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Picture of cne32507
posted
This is not hard to explain, but my Google searches returned non-relevant junk. So I humbly ask the all-knowing forum (that NEVER returns non-relevant junk).

Example: I searched Google on Chrome on my Win 10 PC for toenail fungus and found good info. I didn't have it: just a stubbed toe, thanks. A few days later, my wife let me know that she was getting junk email related to toe fungus. Her PC runs Win 7, Chrome, and AOL.

My question is: Did my Google search trigger junk mail to her AOL account?
 
Posts: 2520 | Location: High Sierra & Low Desert | Registered: February 03, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Short answer -- Yes.


Pragmatism: the relentless pursuit of seeing things as they really are.
 
Posts: 169 | Registered: September 21, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Yes!


Jim
 
Posts: 1344 | Location: Southern Black Hills | Registered: September 14, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Do you both log on to your pc with the same user account? If yes, yes.
 
Posts: 7524 | Registered: October 31, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nullus Anxietas
Picture of ensigmatic
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quote:
Originally posted by cne32507:
My question is: Did my Google search trigger junk mail to her AOL account?

Let me see if I understand this correctly: You used Google (why?) to search on toenail fungus on one computer, using, I presume, a computer login specific to you, and not shared by your wife.

Your wife, using a separate computer, with, one presumes, her own login, not shared by you, and her own email account, began getting spam related to toenail fungus.

Assuming I have the specifics correct: Think about it. For your wife to get spam related to a search you did, somebody (Google?) would have to have a record of the relationship between you and your wife, trigger on your searches, associate your searches with your wife, then send that information off to toenail fungus spammers.

What do you think the likelihood of all that is?

Before you answer that, consider: It is estimated there are over 4.33 billion Internet users as of 2019 and about 3.5 billion Google searches per day.

I'm not going to say it's impossible what you suspect happened happened. I will say I think it so unlikely as to be nearly so.

Lastly: Why would "they" choose to spam your wife, rather than you?



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Do No Harm,
Do Know Harm
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
quote:
Originally posted by cne32507:
My question is: Did my Google search trigger junk mail to her AOL account?

Let me see if I understand this correctly: You used Google (why?) to search on toenail fungus on one computer, using, I presume, a computer login specific to you, and not shared by your wife.

Your wife, using a separate computer, with, one presumes, her own login, not shared by you, and her own email account, began getting spam related to toenail fungus.

Assuming I have the specifics correct: Think about it. For your wife to get spam related to a search you did, somebody (Google?) would have to have a record of the relationship between you and your wife, trigger on your searches, associate your searches with your wife, then send that information off to toenail fungus spammers.

What do you think the likelihood of all that is?

Before you answer that, consider: It is estimated there are over 4.33 billion Internet users as of 2019 and about 3.5 billion Google searches per day.

I'm not going to say it's impossible what you suspect happened happened. I will say I think it so unlikely as to be nearly so.

Lastly: Why would "they" choose to spam your wife, rather than you?


I think you’re selling google short. I’d about guarantee you the above. That’s why they are rich. Advertising and algorithms.




Knowing what one is talking about is widely admired but not strictly required here.

Although sometimes distracting, there is often a certain entertainment value to this easy standard.
-JALLEN

"All I need is a WAR ON DRUGS reference and I got myself a police thread BINGO." -jljones
 
Posts: 11446 | Location: NC | Registered: August 16, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Wife and I have our own computers, own passwords, I use Safari, she uses Google. We constantly get ads, etc for things the other searches for. Same IP address?
 
Posts: 334 | Location: South Florida | Registered: December 14, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
semi-reformed sailor
Picture of MikeinNC
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Bet both computers go thru one router, and that is why you and her are “sharing” targets ads.



"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” Robert A. Heinlein

“You may beat me, but you will never win.” sigmonkey-2020

“A single round of buckshot to the torso almost always results in an immediate change of behavior.” Chris Baker
 
Posts: 11247 | Location: Temple, Texas! | Registered: October 07, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I agree with the router as being the common factor.


