Who told Amazon I asked a question about about air fryers?

Yes. Eyes are everywhere.

The enormous firehose of free content we consume on the web is subsidized with advertising, and browsers and sites are built to notice what interests you and sell the opportunity to advertise directly to your eyeballs.

I’ll let someone with more knowledge than me flesh this out.

This is because I am Jeff Bezos.

Does anyone else share your IP address? And have they been looking at cookware and similar products online recently?

My son (who shares mine) has been searching for some hobby items on his computer lately, and ads for related items have started popping up on mine.

Yes it does. And in many cases, the algorithms know what you really desire before you even do.

I have heard an interesting idea that the value of mass data collection could be used to fund the universal basic income rather than in return for what we perceive to be “free” products and services. When in reality, when it comes to “free” products and services, or data is the actual product.

Here is an interesting video called “Who Owns the Future?” The answer… those who have the most powerful computers.
https://youtu.be/XdEuII9cv-U

@Jeruba he said he asked a question about air fryers on here.

Did you say it out loud? Maybe your microphone is on.

^^Oh wow. You now remind me of this strange thing that when I ask Siri on my cellphone a question in the bedroom, she does not respond. But the Apple device in the kitchen does!

@Jeruba Good call. That seems to be a real possibility, and yet equally concerning.

@JLeslie…..he asked a question about air fryers on Fluther.

Hey mods,

How is fluther monetized, if at all? I notice that when I go to the site and am not logged in, I receive a ton of ads.

Is user data collected and sold as well?

@Dutchess_III: @JLeslie‘s question was legitimate. The microphone in your phone will pick up conversations you have and send you ads for certain key words. Try it, if you have Messenger installed on your phone. Mention something out loud like “vacuum cleaner” or “sewing machine” and within two days you’ll see ads for that on your FB feed. I know the OP is not talking about her FB feed, but it works the same way.

@jca2

You are correct. I think people severely underestimate the amount of data collection that has been taking place over the last 10–15 years and how much our society can possibly be manipulated using this data, supercomputers, and algorithms. Social engineering using AI essentially.

@Dutchess_III, I don’t know why you are being so insistent. I undertand that he asked the question here. I always read the details. But if he shares his household with anyone, chances are good that they might have discussed making a purchase of a kichen appliance. And while he was here asking Fluther, they might have been searching elsewhere.

Well, Fluther IS the internet. Anything anyone asks here can be picked up and used.

@mazingerz88 About 5 years ago, I became sick & was forced to stay with my brother & his wife for a while. The first night there he gave me the user name & pw to their internet. Before I went to bed that night I was receiving all kind of strange offers of items I had NEVER seen before. The next morning I asked my brother about some of those items & he had been googling them BEFORE I had even arrived.

The ONLY thing I know for sure…I did NOT tell Amazon about your lust for an air fryer!!! LoL

@LadyMarissa My lust for air fryers is now out there. I probably was outed by my toaster, which used to be the apple of my eye. The toaster connived with Siri and Alexa.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.

Fluther uses Amazon to verify itself to Firefox.

I don’t know if other browsers even use a verification process.

Posting something here, or anywhere, is the same as doing a Google search.

@Dutchess_III and you still get targeted ads off of Google searches so you are right. Seems like phone apps/sites sharing data is all.

Do you have cookies enabled? I suspect you’ve got some adware running in the background. What browser are you using? have you installed any extensions/add-ons? It’s probably a good idea to launch your browser’s preferences, review your privacy settings and delete cookies/cached data if you’re having privacy concerns.

Another thought…did you declare your lust for the air fryer from your phone or your computer??? Your phone or your computer may have ratted you out!!!

Google has an incredible number bots that crawl everywhere. They index all they find so we can use the data as a wonderful search engine. Unfortunately they also offer that info to marketers – for a fee of course. That keeps them profitable.
There are also trackers connected with websites. Depending upon your browser you can turn off trackers or add an extension like Ghostery which blocks them for you.

I want an Abyssinian Elephant! (Let’s see if Amazon offers one to me.)

I went to Chik fil A one day at lunch. I ordered in person, not on an app. I paid in cash. I did have my phone in my pocket, but at no time did I use it. Also note, I only go there about 2 times a year. Anyway, about an hour later, I get a TEXT thanking me for choosing Chik Fil A. So eerie!

@chyna Did you use a credit card, and is your credit card saved in your phone? Also, you might have your location on.

I agree it’s eerie.

I paid in cash. Even scarier.

@chyna @mazingerz88

Do you both have Messenger on your phone (Messenger app)? If so,it’s possible the mic picked it up (picked up Chic Fil A for @chyna and picked up air fryers for @mazingerz88).

@chyna GPS locations from apps such as Google Maps are collected for marketing purposes. That is the reason why Google is worth what they are worth. Do you have Google Maps on your phone?

Yeah, if you paid cash it’s either gps or your microphone.

@jca2 Yes I do have messenger. This is bad. Very bad. Google now knows how many times I flush sitting on the toilet.

@JLeslie I do have the location on. My brother insisted on it so he could find me if I dropped dead somewhere and he could raid my bank account. Brotherly love.

@chyna Location is on? That is most likely how they know. Your brother is not the only one watching.
(By the way,... cute toes. Also your supply of tuna is running low.)

@mazingerz88 The also know how long you sit there. Let me check the goog…. Yep! You need more fiber. And a little extra Vitamin D wouldn’t hurt.

@chyna I allow location for the “find my” app so my sister, husband, dad, and friends I share with can see me, and so when I’m using it I can see my location, but I have my location off for most apps.

If you have an iphone go to your settings and search “find my location” it will show your locations settings for your apps.

My friend just sent me this tiktok about location on your phone. https://www.tiktok.com/@checkmyads/video/7113782566745935109?_t=8TWiAlXXV8Q&_r=1

@JLeslie: Link doesn’t work.