At work I recently came across a new word. And I had recently (a week before this happened) turned off all the listening app features on my iPhone 13 apps. I was working on my work laptop and Kubernetes came up. At the time I did it know what that was, and because it was a tech conversation or even how to spell it. Being a dosh I thought it was cubenetics. However 1 day later I got an add on Instagram add come on for “Kubernetes” lessons. And that was the first time I saw it spelt correctly. My issue is how did Instantgram know??? My work and private life are only linked by me having the teams app on my phone which I barely use. I don’t believe it was a coincidence that I just happened to get and add for Kubernetes when I never had before. Can I make this stop and still keep my IPhone?
Instagram Ad for Something on My Work Laptop - How Did They Track Me?
Last edited 08/05/2023 - 15:49 by 1 other user
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They're always listening.
Who?
Them.
The psychological phenomenon you are referring to is known as the "Baader-Meinhof phenomenon" or "frequency illusion". This occurs when a person becomes aware of something and then starts to notice it more frequently, even though the occurrence of the thing has not actually increased. Essentially, the brain is more attuned to noticing the thing because it has become more salient. This can happen with many things, such as a particular word, a certain type of car, or even a specific brand of clothing.
Kubernetes is v specific though…
It's related to their work so it's not outside the realm of possibility that the various algorithms know that this person is in IT and so this is relevant.
Then there's the law of big numbers. We're hearing a sample size of 1 compared to the billions of actions that occur daily.
There's no conspiracy here. Use enough data points based on history and actions and these things will seem like magic
Never heard it called Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. When I first learnt about it on a training course, it was reticular activation. But I see that is the part of the brain that causes this. Remember when I bought a Camry many years ago. Decided on a white one, but never saw any around, just other colours. After I picked up my new car, I started seeing white Camry's everywhere!! The brain is amazing sometimes!
GTA has the same phenomenon, except it's real in GTA because the game limits the cars that spawn around you to be similar to the car you are currently driving in order to save memory. So when you finally get in a rare car suddenly you'll see that rare care everywhere.
Baader-Meinhof phenomenon
Ever since I heard of this, everyone's talking about it!
I always thought that was a German terrorist organisation.
Did you type the word into Whatsapp or anything while chatting?
I remember hearing (so I don't know if it's true or not) certain words in Whasapp are captured for ads. But I also understand that Whatsapp chats are end-to-end encrypted. So I wonder…. at what point would they capture those key words?
They definitely read WhatsApp. I've seen it first hand when some random person from the past was mentioned in a group chat and a day later I get those annoying Insta notifications of "someone you may know is on Instagram" and it's this very same random that has no connections to anyone I have in Instagram.
Tell me they aren't scanning your end to end encrypted messages….
My question is, how do you not disable ads?
IP address. My partner gets ads for whatever crap I'm buying off ozbargain.
I will have to test this out at the library. I will buy some 12 inch dildos and see what ads the other computer users are getting. Any good deals on 12 inch dildos?
This won't work, they know* how many people share an IP address so if it's a lot that signal isn't used.
*estimateYou don't need to use this post as an excuse to buy 12 inch dildos! haha
Purely for academic purposes…
Ip address is definitely one ingredient in their models (as are shared devices) but there’s a lot of other data pulled in too.
This is a really common one and has been tested by various journalists. It is likely explained in AustriaBargains comment.
It's probably time to start blocking ads if it annoys you - I believe iOS Safari supports as blockers otherwise, maybe it's time for a Pihole or other DNS based solution.
You could also opt-out of tracking which I have done before. This resulted in weird mildly-nsfw ads for some sort of anime game.
I work in a related field - in short, it’s unlikely they were listening but joined the dots (data) in other ways.
The concept of a “social network” is the ability for a company to create a view of who you are, who you interact with and who’s most influential to you.
It’s likely that someone in the meeting had been googling/reading websites about kubernetes - and you are someone who wasat the same place at the same time, with no knowledge of kubernetes
Facebook and Google have tracking code on a huge number of websites out there. One of the best ways for a website owner/company to retarget you with more of their content is to put that code in their website. Even if you have ad blockers, the data can be shared easily “serverside” - so even those aren’t infallible
Anyway, it is possible they were also listening through some dodgy app/implementation but it’s surprisingly easy to join the dots with the huge amount of data they already have
It’s likely that someone in the meeting had been googling/reading websites about kubernetes - and you are someone who wasat the same place at the same time, with no knowledge of kubernetes
Are you saying that they added geolocationing to build a profile of known contacts? And what if you are in a very tall building with very diverse tenants?
