privacy? Forget it, those days are gone forever.

[Frank Fusco]

A friend recently posted that she went to one of the big box stores and looked at outdoor grill covers. Later, at home, ads for grill covers started popping up on her computer even though she had not done any online browsing for these items.
On this forum, I commented on a tool seen in the background of a post unrelated to the tool. Later, I started getting pop up ads on the computer for that same tool.
It seems EVERYTHING we say, do or look at is 'out there' and will be available for someone (dare I say: Big Brother?) to reference or use to persuade us.
I won't even get into Alexa listening to everything we say in our home...........

 

[Bill Arnold]

Those cookies will get you, if you don't toss them out occasionally. Perhaps your friend took a photo of the item, then emailed it to someone or copied it to a computer. Maybe she casually mentioned it in an email. There are any number of ways she might have initiated the onslaught without even thinking about it.

Along a similar vein, my wife likes to play some of the games on the PCH site. After a while, she can't do much because of the stuff they load in the background. I changed her browser to delete cookies, etc., every time she closes it. Problem solved.

 

[Jonathan Shively]

If she has anything voice activated on her phone, it listens all the time.

 

[Dave Hoskins]

It is amazing how this stuff pops up. If your friend went to a box store that has a "rewards" or whatever program, that's probably how it occurred. Also, as people do more and more with their phones, the more vulnerable they are to all kinds of identity theft and fraud. As well as other stuff. Those who keep any personal information on a cell phone have a higher chance of stuff happening, than those that use a cell phone as a phone. Preventing these things from happening is an ongoing battle. Some of the more savvy folks on here can say a bunch more about this than I can, especially on the cell phone issues.

 

[larry merlau]

hey i just read this and havnt got any ads for old guys from arkansas

 

[glenn bradley]

hey i just read this and havnt got any ads for old guys from arkansas

I just got an ad about convalescent homes in Arkansas… LOL. Just watch the shopping mall scene from the movie Minority Report. That’s supposed to be science fiction but, we are very close already.

 

[Darren Wright]

Yup, If you look up, you'll see networking equipment all over those stores, little micro hotspots everywhere. Not only is it there to give you free wifi, but if you're not even connected, it tracks your wifi capable device to all areas of the store. They say it's for in store navigation to find items, but they are also tracking where you browse in the store too. They will used the flow data to setup displays and such where traffic flow is the highest.

 

[Frank Fusco]

Yup, If you look up, you'll see networking equipment all over those stores, little micro hotspots everywhere. Not only is it there to give you free wifi, but if you're not even connected, it tracks your wifi capable device to all areas of the store. They say it's for in store navigation to find items, but they are also tracking where you browse in the store too. They will used the flow data to setup displays and such where traffic flow is the highest.

Bingo! I'll bet that is the answer. Still scary.