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So we have all discussed this at one time or the other, your phone is listneing to you! Now the only good side effect of that is this. Every time I open my browser and it shows suggested news, articles, photos, etc. that always seems to be about Oldsmobile, yeah!
One of the many reasons that I only have a flip phone. If I want to talk to someone, I call them. If they need to talk to me, they call. Real easy!
No tracking software, no leash. Only $10 a month.
"And, it's pathetic & disgusting the FCC allows private racketeering. Disgusts me to no end." I concur 1000²
1984 IS HERE.
I also recommend watching Idiocracy...its a grade B movie from the 90s with Dax Sheppard and Luke Wilson. AND speaks the same truth as Orwell. Humorous and scary at the same time. Watch it and you tell me if you see the parallelism with the... whatever it is we have going on today. I can't even make an intelligent comment...bewildered maybe?
On to your regularly scheduled Oldsmobile's... just keep an eye out for inefficient ceiling fans, N.Gas appliances and keep your beer consumption to 2 glasses a week! George is watching....
I keep my mobile on airplane mode except when I check it. That seems to cut down the instances of phone listening.
To keep quick communication open, I signed up for a VOIP landline for about $15/month. My friends know to call that number if I'm home and they have an important message.
I like both!
To the subject of the thread. I also found that I am very, very dependent upon the Maps application. I know we no longer use printed maps and they probably couldn't keep up with the changes in the roads anyway. I have good cardinal direction instincts but still like to use the application for efficiency on trips to places I have not been yet but, are they listening too? Probably. I still appreciate the Oldsmobile themed links too.
The rock bottom skinny is this - if they load ANY cookie they are listening. Anyone who knows how to read their Browser cache can quickly & easily identify who loaded a cookie and any ‘bots’ which have parsed your Browser history.
Additionally, as you should surely suspect, any time you visit NEARLY ANY website, your IP address is identified. From there the game is on - what that website does with your information when you visited can be found in their VERY, VERY, VERY fine print. Rest assured that website wants to know who is visiting them.
"and, it's pathetic & disgusting the fcc allows private racketeering. Disgusts me to no end." i concur 1000²
1984 is here.
I also recommend watching idiocracy...its a grade b movie from the 90s with dax sheppard and luke wilson. And speaks the same truth as orwell. Humorous and scary at the same time. Watch it and you tell me if you see the parallelism with the... Whatever it is we have going on today. I can't even make an intelligent comment...bewildered maybe?
On to your regularly scheduled oldsmobile's... Just keep an eye out for inefficient ceiling fans, n.gas appliances and keep your beer consumption to 2 glasses a week! George is watching....
It Is wild how you don't even have to necessarily look things up and the man knows exactly what you are into. I am pretty much only here. I too get ad's for things I have never searched but only talk about here. It's wild. Think every single key stroke and text phone call etc isn't watched? Think again. Every single thing you do is watched.
I'm one of the people who still remembers what privacy was like. It amazes me how many people of my generation (X) and older have the attitude of 'they can listen, I'm not important '. They shouldn't be listening or tracking or anything else. It's all extremely creepy.
Lived in the consumer analytics world my whole career.
It’s not a “smart phone”. It’s a tracking device that happens do voice.
Facebook is not “connecting people”, it’s a data mining operation selling consumer profiles to advertisers and other interested parties - like foreign governments
The quote in Silicon Valley is “if you’re not paying for it, you’re the product”
Another way I put it is “Silcon Valley: turning your privacy into our Ferraris”
Sorry if I sound like a cranky old man, I wish there were better alternatives to surveillance capitalism.
I regularly log out of youtube & google and THEN Search whatever - to see what they are not showing me
On this, my new desktop, I use with Firefox I use Ad Blocker Plus (for free) and it works SO GOOD, just on this page it blocked 9 Ads (it counts them as well). Roughly every month it resets and I get ads for a few days then No Ads for weeks. Where the ads would be are just gap spaces on the website pages.
I clear my cookies every few days - they make it difficult to find them buried in Microsoft Edge, but once you know the process it only takes 15 seconds, but when I clear them I have a list to NOT CLEAR so those do not require me to log in again. Also when I clear my cookies it allows me to revisit newspapers etc .... as an new visitor and I get usually 5 free visits because I Cleared My Cookies
Using Youtube Google on my phone has so many pop ups ads I cannot even use THAT - seems no Ad Blocker Plus for my Android Phone
As you know when you shut your Smart Phone off it still ON! I also have a few cheap Phone Faraday Bags $12 on Amazon that will, in an emergency or your choice BLOCK my phone from the Towers, if I need to drive without the Surveillance Grid Tracking Me when the SHTF +-, of course the phone won't work either, and thats a good thing
Consider loading EFF Privacy Badger (free) along w/ any other Ad Blocking s/w you may be running. It runs a nice comprehensive background algorithm which turns off tracking linked among various sites. Nice add-on to any Ad Blocking s/w.
Y'all need to get EFF Privacy Badger and UBlock Origin for your Browsers.