End of Earth: 2 Miles
Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles
 
Posts: 16005 | Location: Marquette MI | Registered: July 08, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nullus Anxietas
Picture of ensigmatic
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quote:
Originally posted by chongosuerte:
I think you’re selling google short. I’d about guarantee you the above. That’s why they are rich. Advertising and algorithms.

As I wrote: I suppose it's possible. I still think it unlikely.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of Sailor1911
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Yep, IP address.




Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

“If in winning a race, you lose the respect of your fellow competitors, then you have won nothing” - Paul Elvstrom "The Great Dane" 1928 - 2016
 
Posts: 3758 | Location: Wichita, Kansas | Registered: March 27, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Internet Guru
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Yes, no question about it. The toenail fungus advertisements aren't some weird coincidence.
 
Posts: 1957 | Registered: April 06, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Back, and
to the left
Picture of 83v45magna
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I agree, not a coincidence. Same Router, IP, etc

They (spammers) cast a very wide net. It costs virtually nothing (pun intended). What do they have to lose?
 
Posts: 7233 | Location: Dallas | Registered: August 04, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of cne32507
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We do use the same router. And both use Chrome. But why share with AOL? Does Google have an info sharing arrangement with AOL? She does use the AOL.com web site over Chrome, though.
 
Posts: 2520 | Location: High Sierra & Low Desert | Registered: February 03, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Oh stewardess,
I speak jive.
Picture of 46and2
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Ad Serving networks are shared by many companies across many platforms. I suspect AOL uses Google's.

And yes, there is a 0% chance that Google doesn't know you and your wife are two separate but related adults cohabiting at the same physical address, with a shared ISP and IP Addresse(s) and more.

These are trivial connections to make for them.
 
Posts: 25613 | Registered: March 12, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Seeker of Clarity
Picture of r0gue
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quote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
quote:
Originally posted by chongosuerte:
I think you’re selling google short. I’d about guarantee you the above. That’s why they are rich. Advertising and algorithms.

As I wrote: I suppose it's possible. I still think it unlikely.


Same IP address. Easy as hell. And they could have done it even without that based on other data they suck up as you use your device/devices. SSIDs of WiFi, bluetooth beacons, geolocations. laughably easy. ESPECIALLY for Google.




 
Posts: 11355 | Registered: August 02, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
A Grateful American
Picture of sigmonkey
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Google and AOL got in bed 15 years ago on sharing captured data.

It takes very little time to correlate data and "connections" of people to each other.




"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
 
Posts: 43810 | Location: ...... I am thrice divorced, and I live in a van DOWN BY THE RIVER!!! (in Arkansas) | Registered: December 20, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of cparktd
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by ensigmatic:
quote:
Originally posted by chongosuerte:
I think you’re selling google short. I’d about guarantee you the above. That’s why they are rich. Advertising and algorithms.

As I wrote: I suppose it's possible. I still think it unlikely.


Social media platforms like Facebook allow you to assign relationship to any friends or followers like "wife", "son in law" or etc. Also I see the same can be done in my contacts list. Just a couple more ways to make a connection...



If it ain't woke... don't fix it.
 
Posts: 4118 | Location: Middle Tennessee | Registered: February 07, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
I kneel for my God,
and I stand for my flag
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My wife was in another state on her iphone searching a specific item that was supposed to be a surprise gift, but started showing up on my Google phone. Showed as an advertisement on almost every page I opened. We have separate emails, etc.

Another time a friend and I were talking about an off the wall item while riding in a car together and within a day we both started getting advertisements for the item we discussed. Two different phones, two different carriers, both phones "locked".

They're listening to everything you say and tracking everything you search.
 
Posts: 1804 | Location: Oregon | Registered: September 25, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Savor the limelight
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One, I'm glad I'm not the only one this happens to. Two, I'm glad to have an explanation that makes sense. The latest unexplained ad weirdness was things my sister-in-law was searching showing up on my wife's phone. The IP address would explain it because my sister-in-law was at our house, using our WiFi and internet access when this started to happen.
 
Posts: 10824 | Location: SWFL | Registered: October 10, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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