Yes. This is why most large scale apps ask for “location services”, even when they don’t need it to function (eg, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn etc).
Location services however, also use Bluetooth pings and wifi access points - with much smaller radius’ to identify nearby devices.
Agreed that the data isn’t very clean, but gathered over a decent period of time it becomes more than accurate enough for some company to pay to target this person.
Your work laptop and home devices will be linked in some ad analytics database.
I was working on my work laptop and Kubernetes came up.
Looks like you fell into the cluster to serve Kubernetes ads, first, not the other way round.
Can I make this stop and still keep my IPhone?
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock
https://nextdns.io/
https://1blocker.com/Volunteer for an organisation such as https://privacy.org.au
More than once (latest twice in 2 days last week while in Shitney for work) I've been talking to someone and then gone to type about it into google like - How does XYZ work - and I get to How does … and it auto populates what we were talking bout…. ???
we were only talking about it before hitting google - we hadn't typed anything yet it into google on the subject…
i dont believe nobody is listening.
No one is listening to your conversation
The likely thing is the person you were talking about a topic had searched/looked at that specific topic.
Google/Insta/Facebook can target based on look alike audiences, which can include similar characteristics (age, occupation, lifestyle,‘previous search history) and also location.
I assume you speak to people that share some similarities, and therefore another person that the paid ad would attempt to target
The likely thing is the person you were talking about a topic had searched/looked at that specific topic.
No we hadnt…. We talked about it verbally - nothing more. I had never searched for it on the laptop..
Yes, but what had the other person done on this topic in the past 7-10 days?
@popcornready: Wouldn't matter what they did on their own laptop with their own login on their domain.It was on my laptop with my login not hers.
Even if she had searched it, why would it auto populate on my laptop - just from 2 words… The variables are endless on what I could have been going to type in.
Or perhaps you just aren't as unique as you think
Google, based on all it's data points it knows about you, was able to predict likely common search terms based on your first few words.
It's algorithm has tried this hundreds of times before, but you only notice when it manages to get it right.
It was a microbiological test neither of us had heard of before… There are millions of them…
it would have to be some futuristic miracle algorithm to guess the right one with not even 1 letter of the actual subject to hone in on…
IMWO - not really possible
How can she
slaplisten?
I've had something similar happen. I was having a (voice) chat with my brother over Skype and after I finished, while browing my phone, I started seeing ads that related to some of the things we'd been discussing. These topics were new so I was surprised to see these ads. I meant to test this further but forgot about it.
People will continue to think that every conversation is being listened in on and ignore the simple truth that you leak data online like an open dam and be surprised Pikachu face when they get ads
So in my case, I was googling Spriggy card using work computer in the office with Google chrome under different profile (since it is a shared computer used by multiple people). A day later my instagram is serving me Spriggy ads. How do they know to serve me this ad?? I have never heard or seen Spriggy before which is why I googled them.
He is starting to believe deploy the programs.. I mean agents.. I mean police
Same device? Same wifi network? Or is Teams the only connection you have. Either way, you’ve allowed these apps/devices talk to each other when you’ve accepted t+c’s somewhere.
I'm yet to see the correct answer, so here it is - device fingerprinting.
Advertisers use a combination of data points to tie your profile together across different viewing contexts, such as different account, different location, different device.
There's always enough in common between your online presences for them to algorithmically link you to an existing common profile.
The effort you would need to go through to eliminate this form of tracking entirely far outweighs the benefit for most people.
I don’t use Whatsapp for work or any other META product. I have turned tracking off. I have worked in IT for 15 years and never come across Kubenetes and during this time never recall and add for them. The very next day after we discussed (Never typed never googled, just talked on a teams call) the add came up. It was at this time I saw its correct spelling as I this as Coopernetics. I’ll test this with something else. Like Gravy recipes and let you know.
Have you turned off app tracking on your iPhone?
Settings / Privacy & Security / Tracking
"Allow apps to ask to track your activity across other companies' apps and websites. When this is off, all new app tracking requests are automatically denied."
Possible cause