Are we being monitored?

[Bearman]

A couple of weeks ago I read an article in the paper,  in which the writer claimed that she had noticed that when out window shopping she would start getting pop up ads on her phone. The ads were for the very items she had been loking at.

She mentioned this to the friend she had been shopping with and she too reported it had happened to her too.

Last week I saw a clip on tv of someone in America who had switched off their phone and then taken a convoluted route around Washington DC. He then switched on his phone and connected it to some sophisticated software and lo and behold he could retrace his earlier route.

I only took passing interest in this but this morning a funny thing happened to me.

I set out to go to a Supermarket not my nearest one but another that I go to most Saturdays as I can bank there. I haven't been for 3 weeks. I got into my car and happened to look at my phone which was telling me that the supermarket I was going to was 5 minutes away. How did it know I was going there?

As soon as I saw the message it came back to me that in fact that wasn't he first time it had happened. In my working life I drive around from one location to another and on reflection I have seen that my phone has occasionally predicted where my next call will be.

I will start taking note of when this happens in future.

Am I paranoid?

[gingerjon]

Clearly there are links we can’t see.

A couple of weeks ago I went into a local reasonably sized supermarket. It was a cold and windy day and the place had a sale on for men’s jackets. I have never looked for clothes from this store online. I stood in front of, and tried on, a particular jacket. But decided I didn’t like it and went on my way.

Back home, I switched on Facebook. The very first ad asked me if I was still interested in the jacket I’d just been trying on.

[JDINTHEHIZZOUSE]

Well if this is true I must spend hours walking past sex shops ?

[Padge]

I walked past a shop yesterday and was sent a message advertising that this particular shop had a sale on.

[Mark S]

Google do use beacon technology, they can track users who have searched for something online that may have resulted in a visit to a physical store. Using this technology I am sure they can track where you have been and target them with relevant ads.

You also have to remember that most online ad targeting can be changed in real time, location, gender, weather etc.

[bowes]

I did once receive an advert for a beard trimmer when my old one broke.

Mainly I get Muslim singles adverts for some reason

[RogerT]

That's life now a days I'm afraid.

[Northern Eel]

3 hours ago, bowes said:

I did once receive an advert for a beard trimmer....

 

It might have been me that put that one out, and I received not one expression of interest for the post. There's jobs around for those who want to work!

[TMF]

Ron, a couple of weeks ago, with the snow and wind beating against my window, I decided not to go to Craven Park to watch our friendly against Oldham. But i went anyway. Three days later i was offered a trial at Toronto. Spooky or what?

[Copa]

My local shopping centre has cameras with facial recognition that monitors movements and mood. Nobody was aware of it until a malfunction caused a touch screen information board to show what it was filming. It had ID numbers for both the camera and faces. Cameras are everywhere.

I now put on a sad face when I walk by.

This is an example from my local shops

 

[henage]

Yes

[Bearman]

47 minutes ago, henage said:

Yes

Yes I am paranoid or yes we are being monitored?

[ckn]

6 minutes ago, Bearman said:

Yes I am paranoid or yes we are being monitored?

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you...

[henage]

13 minutes ago, Bearman said:

Yes I am paranoid or yes we are being monitored?

Been monitored . 

[Futtocks]

[Wiltshire Rhino]

[Derwent]

Just switch location services off on your phone.

[Griff9of13]

If you have location history turned on on your phone just go to Google maps - timeline to see how you're being tracked every day. If I was a police officer it's the first thing I'd look at if someone said they'd not been to a place I was interested in.

[Mark S]

11 hours ago, ckn said:

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you...

I used this quote a couple of days ago, was it Tom Yorke or Kurt Cobain who said it? 

[ckn]

3 minutes ago, Mark S said:

I used this quote a couple of days ago, was it Tom Yorke or Kurt Cobain who said it? 

Catch 22, Joseph Heller.  I probably got the quote slightly wrong but can't be bothered finding and fixing it!

[JonM]

2 hours ago, ckn said:

Catch 22, Joseph Heller.  I probably got the quote slightly wrong but can't be bothered finding and fixing it!

Yossarian says it in the film, but not in the book, so although it's attributed to Heller, he might not have actually written it. Amazing how many things from Catch-22 have become part of the language - including the title itself, of course.

Having spent most of my working life designing CPUs for smartphones, I don't use one myself. I'm struggling to see how, if your phone is genuinely, properly switched off, it could possibly be used to track where you've been, per bearman's original post.

[graveyard johnny]

19 hours ago, RogerT said:

That's life now a days I'm afraid.

not for me- don't have a smartfone- never will

[ckn]

1 hour ago, JonM said:

Yossarian says it in the film, but not in the book, so although it's attributed to Heller, he might not have actually written it. Amazing how many things from Catch-22 have become part of the language - including the title itself, of course.

Having spent most of my working life designing CPUs for smartphones, I don't use one myself. I'm struggling to see how, if your phone is genuinely, properly switched off, it could possibly be used to track where you've been, per bearman's original post.

Unless your phone has its battery removed or completely depleted or the phone is put in a lead (or other RF blocking) box then it should be assumed it isn't 100% off.  You should always assume that something is stopping it being switched off and has simply turned off the main processor & circuitry while keeping the baseband chip on.  This is what the well-publicised NSA "hack" does, it simply inserts a process that keeps the baseband chip on.

[TMF]

Well, all I can say guys, after today's game, if facial recognition is tracking me on my way home, all they would see is a massive super grin. Maybe a bit of a stagger as well, lol.

[Futtocks]

3 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

not for me- don't have a smartfone- never will

One of those troublemakers, who ties up so much money and effort, as he has to be stalked by a bloke with a newspaper with two eye-holes cut out, instead of the modern and efficient digital method.