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Big companies can't hide this stuff forever, you can eventually figure out, it is just better business-wise for them to just state they read your emails for ads

Big companies can't hide this stuff forever, you can eventually figure out, it is just better business-wise for them to just state they read your emails for ads, it can cost them a lot if they don't, plus most people don't really care. A few weeks ago a friend and I were talking exclusively through WhatsApp about a trip to London(in Portuguese with our very unusual jargon), I didn't do any search for anything related it was all within our conversation, a couple days later Facebook had a post on my timeline saying: "heading to London? Check what your friends did there". I don't remember reading anywhere that WhatsApp reads your conversations for ads, but it was clear to me that's where they got the information, it was spooky at first.

MajesticHobo 9y ago
WhatsApp doesn't read your conversations for ads because it can't. Message content is end-to-end encrypted. You must have leaked your plans through some other medium inadvertently.
- sedachv 9y ago
  This is called retargeting and is even worse from a privacy perspective: now your data is going through multiple layers of ad buying tools, analytics, ad exchanges, aggregators, ad networks, etc.: http://2bd2y2367xnj3kpntjsifzmf-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/LUMA-Display-Ad-Tech-Landscape-for-AdExchanger.jpg http://2bd2y2367xnj3kpntjsifzmf-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-c... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_retargeting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_retargeting
andrepd 9y ago
That is actually an interesting argument, that they don't lie about this because if it ever came out they would be in deep shit. Speaking of which, I had a similarly creepy moment just yesterday. I was watching an episode of the Simpsons, and wanted to Google the Bart blackboard gag in the intro because I didn't get it. Just I type the first word and it immediately suggested the rest. Very creepy because I wasn't watching through any Google service (on an Android phone though).

MajesticHobo 9y ago

WhatsApp doesn't read your conversations for ads because it can't. Message content is end-to-end encrypted. You must have leaked your plans through some other medium inadvertently.

sedachv 9y ago
This is called retargeting and is even worse from a privacy perspective: now your data is going through multiple layers of ad buying tools, analytics, ad exchanges, aggregators, ad networks, etc.: http://2bd2y2367xnj3kpntjsifzmf-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/LUMA-Display-Ad-Tech-Landscape-for-AdExchanger.jpg http://2bd2y2367xnj3kpntjsifzmf-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-c... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_retargeting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_retargeting

andrepd 9y ago

That is actually an interesting argument, that they don't lie about this because if it ever came out they would be in deep shit. Speaking of which, I had a similarly creepy moment just yesterday. I was watching an episode of the Simpsons, and wanted to Google the Bart blackboard gag in the intro because I didn't get it. Just I type the first word and it immediately suggested the rest. Very creepy because I wasn't watching through any Google service (on an Android phone though).