The reason you are getting those ads is because you have cookies enabled. What it does is when you go to a webpage that is saved in your cookies. So then when you go to another page that has a certain ad program enabled on it, it looks through your particular cookies to advertise a product that it knows you are interested in. So for example it could be as specific as if you look at Asian porn, it could put up an ad saying that Asian woman want to marry you now! You can turn off your cookies and clear them out in your browser, but some webpages won't even allow you to visit if your cookies are turned off.
That too. I know I should clear cookies or disable them. I get so lazy. I guess that's what happens to a lot of people with this insidious stuff. I realized it was futile to have an unlisted number with the phone company. You can Google anyone and get their address and phone number, the phone company no longer has control of that data. After my dad died I easily found his social security number online. Facebook pursues you even when you are logged out. Privacy is a futile endeavor.
I heard that disabling cookies is not enough. Even in private browsing, I think Flash objects and such still get stored on your computer. Those misc objects are scanned for keywords and bingo! Custom ads ahoy.
Perhaps I should do more searches for "Being snatched out of my house in my underwear by SWAT". Seriously though, people should try using Startpage search engine/interface.
It's definitely beyond just cookies, because they follow me from computer to computer. Searches I do on my desktop cause ads on my laptop and vice versa.
Yes, and I know I'm signed into google. I sometimes use safari on my desktop, but almost always use chrome on my laptop. I know that I could take steps to prevent it, but at least right now, my searches are generally so innocuous that I don't mind the ads. So I don't even want to spend the energy to sign out, etc. (The hardest thing about it is when it reminds me of something I want to buy but don't quite want to spend the money on it just yet.)
It's more than just Chrome that follows people. Facebook has tentacles all over the Net and if you are signed in, it is actively tracking you. Twitter may do the same, I don't know because I rarely use it. And I never sign in to Chrome, but because I have a G-mail account Google is still actively collecting data from me. Though because I'm not signed in, my bookmarks and open tabs are different between my iMac and my Notebook.
Maybe it is time to start using this proxy. IxQuick So it puts a proxy between your computer and your searches. But one has to wonder where the money comes from to run the proxy server? I had a prof in a grad school business administration course that drilled into us, "There's no free lunch." Can we be sure this doesn't just make Google our only 'watcher'? Regardless, it can't be worse so I switched my bookmark to Startpage, (thanks for the tip) but I wonder if doing so doesn't put you one notch higher on the NSA radar. I wonder just how good such a proxy is given data mining programs and the reach of the NSA and all it's counterparts in other countries? Can they follow you in and through the proxy by fractions of a second correlation or by search patterns? Paranoid? Who me?
OK, I just used Startpage and right away I have a question. Once I open the page I searched for, isn't it now linked to my IP address?
Yes. Startpage prevents a list of your search terms from being associated to your IP simply because they don't keep a record. But once you're on the "How to destroy the world" site, the usual exposure takes place.
There are things you can do. You can do an IP tracer that will alert you any time someone is trying to trace your IP address and where the trace is coming from, and it will block it. You can also do an IP spoofer. Take for example, I say I'm from Williamsburg, Kentucky so that you guys don't know I live in Hollywood, California and work as a comedian actor. The best and safest place I have found to get these programs is from majorgeeks.com.
I'm finding Startpage to be an inadequate search engine. Perhaps I don't know how to use it. I can't narrow the search to images or news and whatnot. (Not that Google is perfect either and Google Scholar often brings up disappointing results.) For now, I'm going to just let them spy on me. If I were a news reporter, I'd definitely jump through the Startpage and other encryption hoops. But I'm not.
There is an image only option at the top left of the page. I like Startpage because it has options to see results from 24 hours, One Week, One Month, and One Year, which is quite useful.
