Posted on 11/20/2015 5:09:27 AM PST by Not gonna take it anymore
The TV is on in the background, and you’re replying to a quick email on your phone nearby. You don’t know it, but the devices are communicating. During a commercial, the TV emits an inaudible tone and your phone, which was listening for it, picks it up. Somewhere far away, a server makes a note: Both devices probably belong to you. This information about which devices belong to whom is immensely valuable to advertisers hoping to target ads specifically to you. In a simpler time, targeted marketing was easy. Most people had a computer at work and maybe another at home. If you sent an email about your new cat, ads for cat food started cropping up. If you searched for Thanksgiving recipes, Safeway coupons for turkeys appeared in your Facebook newsfeed.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
1984 is alive and well
I guess the PTBs know I watch a lot of ME-TV, TCM, and Dr. Who.
I have no idea why the apostrophes in the article look so weird.
Oh, wow.
Later
Easy solution...never have them ON at the same time.
I bet all it hears during the start of the commercials is F);$;K.
Facebook doesn’t allow that type ads
I wonder what they gain from Macgyver or Hawaii Five-0 videos.
And if you have a "smart TV" it could be watching you.
http://www.clarkhoward.com/your-smart-tv-spying-you
Well, I hope they pick up on the fact that EVERY TIME a commercial comes on, I mute the TV and pickup my phone to surf the interwebz. As I recline comfortably on the sofa, both the remote and phone rests on my chest. Often, the cat squeezes in...
“I guess the PTBs know I watch a lot of ME-TV, TCM, and Dr. Who.”
They seem to know a lot. By the way, what were you thinking when you chose those curtains? And would you lean over to your right a little? I’m trying to see your living room couch.
I don’t have a smartphone
Does this hold true for my “dumb” phone—an older flip phone? Does anybody know?
The only thing I use the phone for is to make and receive calls, usually within our large family.
No cable, no DTV; family talks to each other. Silence is kinda nice, lower stress.
Internet is all you need. Yes, you will survive.
I’m colorblind so I have some sort of excuse.
There were a couple of numbers in the color test dots that I could never make out.
My TV spends quite a bit of time watching videos that are streamed from the phone to the apple TV and then through the TV. So the phone is listening to itself? A person can spend a lifetime watching “obammy is the antichrist” and this is the end of the world videos on youtube.
They would know that I like old 5-0 but don’t care much for MacGyver.
The Mod Squad reruns might confuse them a little since I like Ironside too.
It took ME-TV to appreciate those last two and 5-0 as well.
You must be my Brother-From-A-Different-Mother.
I'd like to S-can all the rest of the channels and leave just those three.
(Gotta run - Perry Mason is on in 22 minutes.)
I just bought a smart Vizio TV which is reputed to be spying on you. It has an ‘opt out’ feature which I engaged. I still don’t trust it though.
Enjoy while I am at the office.
I have almost all of the DVD’S of Perry Mason and a few on my phone and portable drive here at work. I watch vintage TV at lunch in my office
They haven’t seen my (flip) phone, I guess.
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