Bought a couple things at Walmart this morning. When I got home there was an email from Walmart

[captain queeg]

thanking me for my purchase and informing me they'd add those items to my list of purchases I'd made online. Its just creepy.

[Cracklin Charlie]

1. I verbally told my husband on Sunday...

That I had found a flea on our dog, and could he stop by vet for treatment on Monday.

Neither he nor I were online any device at the time. I have been seeing flea medicine ads all this week.

[MineralMan]

3. Siri and Alexa are always listening.

If you use voice commands on your Android phone, Google is listening, too, by default.

There was a TV ad the other day, in which someone asked Alexa something. My Alexa device answered the question. Hmm...so I said, "Alexa! Ignore the TV." That ad never got a response from her again.

[FoxNewsSucks]

21. Google listens also.

I was on a road trip about three years ago, and watching the movie "Baby Driver" . Wondering something about one of the actors, I got as far as "B-A-B" in the google search bar and it immediately auto-filled "Baby Driver Cast". I thought WTH, because I would have expected Baby Wipes Baby Clothes Baby Food etc to be common enough searches to make something infant-related the top autofills.

I had someone else in the van try on their phone, same thing. Obviously, google was listening on everyone's phone and knew what movie was being played. When we got home, we all tried the search on our home wi-fi's and all got "baby food" or something infant-related.

Those microphones are very sensitive, and they are all listening to what we say and what we are doing.

[ZonkerHarris]

26. We should all react like Ron Swanson to this

[FoxNewsSucks]

28. That would be fun,

and that's exactly why they made sure computers and computerphones became indispensably embedded in everyday life before letting it get found out how much spying is going on

[MineralMan]

31. How would you get on DU?

[FoxNewsSucks]

33. That was my point,

I don't think it's possible for very many people to live today without computers. No one in modern societies would make it very long without computers and machinery.

We're so dependent, and make use of them, to the point that even though we now know the privacy loss, we just live with it.

[MineralMan]

34. Yes. The answer is to learn how to

maintain control of your devices, letting them do only things you are comfortable with and useful to you.

Or not, as you choose...

[llmart]

48. "No one in modern societies would make it very long"

I still believe that there are quite a few of us out here who are not dependent on being attached to a cell phone. I have two brothers who don't use cell phones. They don't use computers either and I wouldn't say their lives are any worse for it. I have a cheap pay as you go phone that I keep in my car in the event of an emergency, but I forget I even have one. I have a land line. I do have a home computer and have used computers during my career, probably before most people knew how to use them, but I just sort of ignore ads that come up. I'm not really swayed by any advertising even if it's in a magazine or on TV. I have one debit/credit card and I use it for everything. I don't need any more than one card.

I have a sister who has never learned how to drive and never owned a car. Somehow she has managed to make it to 80 years old. She has never had much money or many belongings, but she seems very content with her life, much more content than a sister in law who has to have every new gadget that comes on the market, has a shopping addiction, and is quite a boring person despite her thinking she's "interesting" because she knows how to use all her gadgets. My sister has had a very interesting life in comparison.

I actually have a friend whose sister and husband live off the grid. I love hearing stories about their lives. I've met them once and they seem to be very content with their lives, much more content than the angsty people in this country who can't understand why they're all so stressed out every day. I have another friend who is 70 and she lives in a 650 sq. ft. apartment with no internet or tv. She is also a very content person and extremely well-rounded and intelligent with three advanced degrees.

My point is that maybe in your world you don't know anyone like us but we're out here. Quite frankly, I've seen what's out there these days as far as Americans go and I'd just as soon not be "mainstream".

[redstatebluegirl]

27. I would not have one of those in my house!

[lindysalsagal]

29. Me, neither. I was terrified of Animal Farm as a kid: Now, it's here.

And the states want to "question" students about their "opinions" so they can get their religious/political perspectives on file....

Makes me want to hide in a cabin in the woods....

[MineralMan]

30. OK. You have to buy them, so it's your choice, really.

I don't mind if you don't have them.

Siri, however is on iPhones.

Alexa used on devices sold by Amazon.

