Posted on 03/31/2012 7:43:15 PM PDT by Revolting cat!
By now you probably know that when you enter a term into a Google box and press the Return key (sometimes incorrectly called the Enter key), Google will show you back results that will be different if President Usurper entered the same term, or even if another member of the forum with whom you agree on everything except of course the Zimmerman-Martin case entered it.
It is called personalization of results, and we are supposed to think it is good. Somebody out there, even if it is merely a heartless programming algorithm, recognizes your uniqueness in this cruel, impersonal universe of ours, and isn’t that just precious, Miss Lonely?
You (and I) have been bitching about invasion of our privacy by Google, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, E-Bay, PayPal, Skype and assorted other websites we visit, all of them owned by now by one or two giant companies with unaffordably high stock shares on the market. When you write a message in Gmail, the program saves the draught (mmmm, draught!) every few seconds, analyzes it and, SHAZAM, before you finish writing, displays on the right of the screen advertisements related to your life‘s concerns you mentioned therein, such as prescription medicines, adult diapers, smartphones and electric automobiles. No more having to visit libraries, pharmacies, newsstands to learn about things and services. No more calls to truck tire emporiums. No wonder Sears is going broke!
But you keep bitching about your so-called privacy. Well, let me tell you. The grocery chain where you shop and use your “membership” card, and the drugstore chain with a similar “membership” scam to save you a few cents on a few items, and the credit card companies, whose plastic “products” you scan at the checkout stands, know more about you, bud, and about your nasty habits, like avoidance of broccoli, and cheap socks purchases than Google and Facebook will ever know, and it’s been this way for years.
And how much do they really do with what they know? Sometimes it’s unnerving. Last month I was checking out prices of a musical instrument on e-Bay, and since then I’ve been seeing ads for this musical instrument on multiple websites, including as if by magic foreign ones. And I’ve been receiving e-mails from sites that I subscribe to, such as Amazon, again urging me to purchase this instrument. Heck, I don’t even need a trombone! Damn them, damn all of them!
Then, there is the comic relief. A few days ago, I had to cancel a duplicate account created by a family member on Western Union dot com, exchanged with WU some e-mails on Yahoo.com, and today saw the following ad on the thin banner above my Gmail Inbox:
Transfer Money To Mexico - WesternUnion.com/Mexico - WU Guarantees That Your Loved One In Mexico Will Receive The Funds.
Now, the beautiful country of Mexico full of friendly peaceful people is not mentioned anywhere in my Gmails or Yahoo e-mails. I do mention Switzerland, and some other lands quite often, but not Mexico. So why did Google assume that I was an undocumented alien wishing to send cash back to my poor peasant relatives South of the border, and not to my poor peasant relatives in Zurich and Geneve?
There is hope, the algorithms need some work.
Selfish BUMP
thank you for posting
You don’t seem to be aware that those businesses tailor offers to frequent customers based on their shopping habits. If you show interest in certain types of merchandise, they’ll try to pique your interest in similar items or products related to the ones you purchase.
Awww...forget it. It IS all a big conspiracy, I’m one of them and we really are out to get you.
I hope this helps.
Genius!
Just remember. You’re completely unique, just like everyone else.
Genius...capitalism...different words that are so much alike!
Good post. Orwell predicted cameras spying on us in our homes but it turns out much worse. They have “cameras” into our inner most thoughts.
AH! so that explains why keep seeing all those ads for Japanese schoolgirl uniforms in adult mens’ sizses....ER....ah....nevermind.....
;)
google shmoogle never used it
LOL! I'll let Fujitsu know about that. Both of those keys on my keyboard are labeled "Enter".
Does anyone call them “return keys” any more?
Do we really need the Number Lock key any longer?
It’s like an appendix, a vestigial key that had some function a long time ago.
No, we don’t need a NUM LOCK key. But hey, the iPads and other pads come with no keys at all! We won!
What we do need is a DUMB LOCK key to lock out the dummies who visit every thread to announce to other posters that “You don’t seem to understand...” etc, because they do understand everything.
NumLock? Yep, use it daily. Multiple times.
What gets me is that I keep getting ads for single men in my area. I do not think they are even accurate ads—they are full of gorgeous men like Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt, and I suspect that the local singles would be more likely to resemble Larry the Cable Guy—but that’s not important. I’m married. I don’t visit singles sites. Why, then, do I consistently and often see these ads, even at work?
A coworker said that it’s a good thing the ads aren’t showing me single *women*. That’s true. I happened to sit next to another woman in a class, and I glanced over at her computer screen. It showed ads of single women. Ouch.
BTW, there is a key marked “Enter” on my keyboard. But I do not have a return key.
I got Facebook confused. they show me dating site ads for young females, as well as those for seniors.
I know well how it works. It’s the combination of cookies on my comp which I fail to clean up in order to keep some of them that are useful (for such things as memory of past articles and for autologins) and which are impossible to isolate, and the info stored on the websites’ servers which we can’t affect. Perhaps this is an opportunity to develop an intelligent cookie cleaner.
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