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It's scary how targeted google ads are now a days. I was talking about buying a bed to my mother and noticed ads for mattresses started popping up in my ad side

• braythwayt 8y ago
  “What’s an ad sidebar?” Ok, tongue-in-cheek remark. I left Facebook, block ads aggressively, use DuckDuckGo, and live in the weak sauce privacy of the Apple ecosystem. Since I block ads, I also block a bunch of trackers. But given that I can’t see most ads, I have no idea whether people are trying to sell me mattresses after I discuss beds. For all I know, I don’t live in a house with the shades drawn, maybe I live in a house with one-way shades such that the advertisers can watch me, but I can’t see anything they’re trying to show me. —— If the above is the case, I will still be vulnerable to micro-targeted astroturf stuff. Like bots posing as Members of whatever social media I participate in, dropping brand names in their conversations. Is everyone on Swedespeed really a Volvo enthusiast? If one of them posts a picture of a Trek mountian bike on their roof rack, how do I know this is “organic,” and not an ad campaign? For how long will the above be a pleasant chuckle about a dystopian possible future, and not everyone’s daily “reality?” This is already happening with political discourse, it must be inevitable for commerce.
• Renaud 8y ago
  ublock in browsers, a PiHole at home, ad blockers on your phone, and duckduckgo as your search engine. I'm basically free from seeing online ads and from sharing too much of my life away.