Last edited by Vintage Chief; Aug 31, 2023 at 05:33 PM.
Exactly why I do nothing other than here and a couple others. I will Never ever be on fakebook. You really think you aren't pimped out there? You think all that information isn't sold? Every single post etc. Public Domain. Only everything you do. No thank you.
I like to simplify my word not add to it.
Old man says; Where's the carburetor on this thing?...
Exactly why I do nothing other than here and a couple others. I will Never ever be on fakebook. You really think you aren't pimped out there? You think all that information isn't sold? Every single post etc. Public Domain. Only everything you do. No thank you.
I like to simplify my word not add to it.
Old man says; Where's the carburetor on this thing?...
Honestly, FB is the least of your worries w/ regard to tracking, mining & cloaking. The world's Number One leader is Google (Alphabet since restructuring in 2015).
EDIT: Anyone who runs Chrome is basically giving Google rights to their entire computer. Watch anything on YouTube (owned by Google). Search the Internet via Google? In addition to the numerous other data mining websites Alphabet (Google) own.
Last edited by Vintage Chief; Aug 29, 2023 at 06:51 PM.
if you use Google Maps and other such ... your tracking can be bought by me or any one that wants to pay for it ... if they have your IP Address - see the Documentary 2000 Mules
if you use Google Maps and other such ... your tracking can be bought by me or any one that wants to pay for it ... if they have your IP Address - see the Documentary 2000 Mules
Now, this is where very minor trickery pays off. I have a secure dedicated firewall which I only allow certain ports to be open. Additionally, I employ IP spoofing (masking) which hides my IP address from trackers &/or incipient marketers. Anyone can setup IP spoofing (masking) but does require a tad more knowledge. The ONLY h/w you cannot mask is the MAC address which is hard coded into the network card. Although, you can employ some trickery on the MAC address, as well, but for general Internet browsing blocking your MAC address in many cases will also block your LAN/WAN network capabilities. The majority of the most secure communications on the Internet block IP addresses and employ VPN tunneling via the MAC address through a double firewall.
BTW, for those unfamiliar w/ a double firewall. It's basically this, You're assigned a forward facing IP address provided by your ISP. This IP address is not assigned to your actual PC, laptop, tablet, etc. It's your IP WAN address. I allow the forward facing WAN IP address (assigned by my ISP) through the firewall; but I configure my own IP addresses for each device I use behind the firewall on a dedicated LAN I configure. In between the front (forward facing WAN IP address) and my dedicated DHCP (or manually configured IP address) I assign IP addresses and only allow my internal LAN IP addresses to traverse the firewall to the forward facing WAN IP address. The forward facing firewall is setup on my Motorola WiFi Modem. The internal firewall I simply use (nudge) the built-in MS Windows 11 firewall. Both firewalls I only allow select Ports (UDP & IP) to be open.
Last edited by Vintage Chief; Aug 29, 2023 at 07:13 PM.
Glad to see you all are well aware of counter-measures to surveillance capitalism. Keep at it. I recommend Pi-Hole on a RaspberryPi as a network ad-blocker.
In effect, your $/Pounds/Yen these days are not enough for Google/Amazon/Facebook/Microsoft/Apple. They want your data and internet/preferences on top of currency. Your money is not enough for their services & product: they want analytic rights to your interests & preferences too. So they can group you and sell you as part of a group to be promoted for commerce, politics, or other purposes.
Philosophically, consider privacy a currency. Spend it where you get value. If they offer you nothing for giving them data, offer them no data. Practically speaking: if Container Store wants your phone number, ask if they can give you a 30% discount for providing the information. Politely ask why the price on the price tag isn’t enough. If they offer no discount for your phone number, I suggest the following number (202) 555-1212. That should be the Washington DC information number. Legit, but useless.
Countermeasures come down to your will to protect your privacy against their interest in invading it for their gain. Since they have a profit motive, their will & combined skills may be greater than yours. If your will, and your time available is sufficient, you can try to protect your privacy. If not, well, welcome to the soup.
The next move, if you haven’t got time or skills for sophisticated responses is simple: be grey, gray, neutral, uninteresting. The fallback after that is try to stay off grid. That’s getting harder by the month.
Well , i have not so much knowledge about how computers work but i have an "anti track system"
installed and it seem to work. Before i got ads all the time on stuff that i searched the internet for
but not any more. Here is a pic from anti track program that shows blocked tracking since the
program was installed.
Glad to see you all are well aware of counter-measures to surveillance capitalism. Keep at it. I recommend Pi-Hole on a RaspberryPi as a network ad-blocker.
In effect, your $/Pounds/Yen these days are not enough for Google/Amazon/Facebook/Microsoft/Apple. They want your data and internet/preferences on top of currency. Your money is not enough for their services & product: they want analytic rights to your interests & preferences too. So they can group you and sell you as part of a group to be promoted for commerce, politics, or other purposes.
