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Ive gotten delivery tracking emails to my gmail from Amazon for crap I didn't order sent to an address ive never lived at. Apparently something like this was ha

Ive gotten delivery tracking emails to my gmail from Amazon for crap I didn't order sent to an address ive never lived at. Apparently something like this was happening. What scares the crap out of me is in the last week I've been getting bombarded with Zyrtek (an allergy med) ads. Now, I'd never seen an allergist or been diagnosed with an allergy until 9 days ago. The only person I communicated this to electronically was my father, and over SMS. I've not been researching allergies online, my doc gave me plenty of dead tree material. So, how do Google and other advertisers know I have an allergy? Are they harvesting SMS as well? Are carriers selling SMS data for targeted advertising? If my health care provider is selling that info, thatd be a HUGE HIPPA violation. (Yes, I'm in the US). Edit: grammar and clarity of thought.

cpeterso 7y ago
Maybe your phone's location history at an allergist's office was a hint that you have allergies? I've heard stories about Facebook suggesting friends of friends as "people you may know" after they crossed paths at some location.
Godel_unicode 7y ago
It's spring. Everyone gets allergy meds advertised to them in spring.
leppr 7y ago
Android's default SMS app sends your messages to Google to activate the "Quick-reply suggestions" and "Messages for Web" features.
- avh02 7y ago
  Just checked my pixel's settings cos I freaked out, explicitly says generated on device.
  - taneq 7y ago
    Does it explicitly say texts not sent to Google?
    - avh02 7y ago
      To be fair it does not, but I'd say the implication that it doesn't is strong, In my device menu at least. The help section it links to omits a statement used in another section, namely the " Copy a code in a message" section note: https://support.google.com/messages/answer/6080324?p=smart_reply&visit_id=636942350834586887-3379646105&rd=1#smart_reply https://support.google.com/messages/answer/6080324?p=smart_r...
scarejunba 7y ago
I got ads for this. I don't have allergies. I got ads for erectile dysfunction, hair loss, maseratis, and ferraris. I'm not in any of the groups interested in these things. I think some of these are either zip targeted, untargeted, or lookalike targeted.
stevenwoo 7y ago
I visited friends and went along while they went to the pediatrician. I do not have children but after this trip, the Google rewards app asked me if I have children several times immediately afterwards and over the next few months (it had not asked me that question prior to that) so I assume that Google was using either the routers my android phone saw or my location info to figure out where I was to target me for ads.
ryannevius 7y ago
Also possibly the Baader–Meinhof effect [1]. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader%E2%80%93Meinhof_effect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader%E2%80%93Meinhof_effec...

cpeterso 7y ago

Maybe your phone's location history at an allergist's office was a hint that you have allergies? I've heard stories about Facebook suggesting friends of friends as "people you may know" after they crossed paths at some location.

Godel_unicode 7y ago

It's spring. Everyone gets allergy meds advertised to them in spring.

leppr 7y ago

Android's default SMS app sends your messages to Google to activate the "Quick-reply suggestions" and "Messages for Web" features.

avh02 7y ago
Just checked my pixel's settings cos I freaked out, explicitly says generated on device.
- taneq 7y ago
  Does it explicitly say texts not sent to Google?
  - avh02 7y ago
    To be fair it does not, but I'd say the implication that it doesn't is strong, In my device menu at least. The help section it links to omits a statement used in another section, namely the " Copy a code in a message" section note: https://support.google.com/messages/answer/6080324?p=smart_reply&visit_id=636942350834586887-3379646105&rd=1#smart_reply https://support.google.com/messages/answer/6080324?p=smart_r...

scarejunba 7y ago

I got ads for this. I don't have allergies. I got ads for erectile dysfunction, hair loss, maseratis, and ferraris. I'm not in any of the groups interested in these things. I think some of these are either zip targeted, untargeted, or lookalike targeted.

stevenwoo 7y ago

I visited friends and went along while they went to the pediatrician. I do not have children but after this trip, the Google rewards app asked me if I have children several times immediately afterwards and over the next few months (it had not asked me that question prior to that) so I assume that Google was using either the routers my android phone saw or my location info to figure out where I was to target me for ads.

ryannevius 7y ago

Also possibly the Baader–Meinhof effect [1]. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader%E2%80%93Meinhof_effect https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader%E2%80%93Meinhof_effec...