How closely are we being watched?

[ikarus1]

I have been doing some painting, and other home improvements. To my knowledge I haven't searched for anything on my phone related to Home Depot or Lowes. The entire time I was listening to Pandora Radio while painting my home, every other ad was for Home Depot.......

We have almost arrived at the Minority Report stage....

[marek313]

You have to remember that everything these days is targeting you for adds in one way shape or form. Online marketing is a huge industry these days revolving around pay-per view and pay-per click. Many websites check your cookies and display adds based on that. Nobody here is watching you (any more or less) just because you got those adds. its all automatic and everyone is trying to make a buck off you just browsing internet. Again people get sensitive but that is not a sign that anyone is watching you.

If you are being watched you wouldnt know anything about it anyway.

Also while VPN could be used to hide your internet activity for the most part it just slows you down and leaves traces or logs in the hands of the VPN owner. If you think for one second that they dont track your activity your wrong too. Disk space is so inexpensive these days that everyone logs everything to a file to store for a long time just in case uncle Sam decides to ask questions.

From my understanding these days uncle Sam wants access to your logs (think facebook, google, apple etc) no matter who you are. There were many cases of companies refusing this and bottom line is usually the same ..... company closed.

[reddog81]

marek313 is right. Online marketing is a gigantic industry and every website you visit is trying to sell you stuff using any method possible. No one is sitting back watching you, it's all done automatically and is happening to 100,000's of other individuals at any given second. I'd guess they probably pay more attention to those actively trying to hide their identity...

[Smoke4320]

Look at a company called Private internet Access.. Highly rated and fairly cheap VPN …They say they keep NO logs which is very important
combined with firefox, Ad blocker plus and U Block you will eliminate a lot of snooping

[Shopdog]

Yeah maybe,but then why ain't I getting any good popup ads for dialing in CB loads or trad bow building supplies? Or,if they were watching they'd realize we prolly have more equipment than ____ ( insert manufacturer)?

When wifey got one of those Google music thingys,me and several motorcycle buds were drinking Scotch at 2:am at the kitchen table.Talkin stooopid ****,then there's this pause or air in the conversation and the little music thing,which was off at the time but plugged in goes....... "say what"? In a slang style homeboy vernacular. We all looked at each other and busted out laughin,then unplugged it.We were discussing getting rid of dead bodies with a backhoe and other how to get rich schemes, haha.

[Traffer]

Yeah maybe,but then why ain't I getting any good popup ads for dialing in CB loads or trad bow building supplies? Or,if they were watching they'd realize we prolly have more equipment than ____ ( insert manufacturer)?

When wifey got one of those Google music thingys,me and several motorcycle buds were drinking Scotch at 2:am at the kitchen table.Talkin stooopid ****,then there's this pause or air in the conversation and the little music thing,which was off at the time but plugged in goes....... "say what"? In a slang style homeboy vernacular. We all looked at each other and busted out laughin,then unplugged it.We were discussing getting rid of dead bodies with a backhoe and other how to get rich schemes, haha.

Are you writing this from prison? hah

[Shopdog]

No but I hear banjos right often? Which is another thing..... we were hunting one night and.....

[gwpercle]

My office manager showed me a feature called an "incognito window" I'm not sure exactly what it is but I can go looking at stuff like light fixtures , holsters or anything and the ads don't follow me around for the next 6 months. Check out the incognito window or going incognito...it's pretty cool tool !
Gary

[RED BEAR]

You don't have to search just buy something with a credit card all major companies track your purchases. And this has been going on for a long time back in 90s right after state started i stand background check i bought a mini 30 in a week a catalogue came only thing in it was accessory for mini 14 and 30. Just a coinsodince ? Store swore they had nothing to do with it. Can't remember the company but thought it was odd. I believe every key stroke phone call and purchase is being recorded.

[JBinMN]

I believe every key stroke phone call and purchase is being recorded.

It is. And stored. At least the NSA does.

[RED BEAR]

Well they are not building that facility out west that has enough storage to collect everything for decades to come for nothing. And anyone that doesn't think that they capture everything how did they know what the Boston bombers wife said on a phone call made before they knew who they were. Saw one gov official admit that they recorded everything but that they would need a warrant to listen to calls. I believe that they can listen to what they want and only get a warrant if they find something and want to use it in court.

[Handloader109]

If you use google anywhere it is definitely watching you. Cookies are the minimum. Search results are the worst. How do you think these guys make billions? Selling ads.

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[Hickory]

I wouldn't say that we are 'watched' per se.
I would think that all of our electronic and digital movements are recorded and stored away for later retrieval and use.

[Traffer]

I wouldn't say that we are 'watched' per se.
I would think that all of our electronic and digital movements are recorded and stored away for later retrieval and use.

Bingo. That is a very concise accurate summary of what is going on. The relevance of it is that algorithms are developed that can search through a staggering amount of data to pull up some pretty amazing things. With the archival of the data and the tools to search through it for very precise indicators they can tell you when you do your daily visit (or more) to the toilet. Along with all of your likes, dislikes, who you will vote for, who you are friends with and on and on. Microsoft Windows 10 was specifically designed to collect this data in a way as to organize it for just that purpose. And Microsoft hasn't even been outed yet. Wait till that one hits the fan.

[Texas by God]

Every day I give the sky a one finger salute with both hands just in case. God knows it's not for Him.

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[marek313]

Look at a company called Private internet Access.. Highly rated and fairly cheap VPN …They say they keep NO logs which is very important
combined with firefox, Ad blocker plus and U Block you will eliminate a lot of snooping

If its a US based company I dont believe that uncle Sam doesnt have access to their servers and logs. Every company that refuses wont be in business. I remember secure email company not too long ago that tried that and they refused to provide information on their users and .... they are no longer in business as they were basically forced out for doing so. Justification was that secure email would be used by terrorists for only bad things bla bla shut down. Done

From my understanding isis and other terrorists organizations even started to use Playstation chat to get around these kinds of things.

We are all being watched in this day and age.

[MaryB]

A friend and myself exchange an email a day that is 256 bit encrypted. A random page from a bible or online article LOL NSA needs something to do!

[MUSTANG]

The NSA decoded that exchange in about .0001 seconds:

Attachment 224814

[fiberoptik]

Google is even worse than Microshaft. Use Duck Duck Go for searching. They don’t keep track. Run Linux! Fire bill gates and his spyware!


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[fiberoptik]

You want to talk about being spied on? Flat screen tvs & cell phones can transmit unless unplugged/battery out.

My buddy from Marines just loved to call me from Taiwan and say stuff like,”Haven’t seen your name on the FBI top ten most wanted; haven’t you been blowing up govt buildings lately?” Next 6 months my phone is tapped, all first class mail and packages opened. You name it. He does it deliberately!


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