They are watching you more than you know

[Bueller]

Then how is it that when my wife came home to tell me that she had lost her Ray Ban sunglasses and I merely said "go to there website and order the ones you lost" without ever once visiting Ray Ban's website, and neither did she for that matter until about 2 weeks later. A day or two goes by and we are both bombarded with ads on FB for Ray Ban, Sunglasshut, and other Ray Ban retailers simply for having a conversation, especially me since the last time I was on their website was when I ordered her ther pair she lost back in 2016.

Or the time in 2021 when I got a Filson catalog in the mail, last time I ordered from them was around 2015-2016 and had never gotten a catalog from them in the mail before and never ordered anything from them or went to their website since the initial purchase. The day the catalog came I told my wife to look through it and see if there was anything she may want. Neither of us went to the website and a day or two later we started getting Filson ads on FB, which have not stopped by the way.

The first few times was creepy but now it's just an everyday thing.

So, sounds like someone’s hiding under your bed, furiously documenting your conversations. I agree, that is scary.

[OBT]

The "AI" is watching....

[old4runner]

You would lose that bet.

You are hosted right? on a server hosting many others?

[250bassFL]

What is it that pops up?

[DoctorJJ]

The 3 letter agencies care about Dicks Sporting Goods advertisements?

They care about everything. Just in case they need to use it against you later.

[Al from Canada]

You are hosted right? on a server hosting many others?

We are hosted on our own server; we get far too much traffic to be hosted on a server that hosts other websites.

[troutspinner]

Phones aside, if something in your house has an internet connection, it's listening, and watching if it has a camera. If Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc. has eyes or ears on your data and they can tie you to someone who pays them advertising money, they will do everything they can to turn it into a click. 1 simple targeted click from one of us to a website, makes Google well over a dollar, just one click!

If you are on Facebook, go deep into your FB privacy settings and you'll discover that your bank, mortgage company, and almost any other business you interact with online reports to FB. It is downright disturbing! There is a way around it though, they use your e-mail address as the link so if you are on FB, use a dedicated e-mail for just FB. After I changed that, targeted ads decreased significantly.

[TownesZ21]

What is it that pops up?

That I don't want to know!

[nightbasser]

You would lose that bet.

Correct Al! Thats why its crazy that the ads popped up after reading that thread... the only trigger could be the name of the business in the text as i didn't have any linking or even mention said business verbally.

[mean_dean]

Your ISP is tracking, your phone is tracking, the apps on that phone are tracking, your TV, pretty much anything Internet connected these days is collecting data of some type.

[Al from Canada]

Phones aside, if something in your house has an internet connection, it's listening, and watching if it has a camera. If Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc. has eyes or ears on your data and they can tie you to someone who pays them advertising money, they will do everything they can to turn it into a click. 1 simple targeted click from one of us to a website, makes Google well over a dollar, just one click!

If you are on Facebook, go deep into your FB privacy settings and you'll discover that your bank, mortgage company, and almost any other business you interact with online reports to FB. It is downright disturbing! There is a way around it though, they use your e-mail address as the link so if you are on FB, use a dedicated e-mail for just FB. After I changed that, targeted ads decreased significantly.

Ok, please explain how if someone clicks on the BBC website or the BBC Boards how exactly does that make Google well over a dollar.
And your bank and mortgage company reports to FB?

I think you need to get a larger tin foil hat.

[old4runner]

We are hosted on our own server; we get far too much traffic to be hosted on a server that hosts other websites.

Dang that has to be expensive to have your own hardware Do you have 2 and one for backup? Any co-location if primary goes down? It is just hard to match the availability of massive hosting clusters and they host multiple massive retail sites.

[tcesni]

All the 3 letter agencies.

Your internet habits are sold by commercial interests for money, the government is the least of your worries. Same thing if you stream any tv shows. How do you think Roku and similar companies make money?

[RangrSkipr]

If Cabelas sold Tin Foil hats they'd make a killing advertising on BBC. Yeah I'd buy one

[TownesZ21]

They care about everything. Just in case they need to use it against you later.

AI cares as they monetize it.

The three letter agencies don't give a sh.. , unless you give them a reason to. You think they care about your fishing purchases or the MiLF's you google? They don't care about the fact you are taping your SIL or are a little too friendly with your tournament partner after a case of white claws.....

Y'all become a national security threat, yup, they care.

[Gsmith223]

Lots of people just click the checkbox on those end users agreements without reading them. Anyone who collects your data is required to provide a privacy notice that states what they collect.

[DoctorJJ]

AI cares as they monetize it.

The three letter agencies don't give a sh.. , unless you give them a reason to. You think they care about your fishing purchases or the MiLF's you google? They don't care about the fact you are taping your SIL or are a little too friendly with your tournament partner after a case of white claws.....

Y'all become a national security threat, yup, they care.

Have you been following the historical trajectory of what they consider national security threats? Lol

[Al from Canada]

Dang that has to be expensive to have your own hardware Do you have 2 and one for backup? Any co-location if primary goes down? It is just hard to match the availability of massive hosting clusters and they host multiple massive retail sites.

The BBC website is hosted in Toronto on our own server. The webhost company does have many websites on the same servers but we have our own dedicated server.
The BBC Boards are hosted in Michigan on our own dedicated server by a webhost company that can handle up to 35,000 servers. Both sites are backed up daily.

[Altro Cat]

Cookies do exactly what you are describing. Most websites actually tell you they are tracking you and have you opt in or out.

[TownesZ21]

Have you been following the historical trajectory of what they consider national security threats? Lol

I think I'll be just fine, and don't have a SIL anyway.

Not sure about you, hiding much?