Is Google reading my mind?

I've been pretty into this new band Them Crooked Vultures and I noticed that they keep coming up on the Ads by Google banner at the top of HBT. Is everybody seeing this or is Google all up in my cookies (that I thought were cleared) and knows what I've been searching?

Yes Google is reading your mind. They know far more about you than you'd ever believe. This is not sarcasm. (neither was that)

I was wondering the exact same thing about google and free zombie hooker porn sites.

I've had the ads for the vulture thing too, and I've never gone to their site or anything. Google knows more about you than you know, but I think the vulture ad on hbt is just coincidence.

No, but they're reading your email & every website you visit & every search term you use on their search engine. You & all you send/recieve are being mined for data; read the terms... Does your ass hurt yet? NOT trying to be a smart-ass, just pointing out the obvious. Merry Christmas & best regards, GF.

as a supporting member you can block the ads!

I did because I was annoyed with Vagasil ads when reading about "wild yeasts"

Cheeto said:

I did because I was annoyed with Vagasil ads when reading about "wild yeasts"

Click to expand...

Absolute quality.

Cheeto said:

as a supporting member you can block the ads!

I did because I was annoyed with Vagasil ads when reading about "wild yeasts"

Click to expand...

Awesome. :rockin:

I can't find that feature though. Possibly only for lifetime supporters?

Mountainbeers said:

Awesome. :rockin:

I can't find that feature though. Possibly only for lifetime supporters?

Click to expand...

User cp> Edit options > Advertising > Block Ads

greeneyed said:

User cp> Edit options > Advertising > Block Ads

Click to expand...

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When you do a search on Google, it writes that information to a cookie. When you then go to a site on the Google network (one that displays Google ads), an ad server reads the cookie and serves up the ads based on your previous searches.

Firefox with NoScript Add-on is the best way to stop it. Trust me, I buy advertising on Google, among others.

I have been seeing the Vultures add too, but what scared me the other day is when the banner was replaced by the band I was listening to on WinAmp.

Also, like Cheeto said, I've noticed the banners pertaining to whatever the title of the thread was that I was reading.

Check out www.google.com/dashboard to see (and/or delete) what data the various Google products know about you. Targeted advertising is nothing new, and is extremely valuable to advertisers. Lots of companies have been compiling data about you for years, trying to best figure out how to get the attention of your eyeballs.

Haha I see no stinking ads :rockin: use Firefox or K-Meleon browser, almost unlimited settings.

Also you may want to try East-Tec Eraser 2010 to remove crap like Flash Cookies.

http://www.east-tec.com/consumer/eraser/index.htm

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http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/you-deleted-your-cookies-think-again/

Flash cookies are relatively unknown to web users, and they are not controlled through the cookie privacy controls in a browser. That means even if a user thinks they have cleared their computer of tracking objects, they most likely have not.

What’s even sneakier?

Several services even use the surreptitious data storage to reinstate traditional cookies that a user deleted, which is called 're-spawning' in homage to video games where zombies come back to life even after being "killed," the report found. So even if a user gets rid of a website’s tracking cookie, that cookie’s unique ID will be assigned back to a new cookie again using the Flash data as the "backup."

I use Firefox. But I really don't care what Google knows about me to tell you the truth. I was just wondering if you guys thought it was targeted advertising or not.