5 ms·

I had a related thing happen a couple of months ago: I started getting some lower back pain that I thought might be kidney stones based on a couple of Google se

by 13of40 8y ago

I had a related thing happen a couple of months ago: I started getting some lower back pain that I thought might be kidney stones based on a couple of Google searches. Went to my doctor, who prescribed a muscle relaxant, which I got at the pharmacy across the street. It went away. Over the next few weeks I got several robocalls on my cell phone from a pain clinic offering me relief for my "chronic pain", so it was either triggered by my online searches or my doctor's office or pharmacy sold off my private information.

ianai 8y ago
I’ve had similar recently. Only it’s been an extended period of time (months) since I last searched for what started coming up. Led me to believe something was sold to someone recently.
dwaltrip 8y ago
Does anyone know how effective incognito mode is at preventing data and privacy abuses like this? I've been using it more and more, but I imagine there may some clever ways of tracking even across incognito sessions (or between incognito and regular).
- chronid 8y ago
  If google is the issue maybe - but I seriously doubt they are the issue: they sell their ability to target you, and selling your data to third parties would essentially be against their interest. This kind of FUD has been repeated ad nauseam here and everywhere in tech sites (against Facebook too usually), but that's not the way their business model works. If it's your doctor or your pharmacist, or the shop you bought online (or offline) something once, incognito will not help at all. They have your personal information already, the only thing that can stop them is law. The cause of the robocalls may also have been his medical insurance, if you want to go full paranoia. :) Note those shops, the sites you created an account on, the companies those shops sold your personal data to, all of them can target you with ads on both facebook and google by using your PI (essentially donating your data to facebook and google in the process).
  - dwaltrip 8y ago
    I'm assuming it's not the doctor or pharmacist, as that would be a severe breach of HIPAA, I believe. But maybe that is happening...
  - 13of40 8y ago
    When I said triggered by my google searches, I mean the sites I clicked on were able to correlate to my personal details that got collected somewhere else, not that google sold my details. The thing that makes me suspect the doctor or pharmacy, though, is that I've done that sort of search in the past, but I didn't start getting the pill mill calls until I got that prescription.
    - darpa_escapee 8y ago
      Read the documents doctors have you sign very carefully. They often include a waiver that allows them to share your PHI with whomever they want. You're under no obligation to allow them to do so.
  - forgotmypw 8y ago
    The source of the information could also be a rogue employee at any of those places, especially for something shady, like robocalls. In most places, it is not difficult for an employee, especially someone like a sysadmin or a DBA, to simply siphon the data into a CSV. Chances are that no one will ever figure it out. I think that once law enforcement catches up, slow as they always are, they will start creating honeypot identities and then tracing the information leaks to their source. For now, there is little to be afraid of for the leakers.
    - angf 8y ago
      The FANG company I work for has stringent controls in place as a check against employees attempting to do this. These controls are more comprehensive than those I've seen at other companies.
  - emmelaich 8y ago
    Sometimes it's mere proximity. If your family or friends find you have condition X or treatment Y then they may look it up to find more. If you share the same public IP, as most homes do then that adds to it. I started getting invitations to add a Google review to a restaurant I've never been too. But some of my family had. I can figure out other stuff too - music tastes, social media trends, etc. Just by seeing ads and stories I'm offered on Google News and other places. There's that famous story about a guy who discovered his daughter pregnant (or feared she was pregnant) a few years back because he started getting ads for baby clothes.
