So who is listening to me?

self | 4/22/14 | ThunderSleeps

[ThunderSleeps]

One possible explanation, and I honestly don't remember if I had done this or not, is I might have zoomed/centered google maps near that part of town first. I realize maps will prioritize that area when you start typing in an address. Been slightly freaked out all weekend though...

[NautiNurse]

Take in a baseball game. It surely beats stressing about things over which we have no control.

[SomeCallMeTim]

Have you ever searched for that address before?

Recently, I wrote an email to a friend about how much my damn dog barks... for the next three days, I had ads for Dog Obedience training showing up on my viewing of the Drudge Report!

Google scans and sells EVERYTHING.

[servo1969]

They are called ‘cookies.’

[Viennacon]

Try it again. It’s possible you have NSA GoogGoons tapping you because you criticized the Mooch’s lardass or Hillary’s cankles.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I used the term ‘nitpicking’ in an email and for months after got adds for head lice treatments.

[ThunderSleeps]

Google scans and sells EVERYTHING.

Oh I'm sure of that. A while back there was some discussion about all the medical codes, going from a few hundred to several tens of thousands or some such. I looked them up just for fun, to see what some of the oddball codes were/are.

I am still getting ads in my in box and on the sidebars for various medical tech schools, etc. LOL

[Safetgiver]

Trust me. I’M not listening to you.

[Westbrook]

Does Google have your mobile phone number?

They are always asking for it. Have you given it to them?

Google is a spy agency. They sell your every keystroke to advertisers, and give it to government spy agencies for free.

Google is your enemy.

Avoid using them for anything.

[don-o]

-10 for beginning a sentence with “So”.

[ThunderSleeps]

Have you ever searched for that address before?

No, that was a brand new one to me.

If I put on my tinfoil hat I start to think someone was listening and was curious about my connection to that address. (none before, none since) They might have googled me and that address. Google's heuristics etc having picked up on that, a few minutes later when I start to type in that address Google tries to be helpful and completes what it thinks it knows about me - 'cause someone else had already associated me with that address in Google's mind.

Seems pretty far-fetched. My other not-so-over-the-top explanation is that I was also told "it's near the corner of x and y" and I may have (un)consciously scrolled/positioned Google Maps over/near that area. That address may be the only one in that area that starts "64..." I just don't remember doing that. But it seems plausible, probably even likely that I did.

Ah well, if anyone is that interested in me they are rapidly going to get bored. Aside from ranting here I'm no real threat to anyone. Well, if there is a surveillance team listening to me they may be in danger. You see, I am going to sing along with the radio on the way to work. I should probably apologize to those guys up front - I hope you had a light breakfast and a strong stomach. There's a reason I only sing in the car, alone.

[UnwashedPeasant]

"Wife called me (cell phone to cell phone) and read me the address."

Was it an Android cell phone?

[minnesota_bound]

If you are logged into gmail then you are logged into google search. You can log out and clear the cookies then search.
http://www.aboutcookies.org/DEFAULT.ASPX?page=2

If you still have the ads and the suggestions coming up then maybe google is using speech to text to listen in on the calls. If you use an android phone then you are using google. They just haven’t gotten around to telling the public they are listening yet...

[central_va]

Your ISP has a domain address which is geographically (zip code) near the physical address you looked up. So that address came up first. If I tried to type in “64” that address would not come up for me.

[ThunderSleeps]

If you use an android phone then you are using google. They just haven’t gotten around to telling the public they are listening yet...

That makes sense. Yes, I do have an Android phone. Son of a ...

[central_va]

My ISP is in Charlottesville, VA so when I type in "64" in Google maps this is what I get:

64 University Way Charlottesville, VA 22903

[ThunderSleeps]

I think I’ll run a test to confirm this. At work today, from an account not associated with me I’m going to look up a valid address in say the next town over. I’ll write it down on a piece of paper and give it to my wife. I’ll have her call me (cell to cell again) and read off the address. Then a few minutes later I’ll go to google maps and start typing in the address...

[minnesota_bound]

Google: “He’s on to us! “Call the SWAT team!”

[ladyjane]

That happens to me all the time. If I put something in an email about a CD I start getting ads from banks. If I look up an airport in a certain city I start getting ads from hotels in that city. Don’t believe me - google something, e.g., CD rates, poison ivy or crab grass and all of a sudden you’ll start getting pop-ups related to those topics.

Google, aol, and the rest of them - they all scan your emails and the sites you visit.

[ponygirl]

Do you have your devices synced through iCloud? I synced two of mine so that all photos and contacts would be accessible and noticed that when I pull up the browser to type in a URL on my phone, the last 5 or so sites I visited on my laptop show up in a list. That raised an eyebrow because I didn't know iCloud was logging those.

If you are logged in to Google, they are caching everything you do. That's the problem with Chrome.

Try startpage.com for a search engine. It was developed by privacy advocate Katherine Albrecht. It uses the Google search platform, but your search will go through start page servers and your ISP isn't logged. So your ISP appears to Google as 000.000.000.000.