I have recently been looking for an article of clothing, what it was is irrelevant, and I had trouble finding it as I scan through page upon page empty handed. Then the oddest thing happened, the exact thing I was looking for appeared in a ad on a webpage. I was ecstatic until I realized that this was not the first time that this happened. Which passed a creepy thought; that google sells our search histories to companies which stylize ads based on what we search. So not only do they save what we search they also keep record of who searched what.
As of i think june this year, they updated all of their ToS's to explain that they were going to start databses of what we search. which i believe was open for public viewing. -i dont remember the full details as i dont use google search anymore if i can help it.-
I use Ixquick for searching. Sometimes i -do- have to use google for a few things because Ixquick may not have what i'm looking for. But Ixquick doesnt save or store your searches anywhere. They believe in privacy.
This is called contextual advertisement, and you may have heard of tracking cookies before, this causes such across websites.
If an ad network called ads.com is on the website you are visiting, it is allowed to create information on your computer (a cookie) with the name of the web page you are currently visiting. The next website you visit with another ads.com ad, can access this cookie (because you are loading from ads.com it can access ads.com cookies only) and serve you possibly relevant ads.
You can clear your cookies for example (and maybe log out of Google if it is Google's network, Google is a HUGE advertising network, but many ad networks use such cookies) and all of the ads may become completely irrelevant again.
If it has helped you find something somewhat relevant, without needing to really store or sell your information online, then it has done its job. I'd wager your relevant ad was part of the same ad network, not sold to other ad networks.
Tigerface.
I try to clear my cookies on a regular so either I forgot to clear them or something else is going on.
Rave;
If you find this behavior unwelcome, one way to deal with it is through an edited Hosts file, which will block advertisers at the domain level. Far more effective than most ad-blocking scripts, but it comes with the caveat that you cannot easily turn it off. Google 'MVPS hosts' for a decent one that blocks the vast majority of the major problem-children advertisers (Networks known to carry malware or use dodgy advertising tactics).
Edit: It does not, sadly deal with Google's data-harvesting, it only blocks the end symptom of it.
wake up people ....... BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING
I don't know much about how Google tracks your searches, but this might help
https://www.torproject.org/download/download (https://www.torproject.org/download/download)
I think as long as the data is kept in computers and not shared amongst people, it's not really an invasion of privacy, I mean I'm sure you don't want people seeing your search history "cake farts? what in the world..." but if you're searching for uh, cake farts (why are you searching for this?) wouldn't you rather see ads related to your interest rather than random ads that you're likely to never ever click ever?
I would have taken a page from "search engine marketing 101", but Tiger has had the large fraction covered on the issue.
Here's my take from my experience working in the online marketing industry...
The advert department of Google is called "Google Adwords". Google Adwords basically allows the prospective online marketer to create keywords pertaining to the online material that he or she would like to advertise.
So, supposed, the online marketing project is, say, "Overseas Canadian Furries", for example. The advert would be written, but how would the advert be on the air, so to speak? The marketer would thus write up a bunch of keywords that would lead the querier - you - to be able to witness the advert at hand.
Using the example of "Overseas Canadian Furries", adwords that may lead to such would include not just
"Overseas"
"Canadian" / "Canada"
"Furry" / "Furries"
but may also make mention of other key related words such as:
"Outside" / "Beyond" / (prepositions of "exteriority")
"North America" / "North American" / "American" / "International"
"China" / "Taiwan" / "Hong Kong" / "Japan" / "Korea" / (other overseas countries)
"Meet" / "Meetup" / "Event" / "Con" / "Convention" (conventions, meetups)
You get the idea.
So, if you are searching up on furry communities beyond Canada, you could type in "Korean Furry Meet Outside Canada" for example and you will get an advert from "Overseas Canadian Furry"
Sorry for the long read, but if you have any more questions, I guess I could help. :-3
: Sevrin September 22, 2012, 06:15:28 -06:00
...wouldn't you rather see ads related to your interest rather than random ads that you're likely to never ever click ever?
The method I suggested tends to annihilate all ads, everywhere, when kept up to date. Including the obnoxious pre-video ads and especially those hideous audio-included Flash monstrousities that eat a few megs of bandwidth each on the sidebar. While I understand that sites require ad revenue to operate, until they can do so in an ethical fashion that doesn't involve running up my bandwidth cap, bombarding me with unwelcome audio or malware risks (By far the largest source of petty malware now is improper screening on the part of an advertiser or CDN resulting in scripting exploit attacks), I will indiscriminately block any advertiser network that permits third-party content, obfuscated CDNs or redirect advertisements; They don't even verify the code of those ads as a rule, only the context and content of the ad. 127.0.0.1 equals 404, quoth the adserver, nevermore.
Edit: And to actually answer the question of how Google tracks you, they do so anonymously; Address information correlated with search context. Google does not, if I recall, use cookies to track you, only address correlation. Tor will banjax that neatly, so yes, RedWolf's suggestion is a good one if you don't want to go so far as nuking ad-domains from your Hosts file and salting the earth. However, individual advertisers will as a rule use cookies to track your movement from site to site; Not all of the context sensitivity is on Google's end for web ads. The method I've mentioned will work for non-Google advertisers that are on the blacklist, as it will prevent them from even inserting content in the first place.
