4 ms·

I love Google Location History. If you're trying to make a point to someone about how much of a problem data collection, use, abuse, etc, is - link them to the

by Syonyk 5y ago

I love Google Location History. If you're trying to make a point to someone about how much of a problem data collection, use, abuse, etc, is - link them to the place they can view their own history. It's even more fun if you're with them and can watch the expression of utter horror form as they realize just what, exactly, literally everywhere they've been can tell someone else about them. "Hey, isn't that the kink club out there?"

genewitch 5y ago
I check this from time to time and mine has always been completely blank. Even on my phone when I search for "tires in <city>" it assumes I mean a city in the east coast of the US. Maps/Waze are only marginally better, showing me results 170+ miles from my current location, generally. I use trackmenot and ad nauseam plugins on my main computer, so my ads are always 100% irrelevant - if I see them at all. Ad nauseam clicks every ad it sees, and stores the banner. It tries to track how many dollars of ad spend its wasted on your behalf, too. I'm somewhere north of $17k at this point lifetime clicks. I know I'm not winning this fight but I can make it more hilarious for me in the meantime.
- iamstupidsimple 5y ago
  That $17k would've either been rejected as ad fraud in the best case, and just ended up funding the companies you hate at worst.
  - genewitch 5y ago
    That's assuming they can dis-aggregate my traffic at the F5 gateway well enough[0], otherwise they're just saying all traffic out of that rack in Dallas, TX is invalid. A personal web browser clicking ads on pages i visit doesn't feel very fraudulent. [0] google routinely can't, and i stopped using search because it made me do photo captchas every time. If google can't, i'm guessing other people are going to have less luck.
    - iamstupidsimple 5y ago
      Being Captcha'd likey means that those systems know not to trust your clicks. I seriously doubt you're doing any damage here, and at worst you're helping the companies you dislike.
lotsofpulp 5y ago
Would they be horrified of going to a kink club? I feel like the type of person that would go to one, especially these days, would not care.
Kiro 5y ago
I've not seen that reaction at all. Everyone gets really excited when I show them.

by Syonyk 5y ago

genewitch 5y ago

I check this from time to time and mine has always been completely blank. Even on my phone when I search for "tires in <city>" it assumes I mean a city in the east coast of the US. Maps/Waze are only marginally better, showing me results 170+ miles from my current location, generally. I use trackmenot and ad nauseam plugins on my main computer, so my ads are always 100% irrelevant - if I see them at all. Ad nauseam clicks every ad it sees, and stores the banner. It tries to track how many dollars of ad spend its wasted on your behalf, too. I'm somewhere north of $17k at this point lifetime clicks. I know I'm not winning this fight but I can make it more hilarious for me in the meantime.

iamstupidsimple 5y ago
That $17k would've either been rejected as ad fraud in the best case, and just ended up funding the companies you hate at worst.
- genewitch 5y ago
  That's assuming they can dis-aggregate my traffic at the F5 gateway well enough[0], otherwise they're just saying all traffic out of that rack in Dallas, TX is invalid. A personal web browser clicking ads on pages i visit doesn't feel very fraudulent. [0] google routinely can't, and i stopped using search because it made me do photo captchas every time. If google can't, i'm guessing other people are going to have less luck.
  - iamstupidsimple 5y ago
    Being Captcha'd likey means that those systems know not to trust your clicks. I seriously doubt you're doing any damage here, and at worst you're helping the companies you dislike.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

Would they be horrified of going to a kink club? I feel like the type of person that would go to one, especially these days, would not care.

Kiro 5y ago

I've not seen that reaction at all. Everyone gets really excited when I show them.