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No comment from Google as to why they do this.

by CPAhem 10y ago

AtheistOfFail 10y ago
Give you two guesses and the answer is "Your data as a guinea pig is worth a lot"
- trendia 10y ago
  The data is not even worth that much. Estimates are that it's less than $1 / user / month. But Google does it anyway, because it costs them less than that to implement. edit: For instance, Facebook says each user is worth about $0.73 / user / month. [1] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/28/how-much-are-you-worth-to-facebook https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/28/how-much-...
  - goatlover 10y ago
    $1 for a billion+ users? Long as it costs them less, should add up to nice sum per month.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    Individually its not worth much. But the collection from everyone is worth a lot.
  - serge2k 10y ago
    North americans are worth over 4 dollars a month according to that.
    - trendia 10y ago
      4 dollars per 3 months: > If you happen to live in Europe, including the UK, you’re only worth one-third of a North American to Facebook, at $4.50 every three months, while the “rest of the world”, which includes most developing nations are only worth $1.22 per user. That's about $1.50 / user / month... which is higher than I thought. brb, going to start social network
      - serge2k 10y ago
        > You may be surprised to hear that a US or Canadian user is worth $13.54 each quarter to Facebook, 4 dollars a month.
serge2k 10y ago
You bought a phone with an OS developed by (and using services provided by) an Ad company. What did you expect.
WallowingB_36 10y ago
While an official statement would be nice, I suspect at least one reason is right in the article: "Security researcher Mustafa Al-Bassam reported on Twitter that he "almost had a heart attack" when he walked into a McDonald's and was prompted on his phone to download the fast food restaurant's app." Google makes most of its money selling your attention to marketers. This could easily be used to tailor ads. Within 100 yards of Barnes and Noble? "Ding! Get 10% off your purchase when you present this QR code!"
- redblacktree 10y ago
  Not sure why, but your second-ever comment (not this one) is dead. You may be shadowbanned -- fyi. Both of your comments seemed reasonable to me.
rodgerd 10y ago
So my workplace was looking at ESBs and suddenly all the sites I visited had ads for MuleSoft and WSO2. Over the last week or two any browser in my home not using an ad-blocker sees heaps of MuleSoft ads. Almost as though the ad network has noticed that my phone at work travels to my house and has created a linkage between the two.
- shostack 10y ago
  This is probably less savvy than that. If you login to various apps across devices, particularly a Google account, they are linked by a GUID. This can then be used for retargeting purposes as the advertiser wants to target the person and usually not just the particular device/cookie.
  - rodgerd 10y ago
    To clarify: the ads migrated from being served to my work PC (where I never log into a personal Google account), to my phone (on the same network), to my home PCs (including other people who aren't using my personal Google account).

No comment from Google as to why they do this.

by CPAhem 10y ago

No comment from Google as to why they do this.

AtheistOfFail 10y ago

Give you two guesses and the answer is "Your data as a guinea pig is worth a lot"

trendia 10y ago
The data is not even worth that much. Estimates are that it's less than $1 / user / month. But Google does it anyway, because it costs them less than that to implement. edit: For instance, Facebook says each user is worth about $0.73 / user / month. [1] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/28/how-much-are-you-worth-to-facebook https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/28/how-much-...
- goatlover 10y ago
  $1 for a billion+ users? Long as it costs them less, should add up to nice sum per month.
- CaptSpify 10y ago
  Individually its not worth much. But the collection from everyone is worth a lot.
- serge2k 10y ago
  North americans are worth over 4 dollars a month according to that.
  - trendia 10y ago
    4 dollars per 3 months: > If you happen to live in Europe, including the UK, you’re only worth one-third of a North American to Facebook, at $4.50 every three months, while the “rest of the world”, which includes most developing nations are only worth $1.22 per user. That's about $1.50 / user / month... which is higher than I thought. brb, going to start social network
    - serge2k 10y ago
      > You may be surprised to hear that a US or Canadian user is worth $13.54 each quarter to Facebook, 4 dollars a month.

serge2k 10y ago

You bought a phone with an OS developed by (and using services provided by) an Ad company. What did you expect.

WallowingB_36 10y ago

While an official statement would be nice, I suspect at least one reason is right in the article: "Security researcher Mustafa Al-Bassam reported on Twitter that he "almost had a heart attack" when he walked into a McDonald's and was prompted on his phone to download the fast food restaurant's app." Google makes most of its money selling your attention to marketers. This could easily be used to tailor ads. Within 100 yards of Barnes and Noble? "Ding! Get 10% off your purchase when you present this QR code!"

redblacktree 10y ago
Not sure why, but your second-ever comment (not this one) is dead. You may be shadowbanned -- fyi. Both of your comments seemed reasonable to me.

rodgerd 10y ago

So my workplace was looking at ESBs and suddenly all the sites I visited had ads for MuleSoft and WSO2. Over the last week or two any browser in my home not using an ad-blocker sees heaps of MuleSoft ads. Almost as though the ad network has noticed that my phone at work travels to my house and has created a linkage between the two.

shostack 10y ago
This is probably less savvy than that. If you login to various apps across devices, particularly a Google account, they are linked by a GUID. This can then be used for retargeting purposes as the advertiser wants to target the person and usually not just the particular device/cookie.
- rodgerd 10y ago
  To clarify: the ads migrated from being served to my work PC (where I never log into a personal Google account), to my phone (on the same network), to my home PCs (including other people who aren't using my personal Google account).