Privacy breach: Smartphone or Suckerphone?

lippidp

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I thought MS was not evil like Google with regards to personal privacy. However, yesterday I opened the Pizza Hut app on my WP to see about getting a pizza. A couple of hours later I went to the MSN app to check on the news and what did I see? A Pizza Hut ad. I don't like this. What I do on my phone should not be tracked by anyone unless they plan to pay me for it. So, I pay for the phone, pay for data service, and then my use of the phone is harvested for free in order to sell me stuff. I've been suckered and I don't like it.


Anyone else feel this way?
 

topliner967

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I'm sure these sort of thing are detailed in the privacy policies that users must agree to (in many cases even on an app-to-app basis). And I don't know if it's evil.
 

Coreldan

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Feels like coincidence. I've never had this happen to me on any Microsoft-related site. That said, I dont use MSN but I now visited both the finnish site and the US site and neither gave me ANY relevant apps regarding my internet activity (and I use IE10 on desktop, IE10 on Surface RT and WP8 default IE browser), except for a WP8 ad, but seeing that it's a Microsoft-website, it's not far fetched for it to be randomly there. All non-Microsoft ads were far off from anything related to me.
 

jaj324

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What you call being suckered others might call a valuable service. If you are going to see ads wouldn't you rather see ads that interest you versus ads that mean nothing to you? Your info is being harvested continuously all day, every day. That's just how it is these days.
Sent from my AT&T 8x using Board Express
 

martinmc78

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Ive noticed the same - but to be honest i would rather see ads for things that are of interest to me. I have even noticed that on alphajax im getting ads for companies in the construction industry - my guess is its picking up information from my linkedin profile.
 

Coreldan

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I must agree. Ads of zero relevance are totally useless. I've actually got some things liek 50% cheaper due to some of those targeted ads (Google, though).

Also, the way that the ads are handled isnt baseline evil. it's not like even Google is like "here is John Smith's browsing history, make up some ads for him". The system just automatically pulls some ads from the pools that might be relevant to you based on sites you have visited. But I guess the problem for many is not liking the fact that this kind of info is stored to begin with, but at that point you might also wanna reconsider even making accounts on such websites if you dont like any information saved.

Most of the ads I got from Microsoft pages was matchmaking/dating site ads. Those are definitely of zero relevance to me that I have never visited. So now they gave me a page full of ads that I wouldnt even consider entering. Compared to the money Google saved me by giving me a targeted ad of an "action camera" that I had been searching the last few days.
 

Laura Knotek

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From PIzza Hut's privacy policy: Information Sharing
We may share your information as follows:Can you limit?
With other Yum! Brands, Inc. companies and brands. Other companies and brands including KFC and Taco Bell. For a copy of their privacy policies, click on their names in this section.

No
If we think we have to in order to comply with the law. For example, we will disclose information to respond to a court order or subpoena. We may also disclose if a government agency or investigatory body requests.

No
In the event all or part of Pizza Hut transfers ownership. For example, if there is a merger, acquisition or similar event, we will share information with the new owner. We may also sell off all or part of our customer lists as part of an asset sale.

No
With our vendors. For example, we will share information with companies that help us deliver products and services. We also allow third parties like website hosting companies to collect information on our behalf.

No
With our business partners in whose products or services we think you may be interested. For example, if we run a joint promotion, you will be given the option to have your information shared with our co-promotion company. We might also offer another company’s products or services on our website. When necessary, we will give that company your information.In some
circumstances

They will share information even if you use their desktop website, rather than a mobile app.
 

socialcarpet

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I thought MS was not evil like Google with regards to personal privacy. However, yesterday I opened the Pizza Hut app on my WP to see about getting a pizza. A couple of hours later I went to the MSN app to check on the news and what did I see? A Pizza Hut ad. I don't like this. What I do on my phone should not be tracked by anyone unless they plan to pay me for it. So, I pay for the phone, pay for data service, and then my use of the phone is harvested for free in order to sell me stuff. I've been suckered and I don't like it.


Anyone else feel this way?


The idea that Apple or Microsoft are any less evil than Google is kind of a myth.