Philosophically, consider privacy a currency. Spend it where you get value. If they offer you nothing for giving them data, offer them no data. Practically speaking: if Container Store wants your phone number, ask if they can give you a 30% discount for providing the information. Politely ask why the price on the price tag isn’t enough. If they offer no discount for your phone number, I suggest the following number (202) 555-1212. That should be the Washington DC information number. Legit, but useless.
Countermeasures come down to your will to protect your privacy against their interest in invading it for their gain. Since they have a profit motive, their will & combined skills may be greater than yours. If your will, and your time available is sufficient, you can try to protect your privacy. If not, well, welcome to the soup.
The next move, if you haven’t got time or skills for sophisticated responses is simple: be grey, gray, neutral, uninteresting. The fallback after that is try to stay off grid. That’s getting harder by the month.
Sorry if I sound like a weird old crank…
Chris
So excellent! Such a great response! Politely ask why the price on the price tag isn’t enough..then...(202) 555-1212. That should be the Washington DC information number. Legit, but useless...Shocker!
Great info in this thread. Any advice for the computerly challenged here, as far as intuitiveness for the challenged people like myself? Id need it spoon fed to set all of this up buy would gladly do it to shove it down their throats!
How We Got Here ...
"First we overlook evil, Then we permit evil. Then we legalize evil. Then we promote evil. Then we celebrate evil. Then we persecute those who still call it evil." Fr. Dwight Longenecker
Indeed....Some Buffalo Trace or Woodford perhaps!
I didn't say how many gallons each glass could hold...lol.
You'd think old sleepy Alzheimer Joe (B) might have bigger things to worry about rather than how many beers WE THE PEOPLE consume.
Warm regards to all & their anesthetics. In my region, we like fermented grapes & more or less everything else. Well, except Heroin, Propofol & Fentanyl.
People I know started doing consumer behavior predictions in the 1960’s. That was when most of the world was trying to figure out how to use computers for double entry accounting. Or computing military shell trajectories very much like Angry Birds.
As the computers got stronger, our ability to predict & influence consumer actions went up. Remember that credit card line increase your bank offered you? Modeling. Or that mortgage offer? Modeling. Or that personal loan consolidation offer? Modeling. Or that great deal on a cellphone? Modeling.
This year, suddenly, people are talking about AI replacing humans. This has been going on since the 1960’s & 1970’s. I’ve been there since the 80’s and made the pitches personally across the US & Canada and eventually elsewhere.
If the profiling/modeling is ethically controlled & the regulation is transparent enough to allow society to make decisions about what to allow, great.
If not, you get unregulated data mining operations running taking full advantage of public ignorance about the power of aggregated data. That’s where we are now. Then they take a chunk of the profits and donate/commission politicians to stop privacy laws to restrain the modeling/profiling which makes them rich at consumer’s expense.
These companies are not concerned with our health & well being. They will gleefully identify you in everything but name (so as to not run afoul of rudimentary US “privacy laws”) and sell your preferences to not just one, but _all_ bidders. For less than a penny per consumer. Most often way, way less. Like tenths of a penny.
It’s a really short step from finance choices to political choices. The math is the same. I believe the US and UK are under direct attack from foreign actors using modeling to influence voter behavior. Disinformation is bad for a democracy. But no one over the age of 20 ever had school classes on distinguishing good from garbage news. We all grew up on ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS + our local papers to give us the lay of the land. That business model is dust in favor of eyeball-grabbing extremist articles which generate views to sell ads. Societal benefit or consumer/voter interest just doesn’t come into the picture.
Computers are now strong enough that we can model biology & DNA. These are highly dimensional and dynamic systems. Way harder than the world I lived in. I can speak authoritatively for banking, insurance & telecom. As the bio/med data gets stronger, look out for insurers who use it to deny coverage to groups, or to exclude the very thing you’re more likely to get with a hard-to-find exclusion in small print.
This is the wrong place to get apocalyptic, but suffice to say with enough behavior modeling (aka profiling) it’s not real hard to get large groups of people to do what you want them to do.
Meanwhile, I’m going back to my 1975 quadrajet carburetor. All I’ve got to worry about there is spring rates & vacuum.
An interesting thread, if not worrisome in some ways. In my humble opinion, A.I. will be the final blow to civilization as we know it.
A friend of mine has one of those google "toys" that she instructs to play songs and tell jokes. When I told her that it was listening
all the time, she said " Only when you say, Hey google!" Some people you just can't reach!
I was in my shop, working on something. Can't remember what it was. I said aloud " I have no idea how this %^&*() works. My phone said I surely dont. Still spooks me .
It's not really your phone. It's your Google, apple and Amazon accounts. It's also possible your ISP and router are tracking you too.
You can take steps to limit this, but it's not easy and never 100%. Get garbage email account and use those to log into your phone apps.
Try looking up your name on Google. You'll see all kinds of sites that track you from public records such as property, phone number, and voting records.
Last edited by Olds64; Sep 1, 2023 at 03:52 AM.
Reason: No politics or religious discussion allowed.
So I have seen commercials for duck duck go that swears they block the trackers and you can use them instead of google chrome. I wonder if there is any truth to their claims. Anyone know or are using it?
