Who's Tattling?

[PGB1]

Hi All!
Here's A Curiosity:

When I go on line & search for something, my wife knows what I've searched for on her computer.
For Example: I was searching for new faucets for a bathroom. When she opened her iPad & used Safari to go to Bing, ads for faucets appeared on the page. The same happens when she goes to Google. She said they also show up on the side of an article when she clicks on a news link on the landing page or goes to any page herself.

On my Mac, I use Firefox or Brave in Private Windows and the only search engine I ever use is Duck Duck Go privacy browser. And, out of habit, I clear the cache upon closing the browser (via Terminal.app dscacheutil -flushcache command) I absolutely never use Google, Yahoo or Bing.
Oddly, I never see ads for anything she has searched for with her iPad ans Safari.


I'm curious who is ratting me out? Is it the search engine, the browser or the ISP?
Guessing the answer is "No"; but is there anything I can do to stop this? (The tattle-tale behavior makes birthday shopping difficult.)

Thanks for helping solve this mystery!
Paul

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Welcome to the Internet.

All kidding aside, there has been a significant amount of work done to do exactly what you are experiencing. If you search for something in one spot, having ads show up for those things elsewhere to garner a purchase is what retailers want.

I've had the exact same thing happen whereby I've searched for a few things in DuckDuckGo and then visited those search results and boom I get ads for that in other sites.

So it isn't specifically the search engine or your local browser cache, but the fact that you are hitting some end site. For example, you search for a faucet and get some results and then go to Amazon, Lowes, Home Depot or something else to look for it and boom now they've gotten the necessary info.

Now those companies have their own ads in other places, so based on the information gathered about you and your search, they can show you those things again to see if you're ready to buy.

However, this generally should be happening to your browser and not your wife. I, for example, do not see anything from my wife's searches and vice versa..

 

[IWT]

I can only assume that you and your wife "share" something - your Apple ID; your Contacts; Calendar; Settings; Something; because what you are reporting would imply that your next door neighbour, mutual friends etc would get a similar experience.

As they obviously don't (I assume) then there must be a digital link between you and your wife.

Ian

 

[pigoo3]

Some browsers (and private modes of some browsers)...do a better job of not tracking you than others.

In Chrome...there's a "Do Not Track" setting. This is supposed to help with exactly what was mentioned in post #1 (do a search for faucets)...then suddenly you're seeing all sorts of faucet ads everywhere. Lol

To access this setting in Chrome:

* Click the 3 vertical dots in the upper right area of any Chrome browser window.
* Then choose "Settings" from the drop down menu.
* Then choose "Privacy & Security" (left column).
* Then click on "Cookies & other site data".
* Look for: Send a "Do Not Track" request with your browsing traffic option.
* Finally enable this option (if desired).

Hopefully this helps (at least in Chrome). Possible other browsers have a similar setting.

Nick

 

[toMACsh]

The Surveillance Economy is here to stay. There's no escape.

 

[badshoehabit]

Install Ghostery (free) which stops tracking on notebooks and desktops. Nothing seems to work on iPhone or iPad. Best Ad Blocker & Privacy Browser

 

[PGB1]

Thanks All for explaining.

Ian mentioned sharing something with my wife. The only sharing we have is the same WiFi network. She has no Contacts or Calendar and has her own Apple ID. It's like we're two separate entities, except for the same WiFi network (and ISP). The router is firewalled.

Sue suggested Ghostery. I have Ghostery on the Firefox browser, which is the browser I most often use. It does some good, as sometimes sites ask me to disable it (which I don't). But how much good = ?
I'll try to put it on Brave & Opera, too. Hopefully, it'll help.

I also have "Location" turned off. All sites, like when going to a store site, tend to guess my location as the same city about 15 miles from here, perhaps where the ISP's demark is located.

Nick mentioned Chrome & Do No Track. I'll give that a try. I always assumed Chrome, being a Google product, was a Super Tracker, so I ignored it.

I'm going to try searching for stuff with my phone (using our home WiFi as I have no data plan) and see if those searches show up on my wife's iPad later. It'll be interesting to see if the phone also causes the problem. (Android and DuckDuckGo browser.)

I was wondering if the ads for my searches showing up on my wife's iPad has something to do with a site I visit looking at a bunch of data, such as my isp, mac address, serial number and things- then guessing my wife's iPad is in my house. (a very uneducated guess)

 

[pigoo3]

Nick mentioned Chrome & Do No Track. I'll give that a try. I always assumed Chrome, being a Google product, was a Super Tracker, so I ignored it.

Ooh absolutely...Chrome is the "big-dog browser"...thus more than likely the worst of the worst.

* 66% of users use Chrome.
* 19% of users use Safari.
* 15% rest of browsers.

Many folks prefer Chrome...so is nice that a "Do Not Track" setting is available.

Nick

 

[PGB1]

Experiment:
My wife searched for "Floor Lamps" on her iPad several times.
On my computer, at Bing and Google, I see no ads for Floor Lamps (but do see the faucet ads, as does she).

Might it be my leaky computer causing the problem?

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Install Ghostery (free) which stops tracking on notebooks and desktops. Nothing seems to work on iPhone or iPad. Best Ad Blocker & Privacy Browser

AdGuard works great on iOS/iPadOS. You do have to jump through some hoops to turn on filters and periodically run the app just to get updates for the filters, but that's a consequence of Apple's restrictions and they walk you through it.

 

[PGB1]

Thanks Lifeisabeach for the note about AdGuard for my wife's iPad. It should help stop the pesky scam pages she's been getting lately.