Chrissy Podolak
cp742820@ohio.edu
How Do Advertisers Know?
Have you ever talked to your friend about something you had for dinner and then went on Facebook and saw it advertised on your page? Or have you been looking online at a place you would like to go on vacation to find suggested places for you to stay? How can this happen? Everyone on social media has agreed to some extent to give up their privacy. When you go to a website or download an application, do you read the fine print? I know I don't and most people don't care or even realize what they may be agreeing to. Searching online for clothing, groceries, cars or even doctors opens your electronic device up for advertisers. Most people have the option of not watching commercials anymore. We have Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc. and can either opt out of commercials or skip right through them. Advertisers needed to find another way to advertise their products to you.
Every time you search online -- your activities, shopping and ads you click on -- reveal much more than you know to advertisers. It is no mistake that the ads you see are geared towards your liking. All these key strokes are being tracked so that you can be directly and personally advertised to. Time did a cover story on a woman trying to opt out of data collection process and her experience sheds light on how harrowing the procedure can be in this extremely inter-connected world.
Is It Personal?
You may wondered, how can this be possible? Isn't this infringing on my personal space and privacy? Many would agree that this is interfering on their personal privacy. Yet, we allow them to simply having signed up for a social media site. We give up the right of privacy and may not even realize it. There should be a way to opt out of this and the Federal Trade Commission and Congress are working on a No Track option for this very reason. However, internet does offer some help on how to preserve your privacy and restrict large corporations from tracking you online.
Watching this video for ways to opt out of online tracking.
Hi Chrissy,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this blog! I am always so fascinated by iphones or alexas listening in on us. Similar to you every time I have an update on my iphone and I have to read the "terms and conditions" I never read it. For a while I always hated how I would speak about food for example and I would get advertisements on Instagram for food places but now I kind of like it because I don't have to dig so far to find food. Funny story now that more people are starting to know that your phone is always listening I have been sure to talk a-lot about engagement rings around my boyfriends phone and his google home mini to see if any ads pop up. That he might be interested in.