Last summer we took a vacation trip from Michigan to Denver CO. We stopped for gas right after we entered Iowa, just a couple of miles before we got to the “Iowa 80” gas station, which we had seen on several billboards. A couple of days later, while driving around Denver, listening to XM Sirius radio, we heard an ad for the Iowa 80 gas station. I seriously doubt that an individual gas station in the middle of nowhere would be advertising to EVERY XM radio receiver in the country. This had to be an ad targeted to only our Sirius registration number. In my life, I’ve never heard another Iowa 80 gas station radio advertisement, ever.
For that to happen, though, Google would have to know our gas purchasing history, and, at least, our use of Sirus on our XM radio in the car, and then give that information to Sirius, all without our knowledge. That’s quite a feat.
I get popup ads on my PC all the time. I just ignore them. I do not let it bother me. I do not have to buy it just because an ad popped in my face.
Of course that is how Google makes money by selling your habits to advertisers. I see ads all over the roads and towns. And I get junk mail galore. All of that is just minor annoyance. I just toss it all in garbage. Why be paranoid because Google is tracking me on use of internet?
Visa would sell both transactions to google.com