Watching You Watching Me

cells

Mistermeaner wrote: »

I could be wrong but i don't think advertising works on me, targetted or otherwise.

It is interesting you say that,

apparently in the UK companies spend ~£20B a year in advertising. which is f.huge i had no idea it was that much.

~£5B of that is on TV adverts

~£8B a year on internet advertising


interestingly enough I think I have become 'blind' to virtually all the internet ads. The newspaper website I was reading to get these stats from had two adverts, one advertising a car and another advertising british airways and I did not see them. They are right there but my brain did not register them. The only reasons I noticed them was I though when I came to write this message..hmmm I wonder if there are any adds on that website page I was reading and only then did they become 'visible'

Sapphire

I don't think advertising works on me, either. I automatically find anything that's advertised suspicious, and avoid it. I find out about the things I buy through other means – see them in a shop or book, then perhaps research them online. The kind of advertising there is on TV makes me switch off, and I don't even notice all the surrounding ads that appear on my screen (rarely buy clothes over the Internet, and then only after trying them on first in a shop).

All the ads that fall through my letterbox automatically go in the recycling without me even looking at them. (It's a huge waste of trees, and I've tried everything possible to stop people dumping such ads on me.)

BobQ

Generali wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9fb_slBEJ0

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150727/18592631769/vizio-latest-manufacturer-to-offer-more-ways-tvs-to-watch-purchasers.shtml



I get it that if I use Facebook or Google or The Telegraph for 'free' then they will want to make money off me by using my browsing preferences to sell directed ads to me (as John Prescott found out to his cost)

What kinda annoys me is that if I buy a TV with my own money, this is not a TV that is being sold cheaply or given away, then I am treated as a revenue stream to be milked.

How long will it be before they fit a camera watching us?

cells

Sapphire wrote: »

I don't think advertising works on me, either. I autoromanticallyind anything that's advertised suspicious, and avoid it. I find out about the things I buy through other means – see them in a shop or book, then perhaps research them online. The kind of advertising there is on TV makes me switch off, and I don't even notice all the surrounding ads that appear on my screen (rarely buy clothes over the Internet, and then only after trying them on first in a shop).

All the ads that fall through my letterbox automatically go in the recycling without me even looking at them. (It's a huge waste of trees, and I've tried everything possible to stop people dumping such ads on me.)

Advertising does work and impacts probably everyone

For example advertising for movies. Probably most of all the times I've been to the cinema was a result of seeing an advert on TV. How else do you know whats on or newly released

also advertising isn't just adverts. For example if you type in to Google 'oak furniture' you are more likely to go into the first few links and buy from them and hence said companies pay millions to be on page1

also rightmove or auto trader website etc is advertising and big advertising. rightmove alone charges more than £150m a year to agents to advertise on their site

comparison websites are advertising

Also there's the advertising to keep up brand image. If you are an expensive brand you need to advertise that fact. Its a bit like the owners of said products are paying an upfront premium so that the company can advertise to the world that what you own is premium.


So its a big industry and a lot more than watching a commercial on tv

padington

Nnnnnnnnnnnnnineteen eighty four

I was watching a police programme about a young mum killing her baby and in one police meeting the officer said ' I had a look and you could clearly see she was engrossed in a Skype conversation but had no awareness that her child was screaming in the back ground'.

This wasn't GCHQ. Just a normal copper, it seemed. I guess once something bad happens they get given access to everything.

Mistermeaner

Fetch me my soma

Generali

BobQ wrote: »

How long will it be before they fit a camera watching us?

I think Samsung already do. Lots of TVs listen to what you say and send it back to base camp.

kabayiri

In the latest edition of Private Eye an article covered an app sponsored by UK government money designed to encourage kids to share personal problems and issues (I forget its name and have thrown the paper away).

The developer/owner has stated the data is not shared with commercial organisations; however in the T&Cs it clearly states that these non-sharing arrangements will not be enforced on any future owner of the company. The company owner defended this as "standard practice".

When the Eye raised this with the department which had spent hundreds of thousands, the response coming back was formulaic and lacking in insight as to how people see privacy as important.

I worry that people see data security as an afterthought.

wotsthat

Sapphire wrote: »

I don't think advertising works on me, either. I automatically find anything that's advertised suspicious, and avoid it. I find out about the things I buy through other means – see them in a shop or book, then perhaps research them online. The kind of advertising there is on TV makes me switch off, and I don't even notice all the surrounding ads that appear on my screen (rarely buy clothes over the Internet, and then only after trying them on first in a shop).

Maybe we're super rational on this board but I find it almost impossible to believe anyone is not influenced by marketing in some way. I think I'm less affected than most but just looking around my house at some of the stuff I own I'd be hard pressed to claim complete rationality.

It's not just the direct ads but the money spent on brand building. It's not spent to get you to rush out and buy stuff but to increase brand recognition so, when you do need whatever it is, their brand is front of mind. If you were looking for private healthcare what would be the very first website you'd visit. I know for me it would be Bupa yet not a single person has told me how great they are. Just them.

I note the comment above about films. It's a joke in our house that whenever my wife mentions a new film she always says 'it's meant to be good'. Says who? Well the makers of the film usually.

Generali

What do we do about all this?

I want to use a laptop and have access to medicine and make phone calls. I pay my bills and I really don't want to become the property of a thousand companies who want to buy and sell me and dissect me and perhaps ultimately deny me life assurance because I looked up a suicide website or refuse to give me affordable health cover because I looked up a site on quitting smoking or drinking less or even because I spend too much time sitting on my Aris watching TV.

What happens when a TV manufacturer goes bust and all that data goes on the open market as assets to repay the creditors. Creditors should be paid where possible but do I then have to explain to my wife or kids about the 'gentleman's film' that I watched one night when they were at Grandma's for the weekend or pay out a blackmailer?

This bothers me a lot, if you couldn't tell already but TBH I don't think people really give a damn about all this stuff. Who cares what someone knows about you if you can listen to some track from your childhood on demand on your TV without having to hook up the laptop?

Sorry for the rant but there is a lot of stuff here that we have never signed up to that is just happening.