Microsoft is reading my stuff and selling my health information.

shalgrim

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For those in-game ads, does anybody know how WP decides what ad to display for me?

I always thought they were a little suspiciously targeted toward me. But recently something happened that really has me spooked.

Last week my two-year-old son was diagnosed with a condition. It's not common, definitely not common in this country, and I'd never heard of it before. My interaction with the name of the condition includes only:
  • E-mail (gmail, but I read it on my phone) exchanges with my wife after the doctor visit.
  • Bing searches to learn more about the condition.
  • Updating a document on Skydrive we leave for his babysitters to include the condition.

Well now when I play Taptitude I see ads for a medicine that supposedly treats this condition. The condition is mentioned right in the ad. And like I said, it's not a common condition and I'd never heard of it before last week.

This really ticks me off because of all of Microsoft's insistence that they're not reading my e-mail. But somehow information about my recent concern with this condition is getting associated with my phone.
 

SnailUK

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Bing, Google, and any other search engine will be watching exactly what you search for, and storing that information.

I know when gmail first came out, there was uproar about the fact the T&C allowed them to read your mails, no idea whether that has changed, but being that google is the most commonly used ad engine, i wouldn't be supprised if its them using the contents of your email.
 

palandri

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I understand your concerns. I read an article recently that the "do not track" option they are adding to browsers are making advertisers upset like this Web privacy: Is your . There's a boat load of recent privacy issues that people are concerned with, like GPS used for tracking, cloud storage, employees getting fired over facebook comments...etc...

What can you really do about it? Avoid technology I guess.
 

aubreyq

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Shalgrim, sorry to hear about your son's medical condition. I wish him and your family all the best.

Regarding the targeted ads, when you mentioned gMail and Bing, I already knew those two were the culprit. Reading gMail on your phone doesn't stop gMail from working how it was designed, which is to scan your email for keywords so you can get targeted ads. Same thing goes for Bing and Google search. Targeted ads are an advertiser's dream come true: to zero in on the customer that needs their product and get the customer to press that "Buy" button.

...What can you really do about it? Avoid technology I guess.
It's unfortunate but essentially this is true.
 

kenosando#AC

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That is how ads work. They use search engine info. Also cookies. I went to a site for a headphone manufacturer (Aerial) one time and all I see now are ads for their headphones. Before I bought my Lumia, I would go to the Marketplace web store to look for apps I may want, and everytime I visited an MSN-related site, I'd see ads for apps. They're not reading emails or SkyDrive info, its all web cookies and search engine

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express
 

HeyCori

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IE10 will have Do Not Track on by default. Advertisers are mad and they're trying to put the pressure on Microsoft to change it.
 

jimski

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Same thing goes for Bing and Google search. Targeted ads are an advertiser's dream come true: to zero in on the customer that needs their product and get the customer to press that "Buy" button.

.
And am I the only one who thinks this is silly. If I do a search for Allstate Insurance, why plaster me with Allstate ads for the next month. How about feeding me GEICO or Nationwide ads. Same goes for retail chains. I visit one site and then get plastered with ads for them, my preferred retailer. But never see an ad for their competitors. Hence the reason I NEVER have a reason to click an ad.

Maybe I should start a new search engine. Could retire a billionaire.



Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express Pro
 

eric12341

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I'm pretty sure it's the fact that you're using Gmail as to why this is happening. Google is the king of selling information to advertisers.
 

shalgrim

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Thanks, all.

I think the most likely answer is Bing. I know Gmail reads my e-mail, but how would that end up getting me ads served in Taptitude? I think it has to be that those in-game ads are getting information about my searches, either via Bing while I'm searching from the desktop signed in under the same Live ID I use on my phone or from my searches on the phone itself.

Again, what's bizarre about all this, and what I don't see addressed above, is how would Microsoft or Google link what I wrote in Skydrive, received on Gmail, or searched for via Bing to my phone in order to serve me an appropriate ad while I'm playing games using the ad network thing that all the ad-supported apps on MSFT use. I'm really hoping somebody (hey site editors!) can look into this, ask some questions, and get it all mapped out.
 
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mprice86

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Thanks, all.

I think the most likely answer is Bing. I know Gmail reads my e-mail, but how would that end up getting me ads served in Taptitude? I think it has to be that those in-game ads are getting information about my searches, either via Bing while I'm searching from the desktop signed in under the same Live ID I use on my phone or from my searches on the phone itself.

Again, what's bizarre about all this, and what I don't see addressed above, is how would Microsoft or Google link what I wrote in Skydrive, received on Gmail, or searched for via Bing to my phone in order to serve me an appropriate ad while I'm playing games using the ad network thing that all the ad-supported apps on MSFT use. I'm really hoping somebody (hey site editors!) can look into this, ask some questions, and get it all mapped out.
Pretty simple really:

  • You're signed into your Microsoft account on your computer and you use Bing to search for something.
  • The search term is associated with your Microsoft account.
  • You play a game on your Windows Phone which is registered to your Microsoft account.
  • The game uses a Microsoft advertising system which polls all the information they have on you, gets your most recent search terms and presents relevant advertising.

With the link provided earlier in the thread you can opt out of the system on a device by device basis or across all devices when you're signed in with your Microsoft account.
 

shalgrim

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Thanks for the opt-out info, folks. This is really disappointing to me that this happened, in part because MSFT is all "Hey Gmail's reading your mail but we don't!", but meanwhile they're selling my Bing searches to advertisers. It just feels like I was misled with their advertising. My wife works at MSFT and even she was shocked that this was happening, which reaffirms to me that this is misleading marketing they're pumping out there about how they're supposedly so good about privacy.
 

Rodolfo#WP

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Search is only part of it. It's part of all the "social networking" for which this generation voluntarily has REGISTERED. When goggle was confronted/busted last year after they clumsily started setting up their social network, they had to fess up in March and issued their No-Privacy policy, which included acknowledgements/warnings that they merge your geemail, search, phone, messaging, etc. information and behavior. At that time, I set up a new hotmail address for all geemail correspondents. I follow special deletion and other masking and diversion practices on that mailbox.

Have you guys read the warnings for all your apps? Why do you think computing is all about free and cheap apps now?

I also erase WPC and others' cookies, and other temp files, on shut-down.

As with the rest of 21st century capitalism, including health care "providers", remember that your "representatives" in government are enablers, conspirators and co-beneficiaries.

Signing off...
 

Gatlyn

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Uses Bing Ads

I am convinced too that the ads are heavily influenced by Bing searches. A family member used my laptop to search on Bing for a Kia SUV and for the next few weeks I got ads for that specific make of vehicles.
 

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