How closely are we being watched?

[oldred]

My SIL and I were discussing repair for Leatherman multi-tools and to show him the excellent service Leatherman has for their tools I opened a saved message in my Email that has been there over 6 years. That's all I did, picked up my laptop, opened my Email and brought up the old message from Leatherman that had been tucked away in my Email for all those years and then what happened? Less than an hour later I first go to the Fox news website and there in "sponsored stories of interest" lo and behold was info on new Leatherman tools! Suddenly I am seeing ads for Leatherman multi-tools from companies I have never even heard of much less bought from in the past. I opened an old Email, didn't send it to anyone or do anything at all except turn my laptop around for him to read it and now only an hour later I am being bombarded with here-to-fore unknown merchants all trying to sell me a new Leatherman!


That was the last straw, it's time to just go all out on security and anonymity and put up with the slight slow-down that comes with it. That same SIL happens to be an IT and is well versed on internet security and while I have nothing to hide and normally don't care if my ISP, etc watches what I do this new incident is just the last straw.

[CastingFool]

Sometimes the security measures can be frustrating, too. I signed up for a VPN so you can browse in private. That is cool, until I want to go on Craigslist. Get a 401 or 404 code every time. There is no problem if I turn the VPN off.

[Tom W.]

I looked at a belt.... now on my tablet the ad pops up everywhere....

[GhostHawk]

Annoying, and I am afraid very much a part of this modern life we are living.

[lightman]

Yes, very annoying. Just leave me alone!!!

[tomme boy]

Ad blocker plus. I never see any of that stuff

[MaryB]

If using Firefox install Ad Block Plus and U-Block Origin. What ads?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

In the long winter days of Minnesota, I will surf the web for a few tree/plant nursery websites. Then I get a day or so, of ads with summer photos of trees and flowers. Winning !

[Johnch]

Ad blocker plus. I never see any of that stuff

LOL I installed that about 10 min before I looked at this post
Because I looked at chairs last night
This morning I had 20+ emails with adds for chairs

Hope it works

John

[David2011]

Ad blocker plus. I never see any of that stuff

That only blocks the ads; not the data mining/snooping.

[GoodOlBoy]

cookies, even emails have them. You open something, you search something it puts a cookie in the browser for ads to help "tailor" them to you. That's absolutely all there is to it. The current cookie(s) has a deadline timer and a replacement timer based on when the next cookie from browsing or searching is received. It is a completely automated system, nobody is "watching". I think if I remember correctly the limit on active cookies in a browser is by default like 250 (or used to be when I was in IT). Which is why the more frequently you search for, or look at something the more a "related" item is advertised to you.

As for spam email, never ever ever "unsubscribe" to an email. It verifies the email address (yours) is valid and active and they sell it (again automatically) to a list of companies who then also send you spam email. On average "unsubscribing" from a single spam email will get you about 35-50 more spam emails. They multiply like rabbits if you unsub to them.

God Bless, and One Love.

GoodOlBoy

[Thin Man]

I would tap those vendor sites with my "spam blocker" key and smile.

[GhostHawk]

I am running Firefox with Ublock Origin and Privacy Badger. No adds, no reminders that they are always looking to get into my pocket.

[elk hunter]

I often wonder who may be watching us here because of the content of this site. My spot here has been visited over 12,000 times and the visitors user names seldom change so I'm getting a lot of anonymous visits from people not registered here. I can't really understand why, other than the site content, as I don't consider myself that interesting.

[Mal Paso]

A friend of mine gave me a couple women's clothing sites to visit so I'll get pictures of nice looking women along with the weather.

[shdwlkr]

In this day and age there is not such thing as privacy everything you do is monitored either by government, business or data miners. I have been dealing with this for over 40 years get used to it. Things will never go backwards as long as we have means available to track us.

[DerekP Houston]

If using Firefox install Ad Block Plus and U-Block Origin. What ads?

Some of them still sneak through, and more annoying is sites that require you to run off ABP if you want to read the article. If you are tech savvy try using "pi-hole" on your network as well to redirect ad traffic. I'm quite spoiled, I hate seeing ads.

[Traffer]

Sometimes the security measures can be frustrating, too. I signed up for a VPN so you can browse in private. That is cool, until I want to go on Craigslist. Get a 401 or 404 code every time. There is no problem if I turn the VPN off.

The 404 or 401 codes can be the result of the server that your VPN is using. Try using a server much closer to your home. Regions are filtered for different things.

[Traffer]

My SIL and I were discussing repair for Leatherman multi-tools and to show him the excellent service Leatherman has for their tools I opened a saved message in my Email that has been there over 6 years. That's all I did, picked up my laptop, opened my Email and brought up the old message from Leatherman that had been tucked away in my Email for all those years and then what happened? Less than an hour later I first go to the Fox news website and there in "sponsored stories of interest" lo and behold was info on new Leatherman tools! Suddenly I am seeing ads for Leatherman multi-tools from companies I have never even heard of much less bought from in the past. I opened an old Email, didn't send it to anyone or do anything at all except turn my laptop around for him to read it and now only an hour later I am being bombarded with here-to-fore unknown merchants all trying to sell me a new Leatherman!


That was the last straw, it's time to just go all out on security and anonymity and put up with the slight slow-down that comes with it. That same SIL happens to be an IT and is well versed on internet security and while I have nothing to hide and normally don't care if my ISP, etc watches what I do this new incident is just the last straw.

This indicates that your ad preferences are being affected by something that is NOT browser related. I suspect it is coming from Windows 10. Is that your operating system? It also could be coming from your email provider. I would suspect Outlook before gmail but I an not an expert in that area.
If you folks are wanting a secure email check out proton mail. Even the CIA can't crack it's encryption. Unfortunately it only works well if both users are sending messages with it.

[Traffer]

I often wonder who may be watching us here because of the content of this site. My spot here has been visited over 12,000 times and the visitors user names seldom change so I'm getting a lot of anonymous visits from people not registered here. I can't really understand why, other than the site content, as I don't consider myself that interesting.

I have NO DOUBT that this site is a very highly investigated place. By the national security guys, foreign security, and probably MOSTLY by ammunition and arms manufacturers. I have chatted with members here who work for ammunition manufacturers. Where else would they get their new ideas and correct historical information. hah.