UKC

About ten minutes ago, I read the thread on oral hygiene, which specifically mentioned Oral-B electric toothbrushes. About five minutes after that, I had a look at Amazon. And Amazon showed me a list of Oral-B electric toothbrushes.

It could be a coincidence, but.... it does seem odd.

In reply to Tony Naylor: Its more likely to be the Search Engine that you use. Google seems to be one of the worst for this. Try using an anonymous Search Engine like this one if it concerns you.: https://ixquick.com/

In reply to Tony Naylor:

I read that thread too. I've just gone and made two separate purchases on Amazon in the last hour (Amazon.fr mind you) and didn't get shown anything on dental hygiene.

Coincidence?

However a lot of adverts around the web pass cookies so they know what you've been looking at. I've been checking out snow chains on Feuvert.fr so now lots of website banner ads show me adverts for these.

It happens a lot, but can be stopped if you disable third-party cookies in your browser.

In reply to Tony Naylor:

Targeted ads based on previous surfing is common. Although dont think any operate on the sort of level that would be required for that eg full page parsing rather than just going UKClimbing visitor is likely to be interested in climbing/outdoor stuff.
So in this case I would say coincidence.
In the interests of science tested it via my work laptop which wouldnt have a clue and has the Oral-B sale appearing.

In reply to Tony Naylor:

It is coincidence. I looked at Amazon before I looked at UKC today and I saw the Oral-B promotion.

That's not to say Amazon aren't spying on us - along with lots of online retailers, they'll be working hard to tailor their promotion and marketing according to known preferences.

In reply to Tony Naylor:

It's worse than you think - your webcam has actually been hacked and Amazon can tell from your picture that your oral hygiene is poor and that you therefore need an Oral-B toothbrush to sort it out.

The eyes are everywhere - time for the tin foil hat.....

In reply to Route Adjuster:

You've no idea. Amazon can actually hack your eyeballs and see what you are seeing!

In reply to GridNorth:

Does this delve secretly into the 'Deepnet', the 'Invisible Web', the 'Undernet' or the 'Hidden Web' that the media has been talking about recently ?

In reply to Tony Naylor: Google Chrome has options for turning off targeted advertising. Targeted advertising is advertising based on your browsing habits so to suggest that these things are not occurring is a little naive.

In reply to Route Adjuster:

Nah, if they'd hacked my webcam I'd be getting ads for good strong bags to put my ugly head in.

In reply to dissonance:

Coincidence it is, then. Damn. I just spent five quid on tin foil and wires for nothing.