Snooping?

[studders]

Had my usual read of the Forum this morning then decided to have a quick look on t'Bay for any, vastly underpriced, bargains.
Now, one of the threads on the Forum (Sale/Wanted) was about a Sedgewick Saw. I didn't actually read the post though. So, guess what came up as Ebays 'Suggestions' for me on the home page?
Coincidence? or do they somehow know what I've been doing? If the latter how do I prevent it?

 

[RogerS]

It's all to do with cookies, I believe. Or Google Analytics or one of the other zillion snooping programmes that lurk in the background monitoring watching your every move.

 

[Mike.C]

Now Mr S you haven't been caught spying on the Kremlin again have you mate #-o

Cheers

Mike

 

[RogerS]

Now Mr S you haven't been caught spying on the Kremlin again have you mate #-o

Cheers

Mike

We log every keystroke of these troublemakers !

 

[beech1948]

Studders,
The short answer is Yes, Ebay and others track what you look at on the internet. That's one of the things that cookies are for.

These days all internet browsers allow these types of cookies to be deposited in your system. A new breed of intermediate company has sprung up which takes and analyses this data and then provides it to the end users company.

Thats why you start to get such accurate suggestions from Ebay and many others. The usere company sees it as clever marketing as its cheap to do.

I am seeking to move from Berkshire to Somerset/ Devon so all of my searches have created a profile which delivers house suggestions by the locations I browse, the companies I browse with eg. Zoopla. It can be useful but it can also be bloody intrusive.

I wouldn't get too wound up about it as there is little you can do to prevent it and the time taken would be horrendous and better spent in the workshop.

regards
Al

 

[xy mosian]

Strangely this thread reminded me that I recently came across this site:- http://www.donottrack.us/.
Apparantly the option exists to prevent tracking with some browsers. I have just followed the instructions for Firefox, now to see if it makes a difference.

HTH
xy

p.s. This is a setting within the browser options and no additional software is downloaded or installed.
xy

 

[JakeS]

Studders,
The short answer is Yes, Ebay and others track what you look at on the internet. That's one of the things that cookies are for.

I wouldn't mind this kind of thing nearly so much if it weren't for the fact that they always seem to pick up on the stupidest things and ignore the things I'm actually interested in. I search around the internet for half an hour for 200mm saw blades, then go shopping with my girlfriend and she asks me to look up reviews for a particular hair straightener on my phone, and for the next week Amazon's sending me emails with the latest deals on hair straighteners and not once do they try and sell me power tools...!

 

[studders]

Now Mr S you haven't been caught spying on the Kremlin again have you mate #-o

Cheers

Mike

No need for me to do that Mr C. me an Vlad are bessie mates. :lol:

We log every keystroke of these troublemakers !

I'm telling Vlad you called me a Trouble Maker, expect a 'visit' any time soon. :mrgreen:

Studders,
The short answer is Yes, Ebay and others track what you look at on the internet. That's one of the things that cookies are for.........
I wouldn't get too wound up about it as there is little you can do to prevent it and the time taken would be horrendous and better spent in the workshop.

regards
Al

I sort of thought it might be something to do with that but was confused as to how they knew about threads I hadn't even looked at. Thanks for the explanation Al, all is clear now and me an Vlad will rest easy.

 

[RogerS]

That's a cool link, xy...thanks for that. I see that Google Chrome does NOT support this feature. Now I wonder why ? :-k

 

[xy mosian]

Roger I just asked Chrome to find an answer, and trhis is what came up.:- http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/C ... a3cf&hl=en
I cannot say if it will work but might be worth trying out.

xy

 

[RogerS]

Had a little play with that. Hotmail doesn't want to play ...even if I set it to be an exception.

And deleting all cookies was definitely a bad idea #-o

 

[xy mosian]

Had a little play with that. ... deleting all cookies was definitely a bad idea #-o

OOPS Sorry about that Roger
xy

 

[Chems]

Yes its all the cookies, but its not a bad thing. Sometimes its an easy way to keep track of prices from different people, you get adverts about whatever you were shopping then see its cheaper somewhere else. UKW is currently advertising me solar panels, I think because I was researching environmentally friendly packaging last week.

The really funny thing is that if I use UKW on other computers, its default advert seems to be thai brides?

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

The really funny thing is that if I use UKW on other computers, its default advert seems to be thai brides?

Do the owners of said computers happen to have oriental wifes? :lol:

I have never noticed UKW show me tailored adds. Its normally always something to do with timber or tools at the top and currently down the side its insurance from a website I avoid. I haven't been looking at timber, tools or insurance.

eBay normally suggests the stupid things. I search or hours looking for tools or parts for projects and electronics etc and yet its still recommending womans tops that I viewed once from a link in an email from her well before xmas.

 

[Mark A]

its default advert seems to be thai brides?

I get either Thai brides or underfloor heating - both of which I haven't searched for!

I downloaded C-Cleaner last year when my computer was playing up and still use it regularly. Afterall, it doesn't take that long to type in a password surely?

 

[RogerP]

I find Firefox's Adblock Plus very efficient. I don't get advertisements on any of the forums I visit. It was a bit too enthusiastic one site even took out all the members avatars!

 

[RogerS]

its default advert seems to be thai brides?

I get either Thai brides or underfloor heating - both of which I haven't searched for!

I downloaded C-Cleaner last year when my computer was playing up and still use it regularly. Afterall, it doesn't take that long to type in a password surely?

It's the remembering of them...that's the trouble!

Chrome is supposed to interact with Keychain in the Mac and pick up your login details automatically but I find it very hit and miss. As is Chrome's Autofill feature....which is dire.