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I had some legitimately scary things that may or may not be tracking but I cannot explain it without tracking. I watch some youtube video where the audio mentio

by Meai 8y ago

I had some legitimately scary things that may or may not be tracking but I cannot explain it without tracking. I watch some youtube video where the audio mentions a historic place of battle and then seconds later it shows up in my Google Chrome autosuggestion because I wanted to google some more information on it. I dont see how that is possible, it was a very specific location. I only typed "battle of" and it showed me the exact battle that was just mentioned in the video. I dont see how that is possible unless Google has transcribed the audio of all the videos automatically and uses it for search suggestions. It was nothing I ever searched before, in fact I searched many many other battles and places before that one so it would make more sense for it to show me something I searched previously.

Drakim 8y ago
Google may have data that a lot of users searched for "battle of X" right after watching this particular youtube.
aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago
Ummm, google does transcribe the audio of all the videos automatically. That’s how they have subtitles for all videos (sometimes with hilarious results).
lallysingh 8y ago
It's only creepy if you believe you're the only consumer. Say when others watch that video, they search for "battle of whatever-you're-talking-about". They do the hard work. As for you watching a video and autocomplete coming in with the same topic, could it be that there was a surge of interest of that battle at the time? Otherwise it may be url analysis from other people searching through chrome.
hnna12 8y ago
I cannot prove anything but for the screenshot I took in utter shock, but I very recently started suffering headaches at night that cause the one side of my nose to completely block and generally make a mess of my sinuses. I had never spoken about it to anyone, searched for it online or otherwise had any similar problems before. One night I had a headache start while watching a video on YouTube with my iPhone so I put the phone down, video paused, on the side and spent the next hour sniffing and generally making some horrible sinus related noises. I woke the next morning, picked up the phone and finished the video. On going back to the recommendations, between physics talks and movie reviews was a video by a doctor about “instant sinus drainage”. Nothing else was in the recommendations like that — just one out of place yet creepily relevant video. I just didn’t believe these kinds of stories until then. I cannot fathom the sheer precision, relevance and timing. The only responses I’ve had about this are like “you must have searched x, or done y” and the reply is no, I really have not, honest to God, and I live alone. It knew via listening, there is no other explanation unless invoking a coincidence that stretches all credibility. Anyone got a third explanation?

by Meai 8y ago

Drakim 8y ago

Google may have data that a lot of users searched for "battle of X" right after watching this particular youtube.

aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago

Ummm, google does transcribe the audio of all the videos automatically. That’s how they have subtitles for all videos (sometimes with hilarious results).

lallysingh 8y ago

It's only creepy if you believe you're the only consumer. Say when others watch that video, they search for "battle of whatever-you're-talking-about". They do the hard work. As for you watching a video and autocomplete coming in with the same topic, could it be that there was a surge of interest of that battle at the time? Otherwise it may be url analysis from other people searching through chrome.

hnna12 8y ago

I cannot prove anything but for the screenshot I took in utter shock, but I very recently started suffering headaches at night that cause the one side of my nose to completely block and generally make a mess of my sinuses. I had never spoken about it to anyone, searched for it online or otherwise had any similar problems before. One night I had a headache start while watching a video on YouTube with my iPhone so I put the phone down, video paused, on the side and spent the next hour sniffing and generally making some horrible sinus related noises. I woke the next morning, picked up the phone and finished the video. On going back to the recommendations, between physics talks and movie reviews was a video by a doctor about “instant sinus drainage”. Nothing else was in the recommendations like that — just one out of place yet creepily relevant video. I just didn’t believe these kinds of stories until then. I cannot fathom the sheer precision, relevance and timing. The only responses I’ve had about this are like “you must have searched x, or done y” and the reply is no, I really have not, honest to God, and I live alone. It knew via listening, there is no other explanation unless invoking a coincidence that stretches all credibility. Anyone got a third explanation?