# Creepiest examples of internet tracking? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 23, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969 "2024-05-23T14:04:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2024, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/61 "2024-06-03T23:38:58Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > So if I consent to get delivery updates by text, I also agree to marketing texts. So now I think that I’m not getting texts but notifications via the app. I haven’t found where to turn it off. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/62 "2024-06-04T02:09:52Z")
> [@solost](#): > > It geotracks us now, and I don’t remember opting in to that (it was probably buried in some 10,000 word user agreement I checked but didn’t read). If you’re using an iPhone, you had to explicitly opt in to Location Services during the initial phone set up process for it to track your location. You choose either “Enable” or “Disable.” And then you have to explicitly give every individual app permission to access your location. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/63 "2024-06-04T02:40:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But taking a step back, here: Why does everyone always get so upset about targeted marketing? It’s a heck of a lot less obnoxious than the untargeted marketing that we used to be bombarded with. Sometimes, it can actually be convenient, telling us about products that we didn’t know about before but which we’re genuinely interested in. Instead of taking a step back, take it a step forward and see how it becomes a very slippery slope from using your personal data for highly targeted marketing to using the same data to radicalize you. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/64 "2024-06-04T10:22:12Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > So if I consent to get delivery updates by text, I also agree to marketing texts. That sucks. I guess I’ll just rely on email notifications, but I don’t check it very often. Can you configure your email to text you when something comes from a specific address? Can email auto-send texts? ETA: oh. It looks like it’s the app? Hmmm… personally, I would rather interact with the website than via an app. Largely because of the sort of nonsense you describe. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/65 "2024-06-04T17:04:44Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > ETA: oh. It looks like it’s the app? Hmmm… personally, I would rather interact with the website than via an app. Largely because of the sort of nonsense you describe. I agree. I have the app because I shop at Amazon Fresh, and the app is needed to walk out without going through the checkout lines. I may rethink this. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/66 "2024-06-04T18:37:04Z")
A few days after I “finally” bought a smart phone, I went to McDonalds to get breakfast. I live alone and I told no one where I was going. I am not chained to my phone and I left it home during my trip. I brought breakfast home, and ate it, and when I turned on the phone there was an ad to download the McDonalds app. It freaked me out. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/67 "2024-06-04T20:19:18Z")
A buddy of mine told me about an interesting event. He went to a tire store, asked for a new set of the same tires he has on his truck now. The guy said, “no, you want the dominators” or what ever tire it was. Buddy said sure, get some for me. He had ads for the tires on various sites when he got home. The tire store didn’t specify a customer when they ordered the wheels. He’s kind of a luddite, so take that with a grain of salt, he may be mistaken about stuff. What I’ve never understood about that sort of thing is, I already bought it, why are you sending me ads? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/68 "2024-06-04T21:01:16Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > The guy said, “no, you want the dominators” or what ever tire it was. Buddy said sure, get some for me. He had ads for the tires on various sites when he got home. Did he maybe pre-pay with a credit card? I bought some strings from Guitar Center years ago, started seeing Guitar Store ads all over, and thought “how did they know” until I realized duh, I used my credit card. If not, he was probably geotracked, and the trackers noted that the tires were ordered the same time he was at the tire place. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2024, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/69 "2024-06-04T21:40:39Z")
> [@solost](#): > > If not, he was probably geotracked, and the trackers noted that the tires were ordered the same time he was at the tire place. Even more likely, it was simple geotracking with no correlation to the order. Someone was in the vicinity of a tire store for a period of time, therefore they probably want tires. And this also explains why you get tire ads even after buying the tires - the advertiser doesn’t know you bought them. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/70 "2024-06-05T01:18:42Z")
I have voice input turned off on my phone - as in, I cannot say “OK Google” and have it do anything for me. A couple years back, my husband and I were talking about needing to get a step stool to keep in the car, for transporting elderly parents. Neither of us had done any searching for one. But when I picked up my phone, the first thing I saw was a full page of ads… for step stools. The phone should not have launched ads of ANY sort in that situation, but it did. Yeesh. Yeah, our phones aren’t listening all the time, really they aren’t… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/71 "2024-06-05T22:09:54Z")
