[nathanbedford]

I suppose this is related to the story:

As I was reading the article here: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-supercomputers-sixty-trillionth-binary-digit-pi-squared.html in the middle of the article I got the following ad in German:

"Ads by Google

Computer in Rosenheim - PCs, Notebooks, Drucker und Zubehör in Rosenheims großem Computerladen - www.pcwerx.de"

It tells me that I can buy computers etc. from the biggest store in the local town here in Germany, Rosenheim.

I suppose as a barely computer literate operator I have been unwittingly accepting cookies from many dubious sources but it is a bit offputting to realize that Google apparently knows all about me. It certainly knows that I live in Germany and, generally, where.

Can somebody with at least the bare minimum of knowledge tell me what's going on?

[ComputerGuy]

Your IP address can be used to locate you, sometimes to within a few tens of miles. It looks like you're receiving targeted advertising, that's all.
When you make a request for a web page, your IP address goes with it. I wouldn't be worried about it - it's usually just a nuisance thing.
My new smart phone is basically an advertising platform, btw. I get targeted advertising all day, every day.
Cookies are separate issue. Most cookies are of the harmless 'session' variety. Others are called tracking cookies because they log and report which web sites you visit. Since I surf the web in full-blown paranoia mode, I monitor my cookies. Anything that I don't recognize as a session cookie gets whacked.

[D-fendr]

Google Ads can be bought to appear only to people in certain geographic locations.

Content providers display ads Google provides.

Your browsers transmits your IP address.

Your IP address corresponds to your geographic location.

[grey_whiskers]

Nathan,

You might not like hearing this very much, but it might not be the most savvy political move to say that you live in *ahem* Germany while choosing as your screen name, the founder of the KKK.

And yes, I was the one who wrote you about that long ago, after having read your 'About' page: you modified it slightly to put more emphasis on his late-in-life conversion to Christianity; but even that won't allay lefties' suspicions.

As for Google? They have ways of making you talk.

And your Wi-Fi sings like a canary.

Source.

Cheers!

[PapaBear3625]

If you want to see the kind of info about your location that can be deduced from your IP address, go to http://www.liveipmap.com/