Amazon is messing with us (or maybe just me)

Amethyst

Amethyst

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
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So, I put a garden hose nozzle and a pack of Terry's chocolate orange balls in my Amazon cart. I know, nozzle and balls, heh-heh, heh-heh. Get down, Beavis.

Anyway, what do you suppose this caused the buy-bot to "suggest" "based on your product selections"?

Several brands of men's incontinence underwear.

At this point, I am convinced Amazon is just messing with me.
 
Amethyst said:
So, I put a garden hose nozzle and a pack of Terry's chocolate orange balls in my Amazon cart. I know, nozzle and balls, heh-heh, heh-heh. Get down, Beavis.

Anyway, what do you suppose this caused the buy-bot to "suggest" "based on your product selections"?

Several brands of men's incontinence underwear.

At this point, I am convinced Amazon is just messing with me.
Click to expand...


I think you may be right.
 
My DW is convinced our Amazon Alexa devices are listening to us all the time and sending data to Amazon marketing. So, that begs the question, what have you been taking about? :blush:

ETA: The really juicy stuff ends up in the Washington Post also owned by Amazon/Bezos. Just sayin!
 
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Amethyst said:
So, I put a garden hose nozzle and a pack of Terry's chocolate orange balls in my Amazon cart. I know, nozzle and balls, heh-heh, heh-heh. Get down, Beavis.

Anyway, what do you suppose this caused the buy-bot to "suggest" "based on your product selections"?

Several brands of men's incontinence underwear.

At this point, I am convinced Amazon is just messing with me.
Click to expand...

Better hope that Alexa hasn't secretly been taking videos of what you have been doing as one may show up on You Tube. :eek:
 
No Alexa here! Never saw much utility for it (her?). Don't use Google Assistant either, although my phone pesters me to do so.

aja8888 said:
Better hope that Alexa hasn't secretly been taking videos of what you have been doing as one may show up on You Tube. :eek:
Click to expand...
 
flintnational said:
My DW is convinced our Amazon Alexa devices are listening to us all the time and sending data to Amazon marketing.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly convinced of this as well. I have an Alexa, and somehow my FB ads started being of some particular type even though the only outward indicator I had made was a conversation with my son on that topic - I had not done any internet searches, forum posts, FB posts, or cell phone activity or anything else on that topic.

I don't remember the category, but it was very specific so the connection between the conversation and the FB ads was patently obvious. I don't even think either of us were interested in the category, it was just that we were having a discussion of some kind about it.
 
Amethyst said:
No Alexa here! Never saw much utility for it (her?). Don't use Google Assistant either, although my phone pesters me to do so.
Click to expand...

Even in the current environment, it is still OK to call an inanimate object "it". :D
 
Not really a conspiracy theorist here, but I do believe those devices listen to everything you say and report it back to Amazon/Google depending on the device. I believe those 2 companies fall under the necessary evil category of companies to do business with.

Oh crap, now I’m in trouble!
 
SecondCor521 said:
I'm fairly convinced of this as well. I have an Alexa, and somehow my FB ads started being of some particular type even though the only outward indicator I had made was a conversation with my son on that topic - I had not done any internet searches, forum posts, FB posts, or cell phone activity or anything else on that topic.

I don't remember the category, but it was very specific so the connection between the conversation and the FB ads was patently obvious. I don't even think either of us were interested in the category, it was just that we were having a discussion of some kind about it.
Click to expand...
Your phone listens too.
 
Why is everyone dissing Alexa. She is the only woman in my life that listens to me. Occasionally she even says, "Have a great day FN"! She is my friend. :D
 
Would the new product 'Amazon Sidewalk' count as messing with us?

from the article: "Sidewalk works by having users of these products [Alexa smart speakers, Ring security cameras, Tile location trackers and other outdoor sensors] share a small portion of their bandwidth with other Amazon customers, enabling neighboring devices to connect at long-range. Amazon says the network will allow users to locate lost keys or missing pets, set up and fix devices remotely, and work over longer distances. Sidewalk is also built into AWS, Amazon's cloud technology platform. This will allow software developers to create applications that take advantage of the technology."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-sidewalk-devices-will-start-sharing-internet-with-neighbors/

A better explanation: https://in.pcmag.com/smart-home/142...ff Sidewalk is simple,it reads as "Disabled."
 
