If you think Google doesn't scan your gmail account...

[Brian Tymchak]

My wife is on a business trip. Prior to leaving she forwarded her itinerary to my gmail account. I noticed this morning that Google Maps shows my wife's arrival time for her return flight. I also just noticed that Google Search does the same... I googled "itinerary" to make sure I had spelled it right... and there was her flight info at the top. I expect my search activity to be scanned and used to drive ads, but this is the first time I've seen direct evidence of email scanning.

There is an option to turn it off, but just in case anyone feels their gmail content is really private, it's not. :eek:

[Günter VögelBerg]

Google makes it very clear it does this in its terms of service.

[Adam Herman]

yep. when i get an email for an apointment or a flight, it all gets auto added to my calender too. Google makes it so easy to manage your data that i don't even mind

[Matt Day]

Same here.

My CC company just emailed me about my “upcoming travel plans” because of I booked a flight.

You’ll go crazy from paranoia if you worry about these things. It’s the world we live in today, and I wish you good luck if you’re going to try and stop it.

[glenn bradley]

but just in case anyone feels their gmail content is really private, it's not. :eek:

Your email hasn't been private since before most people even knew what a computer network was. It does strike some of us baby-boomers as odd that we have a few generations who have been raised with sharing way too much.

- Dear Burglars, I will be on a 3-day cruise this week; please come rob me.
- Dear Psycho, I hit the XYZ Gym every morning at 6am; come release your pent up need to kill.
- Dear People I'd rather avoid; here's a picture of me at the movie theater down the street.

Sheesh :rolleyes:

P.s. I may have just noticed a recessive misanthropic tendency in my personality :D

[Jim Koepke]

If you do not wish to be tracked, it is time to get off the internet.

Don't forget to only use cash wherever you go.

Forget using a cellphone unless it is a prepaid, bought with cash. Change phones every few weeks.

Wear a hoodie and a disguise when you are shopping some of the major stores. Many of them have been using facial recognition for years. One of our major retailers has a video monitor so people can see themselves. The strange part is there is no camera to be seen. It seems like a clever way to let people know they are being watched by well hidden cameras.

Even your entertainment systems might be tracking you.

Just wait, in a few years when you go in to the kitchen for a midnight snack some disembodied voice might tell you to go back to bed.

jtk


My wife asked me why I was speaking so softly at home.
I told her I was afraid Mark Zuckerberg was listening!
She laughed. I laughed.
Alexa laughed. Siri laughed.

[Pat Barry]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Everything is tracked these days. Unplug every connection, cell phones, internet, vehicles, fit bits, watches, etc. If you don't like it you may have to move to the jungle, forest, island, etc but even that won't be for long. Better to think of the improvemnts these make to your life.

[Günter VögelBerg]

I had a weird experience today:

A week ago I was travelling in another state and took the opportunity to go to Home Depot and buy a few cans of a solvent banned in my state. Today I received an email form Home Depot inviting me to review my purchase. I have never used the "e-mail receipt" feature at home depot. The only thing I can think is that I have used the same credit card to order online that I used in the store.

[Justin Rapp]

“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.” ... George Orwell 1984 - Big Brother is watching you!

[Curt Harms]

I doubt it's practical to completely stop tracking but using a javascript blocker and cookie filter seems to reduce it. I use a phone on the internet very rarely. The only obvious indications I get that I'm being tracked is from businesses I've done transactions with in the past.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Using a VPN on the PC that I use to place online orders stopped all the follow up ads. Before that, if I searched online for a Christmas gift for my wife, she would see pushed online ads on her pc for similar products. No more.

[Andrew Gibson]

Don't forget to get rid of your modern car and go back to a carbureted engine, better go with a radio delete to be safe.

On a more serious note, my wife and I were on vacation a few weeks ago and my father in Law picked up a bottle of Woodford Reserve bourbon. I never looked up, searched, googeled, or emailed anything regarding any form of alcohol. All we did was sit on the couch and discussed the stuff while having a glass. A couple days later I started getting adds for for the stuff on my social media feeds. The only link was my phone was in my pocket at the time.
Kinda gives you the willies.

[lowell holmes]

You would not want to send your mistress a gmail. :)

[Bill Carey]

Here's some suggestions from duckduckgo on getting rid of google.
https://spreadprivacy.com/how-to-remove-google/


(https://spreadprivacy.com/how-to-remove-google/)

[Thomas L Carpenter]

We live in the wrong era to have any expectations of privacy. Saving grace is there are millions of us and it's hard to listen to everyone all the time. Of course, voice recognition software is here so don't be saying certain words.

[Lee DeRaud]

Of course, voice recognition software is here so don't be saying certain words.Or type them into a woodworking forum either.

If I were the OP of this thread, I'd check Google Maps' route suggestions very carefully in the future...no telling where he might end up. :)