April 16, 2012
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When Technology Gets Creepy
By now, most of us are used to personalized advertisements. You pull up your gmail, and the ad in the sidebar is offering something related to your email. That's a little creepy, but we're used to it by now, right?
However, the other day, I was surfing online, when one of those pop-up ads came up. It was for a dating site, and it listed the location of a pretty girl as my hometown. This is a standard trick: they use your IP address to find out exactly what city you're from. I was aware of that. But then, their ad took a creepy twist:
"GamerGirl501 Location"
That location was just about exactly where my apartment is. I literally turned white for a second. I knew it was a technology trick, but I felt so oddly violated. It's as if when watching the news, a voice suddenly said "So, Greek, I see you're admiring our weathergirl's skirt." It was just so specific, it was scary.I worry that people don't realize the true power of technology. I know some Xangans are fakes because I can track their photos back to their Facebook. (Please delete your account before I call you out, btw. You're guilty.) You'd be surprised just how good technology is at telling everything about you, between hacks, EXIF data, IP info, cookies, and a raft of other devices. I'd say "Be good for goodness sake" but it's more like "Be good before Google does evil to your reputation..."
Comments (32)
Also, no, not my real location. Duh.
I get dating stuff as well, so its not so miraculous
You FB xangans? Creeper o.O
I don't get dating stuff... I get lingerie ad's. That's all I get.
@trunthepaige - That shows the location of your apartment on a map and claims "She lives here?" I nearly started ransacking the apartment to find her :p
i'm real.
@MistyEyes22 - they tend to based on your cookie history figured out by tracking sites. if you search for "ducks" on amazon for a couple hours, you'll get duck-related adds. Ducks, of course, is a euphemism for whatever you apparently are searching for.
disturbing! i'd feel creeped too. thanks for the info.
but you just went right over my head again with the other thing. .pls help me understand: do you mean people's fb's can be forgedl? or do you mean they steal the picture from other's fb pics?
i also dont know the following: between hacks, EXIF data
@GreekPhysique - Damn, that was going to be my question. OR maybe I was just going to show up at your apartment. Hadn't decided yet.
You moved to Virginia?
I just found out about the add thing on Gmail...... weird!
AH, you found out about me!?!?! better delete my account
First of all, that was so WAY over my head. but I think you already knew that. Onto more exciting things, you are such a CREEPER!! hahahaha. That isn't really an accusation, just a fact.
@oxlorixo - Look, if you show up at my apartment, I'm totally going to be very upset and show all my teeth in a smile, I mean, grimace. :p
@caroliiineee - I knew it! You were too good to be true! I should have known.
@YouToMe - They steal other people's FB photos and pretend to be them.
@Emilythefairy - LOL.
@RachelMSW - Yeah! It's strange.
@AmyDoo - It is a fact! I'm actually creeping your Xanga RIGHT NOW. :p
Well then, you know where I live. That's scary.
First, so just reread the post and realized the voice you were talking about was not real. whew, because I was about to NEVER, EVER get on the internet again, especially because if google recommended singles near me, well, lets just say my first question would be "do you have a full set of teeth?"
Second, awww, Greek, you are creeping on me! You are my favorite creeper!
@GreekPhysique - Haha. I think if I were someone pretending to be me, my posts would probably be more interesting and controversial. Or at least I think that's usually what happens when people pretend to be other people. I just talk about how I love God and post picture of babies
Ugh, that is creepy.
If you tell me who the faker is I'll let you beat me on Words With Friends ;p
kidding of course hehe.
I've been a little creeped out by a couple too specific ads, but this has anything that's happened to me beat!
Technology has definitely gotten a bit creepier, I do have to say though I've been a little bit paranoid ever since watching Enemy of the State. It's a bit unnerving to think about how much is actually probably going on that we don't know about...
my phone told me how many hours i spent at home, at work and going out. though it was wrong about the number of hours it did have my work address right. i never entered that into my phone or google account. apparently google keeps track of how long you spend at certain locations and.. spend the night at the same place every night.. it must be your home, spend 8 hours a day at the same address every day during the same hours, you must work there. interesting, yet somewhat creepy.
I agree. I once had a "case" where I just googled the person's username to find out what she's up to and stuff (gotta protect myself) and had her entire personal information within maybe 5 minutes. Others inserted pic ulrs from facebook so they were easy to track back. I could as well have found them with google picture search. That's a feature I use very often because it makes it easy to detect imposters. Some people are just very uncareful.
I don't now if I'm a creeer (or if you are)...it's not that I'm obsessed with people or use or give any information, I just want to know who is real and who isn't, and wether I'd like a person to see so much about me or not.
@iones_island - wow that's just extremely creepy.
@GreekPhysique - lol, I was gonna be like "it creeps you out that an ad knows your location but you're going to broadcast in on xanga?"
Basically, Google is now a stalker's paradise.
Ahh I just googled my name and one of the first things that came up was some listing that had my name, home phone number and address with a map! That might be normal, but I realize that I should probably be more careful about just adding people from xanga on facebook when my last name is on there. Almost everything that came up on google was actually me, because I have an uncommon last name.
Yeah it is getting really crazy. Tupac just appeared live in concert at Coachella. Kinda cool, but imagine where all this could go.
creepy awright
You can find our Facebook through Xanga? :O How? That's really creepy...hahaha.
freaky!! ps. what do you mean they're fake because they have pictures that trace back to their facebook? if they have a facebook too doesn't that further confirm their existence? I'm confused.. lol
also I hate when my boyfriend uses my computer and engagement ring ads are everywhere... I just like browsing!! awkward.... hahaha
i found this post slightly amusing.
freaky : /
Big Brother is definitely watching... only it's not the government, it's gigantic corporations....
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