OK, here’s one where I’m unsure precisely how they tracked me. I just started seeing begging ads from my undergraduate alma mater. I think they might have my email address on file, if they actually corrected it after five times in a row of calling to “confirm my contact information” with a wrong address… but can advertisers see my email address? Well, I guess Google can… I’m not sure if it was a Google ad. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/72 "2024-06-06T03:58:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, here’s one where I’m unsure precisely how they tracked me. I just started seeing begging ads from my undergraduate alma mater. Was the ad a spam email ad from your school, or like an inline web/app banner ad? If it was a web/app ad, it’s round up the usual suspects time. You’ve Googled your school, watched YouTube videos about your school, you’ve physically visited your school, joined Facebook groups about your school, visited web sites about your school that use FB APIs. As a bonus, maybe someone tagged a photo of you on your schools alumni FB page. If it was an email ad, maybe at some alumni event an organizer asked the attendees for contact info of alumni who weren’t there (you). But, from what you said, it’s probably just that they had the right email. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/73 "2024-06-06T04:09:32Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I have voice input turned off on my phone - as in, I cannot say “OK Google” and have it do anything for me. > > A couple years back, my husband and I were talking about needing to get a step stool to keep in the car, for transporting elderly parents. Neither of us had done any searching for one. But when I picked up my phone, the first thing I saw was a full page of ads… for step stools. The phone should not have launched ads of ANY sort in that situation, but it did. Yeesh. Yeah, our phones aren’t listening all the time, really they aren’t… And the countless thousands of products, companies, restaurants, etc you’ve talked about in front of your phone since then that haven’t caused a single ad, what about them? Or I guess Big Step Stool is just more insidious than them all. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/74 "2024-06-06T10:54:50Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > Was the ad a spam email ad from your school, or like an inline web/app banner ad? > > If it was a web/app ad, it’s round up the usual suspects time. You’ve Googled your school, watched YouTube videos about your school, you’ve physically visited your school, joined Facebook groups about your school, visited web sites about your school that use FB APIs. As a bonus, maybe someone tagged a photo of you on your schools alumni FB page. It was a web ad. I haven’t done any of those things (though I can’t say if anyone tagged me in a Facebook photo, but that shouldn’t connect to my computer, because I haven’t logged into Facebook since three computers ago). Though now that I think about it, I did make one purchase of a school pennant, through a third-party site that sells school pennants, three years ago. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/75 "2024-06-06T14:05:26Z")
Do you have your school listed in your LinkedIn profile? Do you have an old school email address? Figuring out what school someone went to is probably one of the easier dara points. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/76 "2024-06-06T14:46:25Z")
I don’t have a LinkedIn profile, and my email at the school was deactivated shortly after I graduated, back in the day before such things were tracked, and I never used that email address from any computer I have right now, nor any computer in this city, nor any computer on which I’ve used either of my current email addresses. > [@TroutMan](#): > > Figuring out what school someone went to is probably one of the easier dara points. In the abstract, this seems like it would be true, but in my specific case, I just can’t figure out what connection they’re using. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/77 "2024-06-06T15:58:47Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > And the countless thousands of products, companies, restaurants, etc you’ve talked about in front of your phone since then that haven’t caused a single ad, what about them? > > Or I guess Big Step Stool is just more insidious than them all. Yep… those step stools are the first, er, step on some kind of slippery slope… I was just baffled by a) the behavior of showing a page of ads when I had not launched any kind of browser, and b) that the ad was SO spot-on. Some years back, I had my phone in navigation mode when driving my daughter somewhere. Suddenly, the phone chimed in with “I don’t understand xxxxxx” (whatever we’d been talking about). WTF?? I had turned off the voice response on that phone. Turns out, by default, it would re-enable when the phone was in navigation mode. I fixed that. There was the time my husband was working short-term on a project on the other coast. He got a Facebook friend suggestion for someone he had only incidental contact with. He was not friended with ANYONE he was working with. We have no clue why that suggestion came up. Facebook claims they do not make suggestions based on being near someone, but that’s the only logical explanation. I do wish they’d be more transparent about their algorithms; I keep getting suggestions for people I’ve literally never heard of, and who have no friends in common. