Last night me and my friend were on a WhatsApp call discussing how we should practice algorithms and data structures more. We texted the logistics after and he sent me a calendar invite on google. I swear to god this morning I had adds talking about data algorithms all over YouTube but I have never googled this issue in the near past 🤔 this can’t be a coincidence...

It's not, welcome to data mining by large companies.

Whatsapp + facebook
Facebook + google ads
Google ads + YouTube
YouTube = hello target.

Edit: although whatsapp has encrypted messages - I think you have to enable them yourself, those messages (and feel free to prove me wrong here) probably aren't encrypted once they are on your device.

It's not a coincidence.

I have posted a rant a while ago about some people in my circles getting google ads after merely talking about a topic while their Huawei was in a pocket.

And I mean physically talking. While driving in a car, sitting next to each other.

If you have Netflix I recommend the documentary "The Great Hack". It shows how companies are using your data.

@netikras This is wilder than I thought

Did the calendar invite mention data structures? If it did, they didn't have to listen in to the conversation.

Someone mentioned the NRA in passing some time ago around one of our children's android tablets. No other device was present.

For the next week or two, every device in the house (except mine!) was getting NRA ads. Computers, phones, tablets, plus all associated gmail accounts.

Think Google doesn't listen to you?

A friend of mine had a conversation on the phone with her mother; they discussed a ring her mother saw. The next day, they were both seeing Facebook ads for that ring. His did this happen? Facebook messenger was listening during the phone call, and knew who the call was with.

The worst part about things like this is: once they associate data with you, they never delete it. Their profile of you only ever grows and gets more accurate at predicting your behavior, and how to change it.

Privacy is something you must fight for.

The only privacy you can get right now is in a cave or underwater without electronics with you.

Welcome to connected world.

I still hope for zombies instead of terminators.

@Root bUt iT’S FoR yEr ProTEctIoN

Few months ago we had an accident with my gf and i went to the pharmacy to buy the pill, took it home, all went good and the other day i saw an ad on Facebook for the same pill i bought.
I hadn't googled anything, just the guy on the pharmacy speaked out loud the name.