Could this be??

[CathyA]

I know on my other post we were talking about how "Facebook is watching us". But I had a very disconcerting thing happen today.
My dog is on a joint supplement. I called the vet's office to see if I could increase the dosage. I named the product several times. I don't remember ever
looking this product up online or talking about it on facebook.........just when I talked with the vet's office.

Well, just a little bit later, the product showed up in the middle of my various searches for other things.

Are our phone calls listened to too, and products suggested from that?
I would be sooooooooo pissed if this is so.

Maybe I did type this somewhere online, but I sure don't remember doing it.

[bae]

I think I may have mentioned the scary incident I experienced a year or so ago.

I was out for ~20 hours fighting a local wildland fire. When I came home, I found that one of the local newspapers had covered the fire, and that there was a photo with the article that had my face in it, unidentified and untagged at the moment I returned home.

Yet, my Facebook feed immediately offered up ads for some really useful wildland firefighting gear, *before* I had even read the story myself on any of my computers/devices. Which is a bit frightening if you think about the implications. I do not routinely search the Internet for wildland gear, and had not done so for months and months before this happened.

Odd.

[Tybee]

I had this same thing happen after writing an email about my parents' estate planning or lack thereof

[Williamsmith]

Nice to know I’m not the only one. As the song goes, “Even paranoids have enemies too.”

[dado potato]

Yahoo is sending me ads for incontinence products for women. Maybe it is because Yahoo has the maker of Depends as an advertiser, and Yahoo has promised to reach a certain number of affluent people over-65 with coupon offers for Depends. Actually I don't mind receiving the ads. I'm a guy, and I can't imagine ever wanting to wear them, or even try them on with a friend. The models are attractive women (I would say), showing a great sense of style, to say nothing of their bare arms and legs. And I am learning! Before I saw the ads, I had no knowledge that Silhouette Depends are in a "smooth, sleek, feminine design".

Now if I am at a social gathering, and the topic comes up, and somebody asks whether I knew Silhouette Depends now come in a smooth, sleek feminine design, I can say "Ya, I hert dat!"

[lmerullo]

We all know Facebook has facial recognition. Well apparently they also have "brand" recognition. Immediately after a full body pic of me posted, I began seeing ads for the same shoes in a different color. (See other thread). And, I bought them. Sigh, I guess that's feeding the demon.

[JaneV2.0]

I knew there was a reason I taped over the front-facing camera on all my devices...

[Sad Eyed Lady]

Someone told me that if the mic on your phone is on it can pick up what is being said and this results in ads and articles that are similar. I have experienced this once and it was a bit disconcerting. It's those pesky emails about all the young Russian girls who want to meet me that I wonder about. How did this get started????

[Float On]

About the only thing I'm doing this year on facebooks is every day when the memories pop up....I delete them.

[happystuff]

I'ved taped over my cameras on computers and laptops for years now. Nice to know my gut instinct was correct for once!

[danna]

CathyA
I can only guess the picked up the information and your name from the Vet's computer???
It has been a strange world were know everyone is looking to know us to sells us more stuff!

[CathyA]

Thanks everyone. Yes, I've taped over our computer's camera. Geez.......it's almost 1984 again........for real this time.
danna....Yeah, I was wondering about that too. it's really crazy ......and scary!

[ToomuchStuff]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cambridge-analytica-harvested-data-millions-unsuspecting-facebook-users-n857591?cid=par-xfinity_20180318

How are your settings? Checked them often to see if FB has adjusted them again?

[oldhat]

I fear these kinds of invasions of one's privacy are only going to get worse until people in the US come to grips with the problem legislatively. The laws are lagging way behind the technology. If I sent someone a letter, it's a federal crime for someone else to deliberately open it. The same isn't true if I send someone an email. (This is why I'm continually amazed at how casual people are about incriminating emails. I realized early on that you shouldn't put anything in an email you wouldn't be willing to see on the front page of the New York Times.) The only thing protecting the privacy of my gmail account is the goodwill of Google. Of course, Google swears up and down that they'll protect my privacy. And they will--until they decide not to.

The EU has passed a law called the General Data Protection Regulation. Among its provisions are a "right be forgotten." We need something like that in the US. The kinds of creepy invasions of privacy several people have described here will only get worse until then.

Of course, there are ways you can partially insulate yourself from data mining, like using Tor or duckduckgo. But most are hassles and/or baffling to non-techies. The government is the only entity large and powerful enough to counterbalance the tech giants. To protect your privacy now requires navigating a confusing hodgepodge of methods. What we need is to give people a simple opt-out/opt-in choice.

This would involve government taking a courageous stand to protect rights of individuals against corporations pursuing profits through ever-more obnoxious encroachment on their personal lives. I'm not holding my breath.

[Baldilocks]

Almost like a man made god. Omniscient(all knowing), omnipresent(present everywhere at the same time). Good thing its not omnipotent(having unlimited power; able to do anything).