Google has a voice recognition thing, too. If you have an Android phone, just say "Hey, Google!" It's not very good, though, for general sorts of things. It's great if you're using Google Maps, though. "Hey, Google! Directions to the nearest Italian restaurant."

You don't have to use any such things, though, if you don't want to.

[EYESORE 9001]

5. Well, it is the start of spring

Fleas are getting active. Or you could ponder why you can’t take the battery out of your iPhone.

[Cracklin Charlie]

17. Every time I see deer out back, I check my dogs for fleas.

I saw one deer Saturday, and one flea on my dog Sunday.

Fairly predictable in my yard.

[Midnight Writer]

8. Have you had your vaccine? Could be the nanobots ratted you out.

[Generic Brad]

39. That is why my Alexa is gathering dust

I do not like the invasiveness. I don’t find it helpful at all.

[Cracklin Charlie]

40. I don't even have Alexa.

It seems unnecessary, as well as invasive.

[Generic Brad]

41. It was a gift

I only pull it out when I know my daughter is visiting

[MineralMan]

2. Hmm...sorta like going into your local hardware store and

having the clerk remember what you've bought there before. I've always like that, myself.

Knowing what your customers buy and what they buy a second time has always been a good business practice.

[Crunchy Frog]

24. When it's an individual person that you interact with on a regular basis yes.

When it's a massive, faceless, inhuman corporate computer algorithm, maybe not so much, at least for some people.

[MineralMan]

32. I don't know the guy at the hardware store.

I don't know Alexa, either. Both are useful to me.

[Initech]

4. What I find even creepier...

Is when I'm browsing a site like Amazon, Newegg, or eBay, and then I get emails with suggestions for "handpicked items based on my searches and purchases". Despite that they're not at all related or relevant to anything that I've looked at.

No, I'm not buying $400 worth of server RAM just because you suggest it. I don't even own a server.

[getagrip_already]

16. mmmmm, RAM.........

You know you want some.

Explains why I bought a donut even though I don't own a police cruiser....... lol.

[FoxNewsSucks]

23. I don't know how to keep them from listening,

but I try to opt out of any "sharing" "connecting" "linking" or any of that crap. I get a warning that I'll still see ads, but they won't be as "relevant".

Even before smartphone use, when grocery store cards first came out, I have never gotten an offer or coupon for any product that I use. In fact, based on the things I do buy at the grocery store, the coupons I have gotten are sometimes ridiculously wrong.

[Initech]

35. I *always* disable all personalized ads.

I don't want personalized ads, I don't want targeted ads. The fewer mailing lists I'm on, the better!

[Crunchy Frog]

25. Makes me not want to look for sex toys online.

[Hortensis]

6. :) Close your account and they won't "maintain" it.

I only opened one when we started isolating and WalMart was the closest first to offer curbside pickup of online shopping. Maybe think of it as a personal assistant; I find their recordkeeping useful.

I was amused that the nice guy who brought out our bags the other day was now called our "personal shopper." Don't know what that is supposed to mean, but hope it included a raise.

[CrispyQ]

7. We gave up our privacy for convenience & now the genie's out of the bottle. -nt

[Hortensis]

12. Well, not long ago we shopped at the same stores everyone

in our neighborhood and town did, often seeing each other there, the store people knew us, our purchases, and often our financial issues, our phones were on party lines and the operator was from our town, hospitals hung charts on the walls outside rooms for everyone walking by to read, and, notably, most of our legal privacy protections didn't exist yet. Etc.

I'm guessing we've gained privacy. What information is out there is spread around in the bigger world we're all part of now -- away from people often avidly curious because they know us to computers and data analysts that could not care less about us individually.

[CrispyQ]

37. I disagree that we've gained privacy.

Everything wasn't captured on disc before the digital age. When you left town you had some anonymity. Now, there's surveillance everywhere, even your phone tracks you. I agree there's an overwhelming amount of data that keeps us anonymous as long as we don't do something to catch someone's attention. But if they decided to put you under the microscope, they would learn so many more details about your life today than in the past.

