Cracked tracks me hard!

[Donal]

I wouldn't mind the tracking to improve advertising if not for 2 things:

1) The algorithms still suck. I'm not going to be a beta testing for that crap.

2) There is no transparency or accountability involved in the tracking. I'd like to know who exactly is tracking me and how they are using the data.

 

[AbleSugar]

I'm still attempting to get my 80+ yo Mom to be able to use the internet.
Those tracking cookies really freak her out and when a site says where she is located (isp) she will yank the cord out of the wall.

 

[CORed]

Yeah, it's a little too Skynet for me, too, but what are you gonna do?

I'm looking for a suit. The next morning, all the ads on every site I go to are from Men's Warehouse (like I'd wear one of their suits).

As far as I can tell, it doesn't really hurt anything, but it is a bit creepy.

Several months ago, when I was getting ready to move, I did a search on ratchet straps. I decided it wasn't worth buying them for one use, and just tied stuff down in the rental truck with rope, but for about a month after that it seemed every web site I visited was showing adds for ratchet straps.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

So which guitar pedal did you buy?

 

[CORed]

I wouldn't mind the tracking to improve advertising if not for 2 things:

1) The algorithms still suck. I'm not going to be a beta testing for that crap.

2) There is no transparency or accountability involved in the tracking. I'd like to know who exactly is tracking me and how they are using the data.

It all goes back to the NSA. You have nothing to worry about as long as you're not doing anything illegal and you don't say anything bad about Obama.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

So which guitar pedal did you buy?

I bought a TC Electronic Ditto Looper. And man, is it worth it.
True bypass. Five minutes of recording time, playback sounds just like input, you can overdub as much as you want, holding the switch erases your last dub (great feature) and maybe best of all, it keeps your loops even when turned off. All in a tiny package with only one knob, a volume pot.

 

[CynicalSkeptic]

So like a year ago there was some story about the government (or some employee) expensing a mechanical bull. I was curious so I started googling for how much they cost. For like a month after that I was seeing ads for mechanical bulls everywhere I went. So yesterday (after reading this thread), I want back to www.mechanicalbullsales.com and sure enough today, the banner ad on the daily kos is from that site.

Also on other sites I often see amazon.com ads for stuff that I have viewed on amazon.com. That's not nearly as creepy.

 

[AbleSugar]

How Come they keep sending me ads for pills that will enable a "Natural Male Enhancement"?
I don't need it, I'm already overweight.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

I wouldn't mind the tracking to improve advertising if not for 2 things:

1) The algorithms still suck. I'm not going to be a beta testing for that crap.

2) There is no transparency or accountability involved in the tracking. I'd like to know who exactly is tracking me and how they are using the data.

On Cracked one of the trackers is tynt.com. You can opt out of their tracking here. For Google Analytics you can opt out here, and for personalised adverts in general go here. There is even a settings page for your ad profile which you can remove for personalised adverts.

And of course everyone has policies all over the place:

http://www.cracked.com/privacy-policy.html

http://www.tynt.com/privacy_policy.php#axzz364D9js5W

http://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/

 

[Beerina]

A couple of weeks ago I clicked on an ad for some women's outfit because it had a supermodel I like and I wanted to see a bigger picture.

Now a bunch of different sites all feed me ads from that site, featuring this model, including group shots with her in the center, which I know I did not look at.

This implies their "suck you in" algorithms are not just analyzing product, but the models therein, and feeding them back to me. Quite frankly, as I've never, ever bought something online because of an ad, I'm fine being fed shots of her on the sides of my web pages. But the apparent implied sophistication of the analysis is interesting.

 

[CynicalSkeptic]

So yesterday (after reading this thread), I want back to www.mechanicalbullsales.com and sure enough today, the banner ad on the daily kos is from that site.

Love it, been two weeks+ and I'm still seeing ads for mechanical bulls.

 

[marplots]

Love it, been two weeks+ and I'm still seeing ads for mechanical bulls.

I want one now.

 

[Eddie Dane]

You think that's creepy?

A friend of mine visited a Levi's store and THEN got lots of Levi's ads on his phone.

Something to do with your phone checking for WIFI-signals and the in-store WIFI recognising your phone.