- TangoTrotFox 8y ago
  Your IP makes incognito relatively pointless, and that's before you get into various clever forms of browser finger printing. If you want privacy you need to use TOR. Incognito should be treated as a convenient way to run without cookies / to log out of sites temporarily. It's also nice for sites such as YouTube as they'll pretend to not know who you are so you can get recommendations related to what you're currently watching instead of just constantly recommending everything you've recently (or not so recently...) watched instead.
- fghtr 8y ago
  Not effective. Use Tor Browser instead. https://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/
  - vinni2 8y ago
    I always use Tor Browser + ddg for searching symptoms or embarrassing questions. But I am still worried someone can link those searches by deanonymizing Tor or some security flaw
- ramphastidae 8y ago
  Incognito mode still exposes your IP. My approach is to use a VPN, NoScript to block tracking / ad domains, Disconnect.me to block social domains, uBlock Origin for ads, disable location services, and use incognito mode. Even that's not perfect given browser fingerprinting technology.
  - kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
    You still need self destructing cookies and randomized user agent to cover all bases.
- thanosnose 8y ago
  > Does anyone know how effective incognito mode is at preventing data and privacy abuses like this? Incognito mode really doesn't do much. It only prevents storing browsing data locally on your computer. Your ISP, your search engine and the websites you visit can store your info on their servers. > but I imagine there may some clever ways of tracking even across incognito sessions (or between incognito and regular). Browser fingerprints, IP address, etc are used to track you. Your ISP doesn't even need to be clever since you are dependent on them for your internet connection. There are ways to "hide" yourself from websites, search engines, etc but it's nary impossible to completely "hide" from your ISP.
friedman23 8y ago
Google is not the one selling your information, one of the websites you clicked probably is. They have pixels on their websites that will then match some fingerprint they generate on your browser with audiences (that contain info such as your email/phone number/etc) that already exist. If you want to challenge my assertion that Google is not selling your information please point me to where I can buy lists of emails or phone numbers with metadata from google.
- anime_forever 8y ago
  That's true, but Google is one of the companies that pushed very hard to make the current situation socially acceptable and continues to promote and push technology that allows for it to continue as it's in their interest Google is a bad actor but yeah they are not the worst offender yet but I'm sure that will change in time right now they are just the enabler
  - eh78ssxv2f 8y ago
    > That's true, but Google is one of the companies that pushed very hard to make the current situation socially acceptable Do you think the current situation would not have happened if Google was not there?
tdb7893 8y ago
Do they often give up information on people like this? I always thought they made all their money by hoarding info then being the middleman. It just seems like a departure from their general business plan.
TomMckenny 8y ago
If your ISP is using permacookies then that would explain it.
antibland 8y ago
Can you check with your doctor and pharmacy as to the possible distribution of your data? If they both deny sharing your data and you fully believe them, the mystery is closer to being solved.
driverdan 8y ago
This is just correlation, not causation. The illegal "chronic pain" robo calls are being made to everyone. They have robo dialers enumerating every phone number. Everyone I know has gotten them.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