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Amethyst said:
So, I put a garden hose nozzle and a pack of Terry's chocolate orange balls in my Amazon cart. I know, nozzle and balls, heh-heh, heh-heh. Get down, Beavis.

Anyway, what do you suppose this caused the buy-bot to "suggest" "based on your product selections"?

Several brands of men's incontinence underwear.

At this point, I am convinced Amazon is just messing with me.
Click to expand...

LOL! Interesting!!
 
flintnational said:
Why is everyone dissing Alexa. She is the only woman in my life that listens to me. Occasionally she even says, "Have a great day FN"! She is my friend. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, but she may "rat" on you if you're ever accused of a crime. More than once authorities have asked for info that was in some fashion recorded during an alleged crime.

Saying "if you didn't do anything wrong, you have nothing to fear" is whistling past the grave yard IMHO. I've never been a fan of such devices on general privacy issues. See my tag line though YMMV.
 
timo2 said:
Would the new product 'Amazon Sidewalk' count as messing with us?

from the article: "Sidewalk works by having users of these products [Alexa smart speakers, Ring security cameras, Tile location trackers and other outdoor sensors] share a small portion of their bandwidth with other Amazon customers, enabling neighboring devices to connect at long-range. Amazon says the network will allow users to locate lost keys or missing pets, set up and fix devices remotely, and work over longer distances. Sidewalk is also built into AWS, Amazon's cloud technology platform. This will allow software developers to create applications that take advantage of the technology."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-sidewalk-devices-will-start-sharing-internet-with-neighbors/

A better explanation: https://in.pcmag.com/smart-home/142...ff Sidewalk is simple,it reads as "Disabled."
Click to expand...

There are currently places that IF your image is captured by virtually any camera that is "connected" you are more or less instantly identified by facial recognition and your behavior is not only observed but evaluated. Doing the same by voice recognition would likely be easier and may already be done (in that same place.) Hopefully not "here" but, uh, see my tag line again.
 
Amethyst said:
No Alexa here! Never saw much utility for it (her?). Don't use Google Assistant either, although my phone pesters me to do so.
Click to expand...

You have a smart phone I assume. It's listening whether you use GA or not. I assume Alexa is listening, too. Smart TV? Yep....it's probably got ears.
 
Now I wonder why we never get ads for coffee, since it gets mentioned at least twice a day.

And some people in other houses must get very strange offers, based on the kind of language I've heard them using!

ExFlyBoy5 said:
You have a smart phone I assume. It's listening whether you use GA or not. I assume Alexa is listening, too. Smart TV? Yep....it's probably got ears.
Click to expand...
 
Amethyst said:
Now I wonder why we never get ads for coffee, since it gets mentioned at least twice a day.

And some people in other houses must get very strange offers, based on the kind of language I've heard them using!
Click to expand...

We did a little experiment a couple of years ago. DW and I spent a few days discussing the murder/dismemberment/disposal of someone we didn't like (not a real person before you ask) :cool: periodically and wouldn't you know...within a couple of days, we were BOTH getting ads for prepaid funerals and trash disposal companies. That solidified my notion that all these IoTs (internet of things) ARE indeed listening.
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
We did a little experiment a couple of years ago. DW and I spent a few days discussing the murder/dismemberment/disposal of someone we didn't like (not a real person before you ask) :cool: periodically and wouldn't you know...within a couple of days, we were BOTH getting ads for prepaid funerals and trash disposal companies.
Click to expand...

Interesting! Did any of these advertisements offer um, "discretion" in their services?

Such as "Guido's quick, quiet, and discreet funeral service"?:LOL:
 
Walt34 said:
Interesting! Did any of these advertisements offer um, "discretion" in their services?

Such as "Guido's quick, quiet, and discreet funeral service"?:LOL:
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, no. :) It made me wonder what keywords that might have been assigned to trigger the ads we did see, though.
 
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