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Google Is Testing A Program That Tracks You Everywhere You Go
Business Insider ^ | Nov 7, 2013 | Richard Feloni

Posted on 11/08/2013 7:43:55 AM PST by upchuck

Google is beta-testing a program that tracks users’ purchasing habits by registering brick-and-mortar store visits via smartphones, according to a report from Digiday.

Google can access user data via Android apps or their Apple iOS apps, like Google search, Gmail, Chrome, or Google Maps.

If a customer is using these apps while he shops or has them still running in the background, Google’s new program pinpoints the origin of the user data and determines if the customer is in a place of business.

Google gets permission to do this kind of tracking when Android users opt in to the “location services” option in their smartphone’s options menu and when iOS users agree to allow “location services” for Google apps like Gmail and Google Maps.

The program was hinted at in an AdWords blog post from Oct. 1 regarding Google’s new “estimated total conversions” initiative. A “conversion” in this sense is a purchase, and Google is developing ways to track users across desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Google also mentioned that tracking conversions via phone calls is in the works, but has yet to release details.

Business Insider has reported on how Google is using cross-device conversion measurements in its war with Facebook for advertising supremacy. When advertisers are allowed to know as much as possible about users’ purchasing habits, they can target their ads more efficiently and reap the benefits. Measuring conversions is also important because it assures advertisers that their purchases are resulting in increased product sales.

Mobile users who search for products on their phones buy quickly after researching them, according to a Google/Nielsen report released on Tuesday. Consumers spend 15+ hours every week researching products, and more than half make their purchase within an hour after looking it up.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bigbrother; google; googleeverywhere
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The line to get your implanted chip for life forms to the left.
1 posted on 11/08/2013 7:43:55 AM PST by upchuck
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To: upchuck

Im sticking with my dumbphone...a years old flip=phone...


2 posted on 11/08/2013 7:50:03 AM PST by MeshugeMikey ( Visit http://icantenroll.com/ In Glitch We Trust....;o})
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To: upchuck

I keep my gmail tab up on my computer. Yesterday, I went to Disney.com to price Disneyland vacation packages. The packages they offered me all included a AAA Diamond card. I did not go to AAA, I went to disney.com. I backedpaged to make sure. How did they know I was a AAA member? The Diamond card is valuable, (discounts, reserved seating for events and free parking), but how did Disney know?


3 posted on 11/08/2013 7:52:18 AM PST by sportutegrl
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To: upchuck

if it means I’ll never have to enter another username and password or talk to another Indian helpdesk moron - sign me up!


4 posted on 11/08/2013 7:55:56 AM PST by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: upchuck
And you think government does not know how many time you flush your toilet? Think Google is doing more that the corrupt thing we call our Federal Government? Wake up America.
5 posted on 11/08/2013 7:56:49 AM PST by Logical me
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To: upchuck
The line to get your implanted chip for life forms to the left.
Standing in line
it's so divine
Can we choose the place -
my hand or my face?

-- from the Daniel Amos song "He's Gonna Do A Number On You"
From their studio album Shotgun Angel

6 posted on 11/08/2013 7:57:06 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: Logical me

I have an Al Gore mandated low-flow toilet, I may flush a dozen times a day, just to clear my morning dump.

Thank you AlGore!


7 posted on 11/08/2013 8:02:02 AM PST by null and void (I'm betting on an Obama Trifecta: A Nobel Peace Prize, an Impeachment, AND a War Crimes Trial...)
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To: upchuck

Google was doing this for a long time now. Ho hum. Try signing in Youtube, then out and head to Google, you are still logged in. If u don’t want to be tracked, buy a prepaid cellphone from 7-11 and register from another IP.


8 posted on 11/08/2013 8:04:30 AM PST by max americana (fired liberals in our company last election, and I laughed while they cried (true story))
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To: upchuck

bttt


9 posted on 11/08/2013 8:05:28 AM PST by bmwcyle (People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
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To: sportutegrl
I don't think Disney knew about your Diamond Card.