by 13of40 8y ago

ianai 8y ago

I’ve had similar recently. Only it’s been an extended period of time (months) since I last searched for what started coming up. Led me to believe something was sold to someone recently.

dwaltrip 8y ago

Does anyone know how effective incognito mode is at preventing data and privacy abuses like this? I've been using it more and more, but I imagine there may some clever ways of tracking even across incognito sessions (or between incognito and regular).

chronid 8y ago
If google is the issue maybe - but I seriously doubt they are the issue: they sell their ability to target you, and selling your data to third parties would essentially be against their interest. This kind of FUD has been repeated ad nauseam here and everywhere in tech sites (against Facebook too usually), but that's not the way their business model works. If it's your doctor or your pharmacist, or the shop you bought online (or offline) something once, incognito will not help at all. They have your personal information already, the only thing that can stop them is law. The cause of the robocalls may also have been his medical insurance, if you want to go full paranoia. :) Note those shops, the sites you created an account on, the companies those shops sold your personal data to, all of them can target you with ads on both facebook and google by using your PI (essentially donating your data to facebook and google in the process).
- dwaltrip 8y ago
  I'm assuming it's not the doctor or pharmacist, as that would be a severe breach of HIPAA, I believe. But maybe that is happening...
- 13of40 8y ago
  When I said triggered by my google searches, I mean the sites I clicked on were able to correlate to my personal details that got collected somewhere else, not that google sold my details. The thing that makes me suspect the doctor or pharmacy, though, is that I've done that sort of search in the past, but I didn't start getting the pill mill calls until I got that prescription.
  - darpa_escapee 8y ago
    Read the documents doctors have you sign very carefully. They often include a waiver that allows them to share your PHI with whomever they want. You're under no obligation to allow them to do so.
- forgotmypw 8y ago
  The source of the information could also be a rogue employee at any of those places, especially for something shady, like robocalls. In most places, it is not difficult for an employee, especially someone like a sysadmin or a DBA, to simply siphon the data into a CSV. Chances are that no one will ever figure it out. I think that once law enforcement catches up, slow as they always are, they will start creating honeypot identities and then tracing the information leaks to their source. For now, there is little to be afraid of for the leakers.
  - angf 8y ago
    The FANG company I work for has stringent controls in place as a check against employees attempting to do this. These controls are more comprehensive than those I've seen at other companies.
- emmelaich 8y ago
  Sometimes it's mere proximity. If your family or friends find you have condition X or treatment Y then they may look it up to find more. If you share the same public IP, as most homes do then that adds to it. I started getting invitations to add a Google review to a restaurant I've never been too. But some of my family had. I can figure out other stuff too - music tastes, social media trends, etc. Just by seeing ads and stories I'm offered on Google News and other places. There's that famous story about a guy who discovered his daughter pregnant (or feared she was pregnant) a few years back because he started getting ads for baby clothes.
TangoTrotFox 8y ago
Your IP makes incognito relatively pointless, and that's before you get into various clever forms of browser finger printing. If you want privacy you need to use TOR. Incognito should be treated as a convenient way to run without cookies / to log out of sites temporarily. It's also nice for sites such as YouTube as they'll pretend to not know who you are so you can get recommendations related to what you're currently watching instead of just constantly recommending everything you've recently (or not so recently...) watched instead.
fghtr 8y ago
Not effective. Use Tor Browser instead. https://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/
- vinni2 8y ago
  I always use Tor Browser + ddg for searching symptoms or embarrassing questions. But I am still worried someone can link those searches by deanonymizing Tor or some security flaw
ramphastidae 8y ago
Incognito mode still exposes your IP. My approach is to use a VPN, NoScript to block tracking / ad domains, Disconnect.me to block social domains, uBlock Origin for ads, disable location services, and use incognito mode. Even that's not perfect given browser fingerprinting technology.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
  You still need self destructing cookies and randomized user agent to cover all bases.
thanosnose 8y ago
> Does anyone know how effective incognito mode is at preventing data and privacy abuses like this? Incognito mode really doesn't do much. It only prevents storing browsing data locally on your computer. Your ISP, your search engine and the websites you visit can store your info on their servers. > but I imagine there may some clever ways of tracking even across incognito sessions (or between incognito and regular). Browser fingerprints, IP address, etc are used to track you. Your ISP doesn't even need to be clever since you are dependent on them for your internet connection. There are ways to "hide" yourself from websites, search engines, etc but it's nary impossible to completely "hide" from your ISP.

friedman23 8y ago

Google is not the one selling your information, one of the websites you clicked probably is. They have pixels on their websites that will then match some fingerprint they generate on your browser with audiences (that contain info such as your email/phone number/etc) that already exist. If you want to challenge my assertion that Google is not selling your information please point me to where I can buy lists of emails or phone numbers with metadata from google.

anime_forever 8y ago
That's true, but Google is one of the companies that pushed very hard to make the current situation socially acceptable and continues to promote and push technology that allows for it to continue as it's in their interest Google is a bad actor but yeah they are not the worst offender yet but I'm sure that will change in time right now they are just the enabler
- eh78ssxv2f 8y ago
  > That's true, but Google is one of the companies that pushed very hard to make the current situation socially acceptable Do you think the current situation would not have happened if Google was not there?

tdb7893 8y ago

Do they often give up information on people like this? I always thought they made all their money by hoarding info then being the middleman. It just seems like a departure from their general business plan.

TomMckenny 8y ago

If your ISP is using permacookies then that would explain it.

antibland 8y ago

Can you check with your doctor and pharmacy as to the possible distribution of your data? If they both deny sharing your data and you fully believe them, the mystery is closer to being solved.

driverdan 8y ago

This is just correlation, not causation. The illegal "chronic pain" robo calls are being made to everyone. They have robo dialers enumerating every phone number. Everyone I know has gotten them.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]