all the paranoia that goes with smart phones..

Yup, when I do an media buy, I am obligated to drill down. I can't just walk in and say "I want to advertise to 50-year olds." I have to go deeper and say 50-year olds, in a specific region, in this income bracket, educational background, during this time period, etc." Then you simply get a couple numbers back related to how much it will cost per "CPM".

So, if you think about it, the level of detail I am getting is actually "here is what these thousand people all generally have in common". Even the guys who attend Black Hat would need more info than that to hack a person.

funkylogik said:

Lmao thanks bud. I realised my post seemed too sarky so tweaked it a bit :beer:

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I'm a tuff guy ... I can take it

pix

Don't mess with funky. He eats haggis, wears a skirt and tosses both cabers and sheaf.

So to take this a wee bit philosophical, why does it seem like theres such a backlash lately about this typa thing? Or am i just imagining that people are getting more overly paranoid lately? (Maybe its ME getting paranoid about the paranoid people.... d'oh!)

funkylogik said:

I think everyone here knows how data mining and targeted advertising works lol. As i said, we arent stupid. The point is that WE DONT CARE. we accept it as a valid business model and we tap "i agree" with our eyes wide open

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Precisely. It might seem a bit invasive but advertising makes a lot of the world go around for free, so I'd rather have it targeted and relevant to my interests, than be shown things that are of no use to me.

We should still keep this story in mind: How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did - Forbes

They analyse people's purchase history to guess what kind of person they are, and then send them adverts and vouchers for products they believed the person would want to buy. This young girl was buying products which flagged up the "I'm pregnant" pattern of shopping, so they sent her pregnancy related promotions to her home address, but her parents hadn't known she was pregnant yet... they did afterwards!

divinebovine said:

Can't find it now but there was a comic recently with a guy who forgot to bring his lunch to work, then the NSA handed him some lunch. So instead I give you this:

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Lol that is *insert expletive*! I won't mind constant surveillance if it helps in scenarios like this. Lol.

^ lol now thats a bit freaky

I remember seeing a G+ post from last month where this guy started saying that the 4.3 leak was stealing people's bank account details.

OptimusL said:

I remember seeing a G+ post from last month where this guy started saying that the 4.3 leak was stealing people's bank account details.

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I remember a bloke down the pub who said that mobile phones would make your head turn purple...

gtbarry said:

I work in Advertising, Marketing and Branding. Are you trying to tell me that advertising is the same as spying? The same as gathering personal data?

I have worked for some of the largest tech companies. Some of their names are mentioned in this forum often. VERY often. I have been charged with millions of dollars in advertising budget and overseen international advertising purchases. I have met with some of the largest advertisers in the world across all advertising mediums. And NEVER have I found out about an individual I was advertising to.

If you knew 1% about advertising you would know what CPM means. Look it up.

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lol. ok bro.

thats great you never found out anything but general details. I'd consider names telephone numbers and addresses to be pretty personal information, but I guess you dont. And anyone can go online and sign up to databases and get that stuff for a couple bucks.

You know John, I think I've come to my senses and you're right. How DO I know that someone didn't break into my house in the middle of the night and install a spy app on my phone?? Someone this very moment could be reading through my texts last night about how I feel Dave Diehl should be playing guard rather than tackle on the Giants.

Come to think of it, how do I know someone hasn't installed keyloggers on our computers, John?? They might be reading everything we type!

I think when I go out for lunch I might check under my car too. In one of those recent episodes of Dexter, Deb put that GPS tracker under his car. What if someone is keeping notes on how often I go to the local deli for lunch?!

Really I have no way of knowing whether or not there's a sniper waiting for me when I walk out of the door of work here, because they know that I know what they're up to (because they're keylogging this post, obvi)... and now they have to get rid of me.

Anything's possible. The likelihood of ANYTHING I just mentioned happening is infinitesimal, so I can go on living my life with my smartphone and all these things quite comfortably. If it's uncomfortable for you, then don't use life's modern conveniences.

And honestly, I've never dated someone where I was paranoid about what they thought about me or what I was up to or any of that crap. Furthest thing from my mind. If I did, I'd recognize that as an unhealthy relationship and get out of it ASAP. That kind of malarkey is MAYBE understandable if you're 18... certainly not 28 (me) or 38 (assumption from the '1975' in 'john1975'). If I had a "boyfriend tracker" app on my phone... who f'in cares? And if I was ever confronted about, "You said you were going to the deli at 1:30 and you didn't get there until 1:40, how do you explain those 10 minutes!!!" I'd reply with, "Yeah this isn't working out.. see ya"

On targeted advertising vs. spying, etc: I don't think most of the actual advertisers have any interest in our private lives beyond what can be used to spam us (which itself can get irritating), but the data and the way it's collected can easily be abused along the way.

OptimusL said:

He's just hiding his porno collection (unless he's revealed others stuff in his posts). I hardly think that should be called infidelity, he shouldn't be hiding this stuff but it's not like he's cheating on her imho.

