potential purchases. It cannot be Google for me since I use Bing as my search engine and only go to Google for one email discussion group, which i just read and never contribute. I am in Facebook a lot but I'm not giving them anything which tells it what I am interested in buying. Just about all I see is an almost instantaneous ad from having looked at something at Amazon. Not everything. Just some things. But still creepy.

I got a really creepy one for you --

Out to dinner last weekend with friends who camp a lot. He pulled up a car rooftop tent on his phone to show me.

I never searched for tents, nor checked anything related to camping, but the following day, Facebook had a rooftop tent ad on my feed.

Whether that's because we are FB friends and that causes it, or they are seeing my phone was in proximity to his at dinner while he was searching, or something else, it is getting nearly to crossing some line. In any event, esp. when I notice that happening, I will never click an ad just because.

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:39 pmI use Edge for browsing, not Chrome, so Google and Microsoft must be working together. Or maybe somebody at the NSA has a side gig selling the information.

Well hang on. The browser stealing your information is a whole different question. There are some conspiracy theories about browser vendors doing that but that isn't really mainstream.

More to the point, Google doesn't have to steal it from your browser, or depend on Microsoft. Your browser is completely irrelevant. Your email is stored on their servers. They have it. They own it.

Xan wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:21 pm

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:39 pmI use Edge for browsing, not Chrome, so Google and Microsoft must be working together. Or maybe somebody at the NSA has a side gig selling the information.

Well hang on. The browser stealing your information is a whole different question. There are some conspiracy theories about browser vendors doing that but that isn't really mainstream.

More to the point, Google doesn't have to steal it from your browser, or depend on Microsoft. Your browser is completely irrelevant. Your email is stored on their servers. They have it. They own it.

Yes, but the information is useless to them if they don't have someone to sell it to.

I'm thinking maybe there is some third party company, or more than one, that makes these things pop up on whatever browser you are using, and that's who "they" (google, microsoft, amazon) are doing business with.

Could be a Chinese or Russian company for all we know.

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:30 pm

Xan wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:21 pm

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:39 pmI use Edge for browsing, not Chrome, so Google and Microsoft must be working together. Or maybe somebody at the NSA has a side gig selling the information.

Well hang on. The browser stealing your information is a whole different question. There are some conspiracy theories about browser vendors doing that but that isn't really mainstream.

More to the point, Google doesn't have to steal it from your browser, or depend on Microsoft. Your browser is completely irrelevant. Your email is stored on their servers. They have it. They own it.

Yes, but the information is useless to them if they don't have someone to sell it to.

I'm thinking maybe there is some third party company, or more than one, that makes these things pop up on whatever browser you are using, and that's who "they" (google, microsoft, amazon) are doing business with.

Could be a Chinese or Russian company for all we know.

Isn't in the website you're visiting that determines what you see, not your browser?

Xan wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:57 pm

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:30 pm

Xan wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:21 pm

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:39 pmI use Edge for browsing, not Chrome, so Google and Microsoft must be working together. Or maybe somebody at the NSA has a side gig selling the information.

Well hang on. The browser stealing your information is a whole different question. There are some conspiracy theories about browser vendors doing that but that isn't really mainstream.

More to the point, Google doesn't have to steal it from your browser, or depend on Microsoft. Your browser is completely irrelevant. Your email is stored on their servers. They have it. They own it.

Yes, but the information is useless to them if they don't have someone to sell it to.

I'm thinking maybe there is some third party company, or more than one, that makes these things pop up on whatever browser you are using, and that's who "they" (google, microsoft, amazon) are doing business with.

Could be a Chinese or Russian company for all we know.

Isn't in the website you're visiting that determines what you see, not your browser?

Yeah, I think you're probably right . I first saw the ads on FoxNews in Edge but maybe I would have seen the same thing with Chrome. Hard to know what's happening behind the scenes.

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 3:48 pm

I think this is a problem, at least a potential one. As long as "they" are just trying to sell us stuff it's harmless until "they" become "big brother" and I can easily see that happening.

"They" don't have to become big brother themselves.
All they have to do is vend the data to big brother and the same result happens.
Or if big brother is competent enough to hack them and take the data.
Or big brother simply hires someone else to do the hacking.
Or big brother uses governmental power to seize the data.
Or...well you get the picture. It's just all bad possibilities once the data has been collected and consolidated and we're well past the Rubicon.
Brave new world.

More like 1984.
“Oh, we see you are afraid of rats!”

tomfoolery wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 7:34 pm Google will "buy" ad space on websites. If you have a website, you add a line of code to your webpage, which then allows google to serve ads on your webpage to people who view your webpage.

If Google identifies you, because you're not using a VPN, you're logged into Gmail on another tab, etc, then Google knows what ads to serve you and will serve them through whatever 3rd party non-Google website you go to, because Google has bought the virtual billboard for that site.

If you got vaccinated and believe in wearing masks, and I mean actually believe, not just wearing a mask because the store has a sign up, but you genuinely believe that cloth masks stop viral particles, then to be honest, you have nothing to worry about from this tracking.

Are you saying that believing cloth masks work will also protect me from big brother?

Definitely google targets ads based on the content of your email, however it's sent. I noticed that when I was using Apple's mail app to access gmail and send messages. I would get ads directly related to something I mentioned in the email, which I had not browsed online about - e.g. lab equipment when the email was to a research colleague.

The whole thing is completely automated so it's not like a human being is looking at our emails and thinking, hmmm, can I get this person arrested for something? It's a little creepy yes, but overall the ad targeting doesn't really bother me. What is really concerning is if Google ever decides to comb your emails looking for dirt they can turn over to the FBI or NSA. For this and many other reasons (like recipients forwarding email chains), I just assume that anything I write in Gmail is effectively a matter of public record, and limit what I say accordingly. In other words, every time you write an email, take a second look at it and ask yourself if you would mind seeing it plastered on the front page of the New York Times. If the answer is "yes", don't send it.

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:24 pm But just a few hours ago I took my car to Tires Plus to get new tires. I didn't do any online shopping at all beforehand, but I wasn't home for more than an hour before ads for tires started to show up.

So how did they know I was looking for tires? I hadn't paid for it yet so they didn't get it from a credit card transaction (which would be stupid since I would have already bought them).

This could be the result of digital marketing technology called geofencing. Advertisers are able to put a box around a location and target anyone that enters that box (assuming they have a smartphone or other digital device). The box can be large or small, usually down to 1000x1000 ft.

A national company like Tires Plus is almost certainly doing this. They probably target their own stores as well as the stores of their competitors.

Advertisers can also target specific addresses or neighborhoods, etc and serve ads to people living there. When combined with all sorts of additional demographic and interest data there’s a tremendous amount of targeting that can be done and insights that can be obtained.