You should just assume that if you are on the Internet, you're being tracked and targeted by advertising, unless you have taken extraordinary measures to avoid this.
 

Laura Knotek

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The idea that Apple or Microsoft are any less evil than Google is kind of a myth.

You should just assume that if you are on the Internet, you're being tracked and targeted by advertising, unless you have taken extraordinary measures to avoid this.

It isn't even necessary to use the Internet to get targeted by advertisers. Why do you think all the various stores offer "customer cards"? Those cards that let you get discounts also allow the store to know your shopping habits, and the stores sell that information to other companies.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmir...teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/
 
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mlm1950

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Seems like you should be upset at yourself, for loading the app, or Pizza Hut, for whatever you think might have happened to your privacy.
 

Coreldan

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The idea that Apple or Microsoft are any less evil than Google is kind of a myth.

You should just assume that if you are on the Internet, you're being tracked and targeted by advertising, unless you have taken extraordinary measures to avoid this.

Actually, while I admit I think Google is a tad evil, it's not cos of the advertisements. It's more to do with the kind of somewhat naive things like trying to steal other companies thunder when they have a big launch day by scheduling some kind of event themselves just to pull the presses away from the competition. Avoiding taxes is also one (although I guess "who isnt guilty of that?"). Like generally speaking I feel that Google isn't being punished for somewhat inappropriately using it's monopoly'ish situation to their advantage much like Microsoft was back in the 90s.
 

conanheath

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It really shouldn't bother you. You are being monitored everywhere. There is not someone personally reading your emails or browser history so they can personally create a profile. Its a program that picks keywords and follows your sites. You are a # not a name, one instance where it is good. Nobody cares what you are seeing, using or doing on the internet. You aren't that important. If you don't want to be tracked, then get rid of everything you own from the 21 century and stay away from internet and everybody who is on it. Get used to it. They all do it, you have no choice and its NEVER going to change.
 

lippidp

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From PIzza Hut's privacy policy: Information Sharing
We may share your information as follows:
Can you limit?
With other Yum! Brands, Inc. companies and brands. Other companies and brands including KFC and Taco Bell. For a copy of their privacy policies, click on their names in this section.

No
If we think we have to in order to comply with the law. For example, we will disclose information to respond to a court order or subpoena. We may also disclose if a government agency or investigatory body requests.

No
In the event all or part of Pizza Hut transfers ownership. For example, if there is a merger, acquisition or similar event, we will share information with the new owner. We may also sell off all or part of our customer lists as part of an asset sale.

No
With our vendors. For example, we will share information with companies that help us deliver products and services. We also allow third parties like website hosting companies to collect information on our behalf.

No
With our business partners in whose products or services we think you may be interested. For example, if we run a joint promotion, you will be given the option to have your information shared with our co-promotion company. We might also offer another company’s products or services on our website. When necessary, we will give that company your information.
In some
circumstances


They will share information even if you use their desktop website, rather than a mobile app.

Thanks for digging this up on my behalf. I have uninstalled both the Pizza Hut and MSN apps. I wonder if also removing my Hotmail account will end this kind of tracking.
 

lippidp

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It really shouldn't bother you. You are being monitored everywhere. There is not someone personally reading your emails or browser history so they can personally create a profile. Its a program that picks keywords and follows your sites. You are a # not a name, one instance where it is good. Nobody cares what you are seeing, using or doing on the internet. You aren't that important. If you don't want to be tracked, then get rid of everything you own from the 21 century and stay away from internet and everybody who is on it. Get used to it. They all do it, you have no choice and its NEVER going to change.

In my opinion, this represents a slippery slope. If someone suggested in 2000 that everything you do on the net or your phone would be tracked there would have been a huge uproar. I remember when Windows 2000 was released that it synched its clock automatically with the atomic clock and people went ape**** over it -- that Microsoft would do ANYTHING without a user's express consent was outrageous then. Look at the state of affairs now. What they do is slowly introduce such things as this over time and hope you just go along with it. Investors and shareholders demand constant growth. Once they've harvested all the data they can and sold it as much as they can, then what is the next step? How far will they go?

So you've given in. I choose to fight.
 

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