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/78 "2024-06-06T16:24:29Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > > [@zbuzz](#): > > > > And the countless thousands of products, companies, restaurants, etc you’ve talked about in front of your phone since then that haven’t caused a single ad, what about them? > > > > Or I guess Big Step Stool is just more insidious than them all. > > Yep… those step stools are the first, er, step on some kind of slippery slope… Hey, medical and assistance supplies (of which step stools I’m sure are one product) for the ever-growing elderly population is a _ **huge** _ industry, one which I’m sure has plenty of money to spend on all types of online advertising. I’m not saying Mama\_Zappa’s phone heard her talking about step stools and that’s how she got the ad, but possibly through some combination of demographics, similar purchase history, and some coincidence. I don’t quite get the level of snark from some posters in this thread. It is a very real thing that online targeting companies have a very large, detailed and accurate database of our demographics, purchasing history, online surfing and social media habits, to the point that it does seem like they are listening to us. There was a thing, not going to mention what it is or even give a clue because I don’t want to share to the internet, so apologies for the vagueness, but it’s something sort of unique that I never even spoke of with anybody, just thought about. Then I started seeing ads about it everywhere. Do I think they read my mind? Of course not. But some combo of demographics and maybe somewhat related articles I clicked on without realizing it apparently built up a pattern of behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/79 "2024-06-06T16:28:51Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Hey, medical and assistance supplies (of which step stools I’m sure are one product) for the ever-growing elderly population is a _ **huge** _ industry, one which I’m sure has plenty of money to spend on all types of online advertising. I’m not saying Mama\_Zappa’s phone heard her talking about step stools and that’s how she got the ad, but possibly through some combination of demographics, similar purchase history, and some coincidence. My husband swore he had not done any searching online for the stools. And I know I had not. It may well be coincidence, but it’s mighty suspicious. A counterexample though: Back in 2018, my husband and I both needed orthopedic surgery within 10 days of each other. We were buying a LOT of accommodative tools: spare sling, cast covers, and bra-fastening gadget for me; walkers, toilet rails, sock-putter-onner gadget for him. All ordered online. I joked at the time that any day we would start getting ads for assisted living, prepaid funeral plans and the like… but it never happened. > [@solost](#): > > But some combo of demographics and maybe somewhat related articles I clicked on without realizing it apparently built up a pattern of behavior. Very, very true. Those algorithms are scary sometimes. I do wonder though: do these sorts of targeted ads EVER work?? I will often see ads for xxx item, on “unrelated” web pages, for months after I’ve looked at the item at Amazon or whatever. By that time, I’ve either already made the purchase, or decided I don’t want it, and am creeped out by the tracking. When I get in-game ads for something I’ve already bought or at least shopped for, I’m horrified and pleased. Horrified because it’s a reminder that I’m the commodity, and pleased because those ads tend to be a LOT less invasive than the “Play this game now and win REAL CASH” sort. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969/80 "2024-06-06T17:33:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > In the abstract, this seems like it would be true, but in my specific case, I just can’t figure out what connection they’re using. Given enough data, it can be correlated in ways that are surprising, and honestly kind of disconcerting. It’s not just about what you do on one computer or phone; it’s all the data from all your devices, data from friend’s devices, data from devices that were near you, data from companies that you interacted with, data from companies that interacted with someone who was near you… Not all of these apply to you, but some ways to figure out someone’s alma mater could include: - the obvious, like putting it from LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. - being connected on social media to people who have it in their profile, or other association to other alumni (like sending/receiving emails) - googling the university - university’s alumni list - address history showing you in a city during the 18-22 year old age range - school email address And all those things can be tied together. So for example, you never used your old school email on the same computer as your current one. But at one point, that school email was associated to your name, and another data source has your current email associated to your name, so an advertiser can now connect the dots. Who knows how this case happened - maybe it was one of these, maybe it was the pennant purchase, maybe it was a coincidence. If forced to guess, I’d go with the simplest answer, that the school provided the alumni list to advertisers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creepiest-examples-of-internet-tracking/1001969.md?page=5)