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But I can't forget that Google is the company that somehow managed to suggest ads on my personal phone based on browsing on my professional PC. Theses devices
by Twisell 10y ago
But I can't forget that Google is the company that somehow managed to suggest ads on my personal phone based on browsing on my professional PC.
Theses devices are never on the same network, the only shared parameters is an exchange account. As a rule I always log-out of the only Google service I rarely use, so this must be some cookie/tracker dark magic.
Sadly I have no proof, but I use gosthery to block trackers since then. (Side note: gosthery also claim to use DP btw)
- techie64 10y agoIt's fairly straight forward - cookies + Google's ad network + Analytics on your phone allow them to track you across devices.
- bla2 10y agoHow would the cookie from the work get to the phone?
- Twisell 10y agoI must have been connected to the same Gmail or Facebook account at some point on both devices. However as I said I purposely never stay logged in to google services. Yeah, I can flush all cookies (thus annoyingly resetting all legit cookies as well). But this is not how privacy should work, cause there is a lot of people out there that don't read HN and only recently found out that there is a lot pastry inside their computers.
- HappyTypist 10y agoYour browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari) most likely uses Google SafeSearch. That phones home with a super cookie every 30 minutes.
- mtbcoder 10y agoYou don't need to rely on cookies anymore to identify someone online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_fingerprint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_fingerprint
- bla2 10y agoSure, but that's not cross device.
- Twisell 10y agoOk, so maybe we are talking about the same field of science, but it seems that, from what they say there is two very distinct approach. 1.Collect personal data, send them to mainframe, use them to profile and deliver custom tailored services. When sharing hash so that individual records can't be extrapolated 2.Collect personal data, use them locally sometimes using mainframe provided 'models'. Return to mainframe hashed records to improve models. Google is clearly using 1. while Apple claim to target 2. (I don't think it's actually the case now because I though Siri actually store some personal data on the cloud so far)
- mtbcoder 10y agoFacebook recently recommended to me a "friend" who was a person that worked at another company which was a client for my previous employer. The only means of online communication I've had with this person was through my old work email. My Facebook account uses a unique email address used only for Facebooking, I've never friended anyone from my previous employer, my demographic information is all made up (except for my name), I've set privacy controls in Facebook to be as strict as possible, I run uBlock Origin/NoScript on all browsers, I clear browser history/cookies/etc on exit...yet, here is this person being recommended to me. The lengths that these companies go to fingerprint you online is incredibly scary and creepy.
- casion 10y agoIt's possible that the person being recommended has lax settings. Connections are a two way street. Facebook can assume that if he has connections to you, then you may have a connection to them. Nothing nefarious is necessary.