You probably have a cookie that identifies the card and Google read the cookie.

10 posted on 11/08/2013 8:13:28 AM PST by FroggyTheGremlim ("It is not the color of his skin, ... it is the blackness that fills his soul")
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To: MeshugeMikey

You and I have the same taste in cell phones—LOL!

I carry that phone soley to make and receive phone calls. I leave my computer at home.

Also, I don’t “do” texting. If someone has something to say to me, they can call me.

I’m old and set in my ways...and I like it like that.


11 posted on 11/08/2013 8:14:19 AM PST by basil (2ASisters.org)
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To: basil

yes why would I NEED....to buy a phone.....to cover for my computer??

There are no cell phones that do much in terms of Graphics or Photo Processing......

Im satisfied to let a tool do what it was originally intended to do...rather than to try to force it to be my ALL in ALL!!

If I lose the phone Im not out hundreds of bucks either...


12 posted on 11/08/2013 8:18:07 AM PST by MeshugeMikey ( Visit http://icantenroll.com/ In Glitch We Trust....;o})
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To: null and void

LOW FLOW...named after the “liberal” mindset of which al is THE premier example


13 posted on 11/08/2013 8:19:14 AM PST by MeshugeMikey ( Visit http://icantenroll.com/ In Glitch We Trust....;o})
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To: upchuck
When do they start tracking serial numbers on currency so you can't avoid being entered into the Google spyheap by going all cash?

Hmm, upchuck, you got a $20 from an ATM on 3rd Street, then spent it at the Starbucks on 4th getting a $5 and $10 as change. You used the $10 bill to buy a magazine getting $3 in change which you then used to buy pop and chips at a vending machine at work. And that's why you get ads for Sports Illustrated, Pepsi and Doritos.

14 posted on 11/08/2013 8:21:27 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Everyone get online for Obamacare on 10/1. Overload the system and crash it hard!)
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To: basil
I’m old and set in my ways...and I like it like that.

Do you have a cane just for shaking at kids when they get into your yard? (Something I joke with friends that I'll need soon)

15 posted on 11/08/2013 8:22:48 AM PST by KarlInOhio (Everyone get online for Obamacare on 10/1. Overload the system and crash it hard!)
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To: null and void
I have an Al Gore mandated low-flow toilet, I may flush a dozen times a day, just to clear my morning dump.

You may be able to remove the water reservoir and install a larger one...

Or fix the reservoir up on the wall above the toilet and connect it with a 2 inch pipe....work the flush lever with a string.

The increased velocity of the water flowing from 5 or 6 feet above the bowl will flush your obamas

16 posted on 11/08/2013 8:23:19 AM PST by spokeshave (Obamacare is planned, just like the planned famine by the Russians to eliminate the Ukrainians.)
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To: MeshugeMikey

My kids and their associates (25-35 age bracket) appear more devoted to their smartphones than their friends. It’s crazy!


17 posted on 11/08/2013 8:23:53 AM PST by nascarnation
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To: KarlInOhio

>>>You used the $10 bill to buy a magazine getting<<<

OR

You used the $10 bill to donate to a TP candidate and that is why we had to pass this info on up the spy network.

G-d help us!


18 posted on 11/08/2013 8:25:24 AM PST by viaveritasvita ("The One who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine, the G-d of angel armies, is always by my side.")
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To: upchuck

I keep asking my daughter (age 27), “Doesn’t your generation mind having NO privacy?”. I just get a blank stare.

I’m glad I’ve only a “few” more years. I could not live these 62 years as this google/iPhone generation seems to want.


19 posted on 11/08/2013 8:25:36 AM PST by llevrok (Obama 2008 : "If you vote for me, you can keep your country")
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To: nascarnation
their smartphones never abandon them.

they control their smartphones...

the smartphone is their friend!


20 posted on 11/08/2013 8:31:48 AM PST by MeshugeMikey ( Visit http://icantenroll.com/ In Glitch We Trust....;o})
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