[nolabear]

9. Afraid so. I get followed everywhere. Even on DU.

During that time we were getting ads even as Star Members I got numerous ads that were connected to searches I’d made on Amazon and things I’d clicked on on FB. It’s a thing.

[Hugin]

10. When I went to the store this morning...

The doors opened as if by magic!

Super creepy!

[hlthe2b]

11. Yeah, but unless you purchase tobacco or other items that might be used against you in the future...

it is probably no more than creepy interference of privacy.

If you use a grocery store loyalty card, they already know every damned thing you buy and how often. On the advantage side, they can target those purchases with freebies as King Soopers/Krogers and Safeway do, sending coupons for free products purchased before. They can also notify you if there has been a recall and that is a good thing.

Not really defending the practice, but that genie appears too far out the bottle unless you are willing to pay cash at full price for everything and to give up any and all convenience afforded by online purchases or loyalty card registrations.

[Moostache]

13. People need to face reality...privacy, if it ever really existed at all, is DEAD.

You have a phone?
Your movements and whereabouts are tracked and recorded.

You go outside to public places?
The cameras on businesses and street corners (for 'monitoring traffic violations') are recorded and archived.

You talk to people about a specific subject within earshot of your personal Identification device...err, "phone"?
You guessed it - recorded and tracked and archived.

Big brother is not only here, he's in charge of your entire life already, just not overtly...yet.

If anyone wants anything like "privacy" in today's world that means leaving civilization behind and cutting yourself off entirely. Anything else involves some level of involuntary monitoring...

[kskiska]

14. I only occasionally buy stuff online.

Yesterday I was looking for a particular product and proceeded to the check-out and in the cart was my previous purchase that would have been added to my bill if I hadn't noticed it.

[multigraincracker]

15. Can we opt out?

I don’t want the FBI showing up.

[lagomorph777]

18. Now that you've mentioned the FBI, they'll show up.

Oh, shit. Now I've done it, too.

[multigraincracker]

20. I've know Agent Mike from

my years on DU.

[blogslug]

19. They just started doing that for account members who make in-store purchases.

I went to mine yesterday for my first covid vaccination (!) I don't drive and I swore to myself that as soon as I could walk the three blocks to wallyworld and get my shot, I would. So I did. I haven't set foot inside there in a year so, naturally I bought a bunch of dumb stuff I don't need. Got home and got the email.

[USALiberal]

22. Calm down, Then just unenroll!

[FakeNoose]

36. Are they tracking you by credit card?

If so, that would creep ME out. I don't shop at Walmart much, but if they use some kind of loyalty card, it would explain why they have your purchasing history and your email address.

I shop at a local grocery store here in Pittsburgh and I do use their loyalty card, but it's only to get credits for gasoline discounts. That store sends me emails with weekly specials and such, but never personalized messages.

[captain queeg]

38. Yes, it must have been by CC

And I don't have a walmart caed if there is such a thing. I have one CC that I use for shopping online and in person, so that's obviously what it was.

[LudwigPastorius]

42. Creepier:

Having lunch with a couple of friends with our phones on the table...the subject of an certain appliance comes up (Friend A had just bought one)...we discuss it for a couple of minutes...

Later (40 minutes, or so) at home, I'm checking a web site with my phone and I get served a web-based ad for the EXACT same appliance we were talking about.

The phone's microphone is not supposed to be on all the time...it was just a coincidence...Yeah, right!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

44. Ok.. there's got to be another explanation??

[Laura PourMeADrink]

45. Maybe your friends email? Phone contacts?

[LudwigPastorius]

47. That's what I'm thinking.

Maybe he had an app open that had access to his phone's microphone. Maybe there are algorithms that cross reference any names heard with the phone's contacts.

Facebook claims it don't do this, but Facebook has lied plenty of times before about its practices.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

43. Creepier. Bought this obscure shampoo at Walgreens

Get home and there's already an ad for the same obscure shampoo on my phone.

Seems the way they get you is that you sign up for a store card for discounts and they know you. Their inventory system tracks that you bought x. Triggers ad x on your cookies.

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

46. Hmmmm, my searches for mail order brides never result in any ads, i must be safe