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[02ebz06]

Interesting article how Google tracks everything you do and steers you towards buying particular items.
I'm not a fan of Google, haven't been for some time.

https://apnews.com/article/north-america-science-technology-business-ap-top-news-828aefab64d4411bac257a07c1af0ecb

[Bar-B-Lew]

I use Google for almost everything on the web - Chrome, Google Drive, online storage of files, blog, search engine, Sheets/Docs/etc. and only have Android phones and tablets.

[BigDave83]

Google does track and some you can turn off. I use Presearch for my searches, Firefox for a browser. I do use drive for several things and Maps. I guess they can steer me where they want but I am the one buying.  It happens a lot on other pages also, if you have facebook and look at something on google or Amazon you are seeing adds in your feed for similar stuff.

 Not a fan of the tracking but if it gets me adds that are  cooking related and car parts instead of exercise equipment and ladies underwear I don't mind.

Apple people I know will be together talking about something, say a kind of shoes and with in a day their feeds and the pop up adds are for what they were talking about, they didn't search for them, apparently Siri listens all the time and then helps send adds. I have had many people just say how odd it is when that happens.

I read through the article most of which I was already aware of. I am puzzled though because a lot of the time if I use Google or Maps when we are out to say search for food near me it has no idea where I am. I am getting listing for things that are hours away. The GF has an Iphone last night she did the same thing her fist go had her in WV someplace and then placed her in Toronto, she gave up, my first try had me where I live, and then I just searched for food near the town I was in.

[02ebz06]

Google does track and some you can turn off. I use Presearch for my searches, Firefox for a browser. I do use drive for several things and Maps. I guess they can steer me where they want but I am the one buying.  It happens a lot on other pages also, if you have facebook and look at something on google or Amazon you are seeing adds in your feed for similar stuff.

 Not a fan of the tracking but if it gets me adds that are  cooking related and car parts instead of exercise equipment and ladies underwear I don't mind.

Apple people I know will be together talking about something, say a kind of shoes and with in a day their feeds and the pop up adds are for what they were talking about, they didn't search for them, apparently Siri listens all the time and then helps send adds. I have had many people just say how odd it is when that happens.


I read through the article most of which I was already aware of. I am puzzled though because a lot of the time if I use Google or Maps when we are out to say search for food near me it has no idea where I am. I am getting listing for things that are hours away. The GF has an Iphone last night she did the same thing her fist go had her in WV someplace and then placed her in Toronto, she gave up, my first try had me where I live, and then I just searched for food near the town I was in.

Facebook and Amazon track you as well.

You just said you don't mind ads for cooking and car parts.
That's what the steering is all about, to get you to something you are interested in and may buy.
If they hadn't steered you to the ad, you would not have bought.
They steer you into impulse buying.
 
I have Alexa on one of my Sonos speakers.  I keep it in the garage just for that reason.

DuckDuckGo is a good app to install on Android phones. It doesn't track anything you do.
I use it as a search engine in my desktop browser as well.

[Bar-B-Lew]

There are settings on your phones for location tracking.  Check to see if they are turned off and/or if they are turned off in Google Maps.  Those could be some of a few reasons why it pulls up some other location than where you actually may be at the time.

[02ebz06]

There are settings on your phones for location tracking.  Check to see if they are turned off and/or if they are turned off in Google Maps.  Those could be some of a few reasons why it pulls up some other location than where you actually may be at the time.

Don't know if you read that entire article, but a lot of settings like that they ignore.
Like the "Do not track".  A joke, no enforcement of the setting.  Businesses can just ignore it if they choose.

[Canadian John]

 There isn't much to say about a private life anymore.

 I wouldn't want to be a criminal with a phone either. Almost every footstep can be traced.

 Getting too old for this malarky.
 

[Bar-B-Lew]

I didn't bother reading the article.  I like the services Google provides regardless of what goes on behind the scenes.  I have nothing to hide.

[Kristin Meredith]

Oh well, you know, all of us who have had the covid vaccine have a chip in us tracking us anyhow, so what the hey!

[Bentley]

If someone thinks they can "sell" me something I say knock yourself out!  If I can be sold I deserve what I get!

[02ebz06]

If someone thinks they can "sell" me something I say knock yourself out!  If I can be sold I deserve what I get!

They are not trying to sell you something per se, they are planting the seed so you impulse buy.

[BigDave83]

If someone thinks they can "sell" me something I say knock yourself out!  If I can be sold I deserve what I get!

Yes, If I want to buy something I buy it for the most part if I don't want to buy something even if I want it, no amount of adds will convince me to buy it.

If I bought everything I looked at online and was targeted with adds for, I would have more debt than the US government.


As for the impulse buy, that pretty much happens when I go out someplace and actually see something and say I need that. It used to happen a lot when I went to the local gunshop. I remember taking my last GF with me and we were there for a while looking and I was talking with the owner while she was looking. When we left she looked at me and said so how much did you spend and what did you buy? Oh and when are they delivering the safe?

[ICIdaho]

No google or alphabet products for me for probably 8 years or more.  I do not do social media, this board even stretched my limits of sensibility  .

[okie smokie]

Google has always delayed my searches with sign ins, and unnecessary info questions. I'm open to suggestions on how to do without them.

[ICIdaho]

Google has always delayed my searches with sign ins, and unnecessary info questions. I'm open to suggestions on how to do without them.

I suppose that depends on how deep you are in google products.  If it is a matter of browsers and search engines, I use firefox or opera browsers on windows computers with duckduckgo as the search page.  However, if you use an android device, it does not really matter, google will have its tentacles in you anyways.  My last remaining cord is a gmail account.  I only use it for junk stuff I do not care about, but I am going to purge that when I get the time also.