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In so far as infidelity is generally considered to mean cheating with another person, giving to them what should be given to one's significant other instead, I agree. That is what most people think of for the word "infidelity".

It can also, however, mean dishonesty and hiding stuff. If that's what is meant then it certainly qualifies.

It can also be in the eyes of the beholder, specifically the person who feels victimized. This is, unfortunately, often impossible to define until it's too late. It can seem completely nuts to the alleged perpetrator, it can even seem nuts to the entire outside world, but if the person feels hurt by it then they feel hurt...it is what it is. It's the cause of many relationship failures/difficulties.

Do I think he's wrong for having a porn collection? Assuming nobody was hurt in the making of it (i.e. none of the illegal stuff), not at all. Hiding it from his GF is not necessarily healthy for his relationship but it sounds like she's found plenty before on multiple occasions and they have somewhat of an equilibrium relating to it, with a bit of an arms race maybe. If that's their dysfunction, so be it...who are we to rain on that parade?

Anyone who thinks any type of data or communication that gets beyond under your mattress - wired, wireless, paper, electronic, encrypted or not - whatever - is truly safe, secure or private is simply naive. It never has been and never will be.

Don't worry, be happy...

out of ideas said:

lol. ok bro.

thats great you never found out anything but general details. I'd consider names telephone numbers and addresses to be pretty personal information, but I guess you dont. And anyone can go online and sign up to databases and get that stuff for a couple bucks.

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I have never received phone numbers and addresses. Nor names. You need to understand what aggregate means.
Aggregate - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

We never find out anything more than "there are a thousand people in this grouping that you will be reaching." If anything, I can only find out things like "100% of the people are above your minimum income level and 90% are above this level and 70% are above this level." You never drill down to a person. Never.

I can't even drill down deeper than that. That goes for Google, facebook, ABC, BBC, NY Times, etc. And have paid all of them tons of money to advertise with them.

divinebovine said:

On targeted advertising vs. spying, etc: I don't think most of the actual advertisers have any interest in our private lives beyond what can be used to spam us (which itself can get irritating), but the data and the way it's collected can easily be abused along the way.

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Agreed.

People shouldn't fear private companies trying to group you into demographics so we can target your ads and thus waste less of your time and our money.

People should fear governments doing even more aggressive data gathering. They have guns and the right to incarcerate you - we don't.

Running Windows is by far the most serious security risk.

If Google, or anyone else, is mining me for "targeted ads" then they're doing a pretty shoddy job of it. Maybe it's the sites I visit, but I rarely see (or at least recognise) an ad, and I get more cold-calls on my landline than spam emails or SMS.

Crashdamage said:

Running Windows is by far the most serious security risk.

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Running windows here since Win3.1, apart from a brief (thanks IBM!) dalliance with OS/2. No virus, malware or unauthorised access has been yet recorded. It's not the OS that is the risk, it's the users.

OK...for average, ordinary, non-techie users, running Windows is by far the most serious security risk.

Defo... all those exe things or whatever. Im not ashamed to say i could probably fill a pc with malware in a few days lol. Android is much more on my (simple) level. You know where you stand with android (my new catchphrase)

john1975 said:

Marketplace > Install App

not so difficult.

and most people don't have security functions enabled because of it's own nuisances....(having to enter a pin every time just to check a txt message...etc, etc)

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You'll have to decide for yourself if it is worth putting some type of security lock on your phone. I use a pattern lock because it is convenient to unlock and I don't want someone poking around in my accounts if I lose my phone.

It's like closing and locking the doors of your house. It's less convenient to enter and leave, but many people feel that the added security is worth a little bit of incovenience.

john1975 said:

They also have a higher tendency of hiring hot babes, to do barely no work....or promote them easily for doing 'other' kinds of work.

Big government will hire ugly chicks...as long as they have proper skills.

It also kinda explains how hot chicks become Republicans...and ugly ones = opposite.

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Glad you don't stereotype or generalize

john1975 said:

I disagree with you there, big corporations have much higher tendencies to do more evil....then big governments...

At-least with the government, there is more oversight and slightly more trust. Big corporations are very undisciplined and will try to get away with as much as they can...as long as nobody's lookin.

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It depends on the government and the corporations you are referring to. Not all governments are more trustworthy than big corporations. I don't know about government oversight. Governments can pass laws that bypass any oversights. Governments are known to be able to intercept communications without any type of oversight.

I also find it funny how people love blaming the Gov. , whenever their party isn't in power....once they are in power (Republican or whatever) , all of a sudden they love the Gov. again...and feel like everything's on the right track.

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Where have I seen behaviour like this before?

We have an ongoing thread in the politics and current affairs forum if you'd like to discuss the recent government oversight/spying issues.

gtbarry said:

Glad you don't stereotype or generalize

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I'm surprised, given the high level of respect he shows women.