: Sevrin September 22, 2012, 06:15:28 -06:00
I think as long as the data is kept in computers and not shared amongst people, it's not really an invasion of privacy, I mean I'm sure you don't want people seeing your search history "cake farts? what in the world..." but if you're searching for uh, cake farts (why are you searching for this?) wouldn't you rather see ads related to your interest rather than random ads that you're likely to never ever click ever?
Well, it's analogous to one of the reasons why people are so iffy about the government having lots of info on them: maybe you trust the government of the day, but what about future governments that you can't predict?
With public companies, I trust them to do what will make them money. I don't trust them to always make ethical decisions.
Silence mindless peons how, dare you question our great and powerful Google overlords. Deliverers of all things searchable, keepers of the interwebs, hallowed be thy name. In Google we trust. AMEN.
lol, I'd still use Google Maps over Apple iOS maps anyday~
Fine with me. People have weird search histories. When someone types in "how to find child pussy" I'd like to see that tracked. No one cares if you search for fecal tits or hyper cock. If you're doing something that you really believe is wrong them maybe you should go get some therapy.
if you search for fecal tits or hyper cock does not matter to me. if you search for fecal tits or a hyper cock on someone younger than 16 yrs old, then i am concerned.
funny thing, you say ... "If you're doing something that you really believe is wrong" ... if someone is searching for fecal tits on a 12 yr old, then they do not think it is wrong therefore they will NOT get help because thy do not believe it is wrong.
as free as we wish to think this country is, there are some people that really do need to be watched, and made to wear a gov't provided badge so we can all recognize it, that says .....
i really am the person your mother warned you about. stay at least 10' away
one last question ... how did this get from an observation about advertising practices of google et al, to comments about fecal tits and hyper cocks on minors?
Well if you're searching for something and someone you hold close to you walks in, if oyu change the webpage or oyu do this at night, trying to go through a proxy server then you probably know you're doing something wrong.
: kohl October 01, 2012, 03:48:26 -06:00
Well if you're searching for something and someone you hold close to you walks in, if oyu change the webpage or oyu do this at night, trying to go through a proxy server then you probably know you're doing something wrong.
There are people who enjoy privacy for its own sake.
What Silvermink said. Until society is completely free of sexual, political or racial prejudice, you do not want to exist as a wholly open book, uncaring of what you look for, or what you do. I've had co-workers who had nothing but scorn for "nerd" activities, and would have ribbed me for something as stupid-simple as having Make Magazine on a browser window.
Selkit, maybe you could explain more about editing the host file to block advertisers. . ? I'm kind of interested :3
: Crassadon October 16, 2012, 10:41:52 -06:00
Selkit, maybe you could explain more about editing the host file to block advertisers. . ? I'm kind of interested :3
It's pretty simple. The hosts file is at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts in 64-bit Windows - it shouldn't be too hard with a little Googling to figure out where it is in any other OS.
The idea is that you map hostnames you don't want to retrieve anything from (e.g., advertising networks) to 127.0.0.1, which is your localhost and which will generally just time out, or return 404s if for some reason you're running a web server on port 80.
All you have to do to, for example, map sleazy.adnetwork.com and sketchymarketing.net to 127.0.0.1 is add a line like this to the file:
127.0.0.1 sleazy.adnetwork.com sketchymarketing.net
As for real hostnames to block, you'll probably want to check Google as Selkit suggested.
Personally I'd probably only use it against really egregious crap like ads that take over your screen, things that make noise, networks that engage in really creepy tracking, etc. I do visit quite a few sites that I like and which have relatively unobtrusive ads, and I like to continue supporting those - blocking ads via a host file will result in it not registering a hit so the hosting website won't get any credit for it. But hey, sometimes that's what you want.
This type of advertising has existed well before Google brought it to the online sphere. For example, if any of you have a club card from a local store or a Credit Card, your purchasing histories are being tracked, packaged and sold to marketing firms and as statistics for merchandisers.
This isn't to say that it is a great thing, just to more bring to light that the practice isn't something that Google created, they just have capitalized on it due to their position.
Your Facebook also tracks what you do online too. I don't see advertisements because I use Ad Block and Ad Block Plus. No pop-ups, no advertisements, nothing. So I don't really worry about advertisements. And what I do online would probably bore people for the most part, since most of my time is spent on Facebook, and Youtube anyways.
: Pat The Fox October 19, 2012, 09:37:01 -06:00
This type of advertising has existed well before Google brought it to the online sphere. For example, if any of you have a club card from a local store or a Credit Card, your purchasing histories are being tracked, packaged and sold to marketing firms and as statistics for merchandisers.
That reminded me of this (http://www.cockeyed.com/pranks/safeway/ultimate_shopper.html), from back in 2002.
Also, Facebook's total disregard for privacy is creepy as hell, but I still feel semi-obligated to use it to keep up with some people. Meh.