Maybe I'm not the norm. Heck I've never been accused of being normal, but I was thinking about advertisers spending their money for ads on here for example. I am probably the least likely person on here, or on planet Earth, to buy a Mazda.

 

I only see them on my phone, easily avoided.

 

I looked at some quilting stuff on line for my wife for Christmas. Now I am getting ads for that stuff on this site and others. There is no doubt about targeted advertising.

 

If you're ever having trouble trying to figure out just what it is exactly a "free" website or APP is selling - guess what - it's YOU.

Recently read an article some state DMV - .gov agencies, are getting into the act, selling personal data.

 

They are wasting their time and resources on me, I don't succumb to click-bait advertising. The thing is that it is mostly "automated" and done with bots that surreptitiously glean your info and process it. My "free" Winix wireless app that controls my air purifiers needs access to my contacts, photos, needs to be able to make calls on the phone and access the internet, change phone settings, etc. It's a Brave New World indeed.

 

Fun story: My dad and I were discussing German WWII aircraft and to settle a dispute, he googled for some information on Junkers Jumo engine powered aircraft. Later that week he sent me a screen shot of a series of advertisements he was getting - "Get all your Junkers Jumo Engine Parts Here!". The kicker, the engines are virtually extinct - nobody has a warehouse of parts and would advertise like that, especially Joe Schmoe's Internet Automotive Parts Depot.

 

One of the negative things about the day we live incompared to the day we were born in.

 

But it sure beats mailing letters to get a response like it use to be. But, things were more mellow back then.

 

that’s why they were more mellow cause you had to WAIT for a response instead of the instant gratification of getting everything now.

 

It really does not need access to all that, you can Deny Access to the photos and such, just leave it with internet access.

Lord help you if you have an Alexa in the house. They listen all the time and report Key Words back to Ma Amazon. You can actually have a lot of fun messing with it. No way I'm getting a Smart TV, truly shades of 1984.

 

Just Logging onto FTE, I checked and it installs at least thirty seven (37) different "cookies".