Bike Insurance - Internet - Big Brother

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:32 am

Maybe I am just naive, but I have only just realised just how much information about what we do, on and off the web, is now being shared.

My bike insurance is due for renewal on the 20th Dec. I have not conducted any searches yet or gone on any comparison websites, but this information is obviously stored somewhere because most of the inline ads on sites such as yahoo, or some forums are now for bike insurance. There are a lot of them, so its not co-incidence.

I was thinking about buying the wife a watch. This morning I got an e-mail from Amazon for watch offers. I did not go on Amazon yesterday, I was looking at watch maker websites, so at some point my information has been shared with the retailer.

I am not really happy with this, but I presume after frequenting the net for the 15 years I presume my online profile is 'out there' and it would be difficult to stop it.

I am going to start some searches on 'Free Love' and see if I get any offers.

Blackal · Post by **Blackal** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 12:52 pm

Before you know it........

You'll be getting phone calls from Graham Norton.......

Al

Bikerhoss · Post by **Bikerhoss** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:14 pm

Kinda unavoidable these days, but if you're not up to anything illegal

I don't let it bother me, Although I purposely don't do 'facetube' etc etc, this forum & ukbeg.com are the only social media I indulge in, For a start I can't see anyone being interested in what I do all day, and secondly I don't want to advertise to the world. I also don't use the Nectar card things, as all that does is give corporations an overview of your consumer profile (Although if they see how much wine I buy, maybe I'll get a discount

) and the 'rewards' from these loyalty schemes are pish anyway

If you're getting targeted advertising, then think on the other shite you're NOT getting, and take advantage of the offers you get, Insurance is expensive enough, and if I could save a few pence I'd be happy.....

I used to be paranoid, but now I KNOW they're watching

Ps Just look at the 'snoopers charter' being sought by the Home Secretary in the news today.

slparry · Post by **slparry** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 2:14 pm

running IE in Privacy Mode helps

... as does turning off cookies etc

Steve1200S · Post by **Steve1200S** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 2:58 pm

It just the cookies stored on your pooter that tells the sites which ads to show (based on your browsing history). It's not on a database somewhere, its just on your hard drive. Delete Internet history and the ads should reset.

Not sure about the insurance thing though, if you've not been on any insurance websites....

But yea, i agree face tube is rubbish and don't like when online shops offer to post your purchase to your Facebook wall thingy for all to see!

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 4:12 pm

Steve1200S wrote:It just the cookies stored on your pooter that tells the sites which ads to show (based on your browsing history). It's not on a database somewhere, its just on your hard drive. Delete Internet history and the ads should reset.

Not sure about the insurance thing though, if you've not been on any insurance websites....

But yea, i agree face tube is rubbish and don't like when online shops offer to post your purchase to your Facebook wall thingy for all to see!

I suspect its to do with my e-mail. I have been getting loads from the usual suspects, and correct me if I am wrong, but free mail - like yahoo and gmail which I use, tailor the ads depending on your e-mail content.

Merecat · Post by **Merecat** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:09 pm

I had this kind of issue so did some digging and realised that it was my google chrome browser sharing information despite being set not to save history or cookies. Switched back to Firefox and made sure i was signed out of google which has improved things

Mick

slparry · Post by **slparry** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:45 pm

https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb

theres an opt out option here

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 9:14 pm

I use chrome, so will look into that some more. Cheers gents.

slparry · Post by **slparry** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 9:17 pm

Chrome is little more than a marketing gatherer for Google

tanneman · Post by **tanneman** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:39 am

Clear the internet history and get a program called CCleaner. Run it every day to clear all temporay files. Set to run trough all the files and programs except the free space on your disc. AVG anti virus has an anti tracker option so enable that to block tracking from your browser once installed. Very good and recommended. I have registered with MPS and TPS to stop unwanted mail and calls. In my Yahoo acc any e-mails that is suspicious or marketing related I either unsubscribe or gets the spam treatment. Yahoo has a setting so that once you class an e-mail as spam all other e-mail from that address goes to spam. Next I think I will delete my Farcebook acc as I don't do anything with it. Takes 14 days to delete in case you change your mind.

Merecat · Post by **Merecat** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:18 pm

slparry wrote:Chrome is little more than a marketing gatherer for Google

The conclusion I came to.
I ran chrome and on a laptop and got the same adds on the webpage side bars, even after deleting history locally on one pc its not difficult to trace your history on another due to the cloud updates on your personal log-in.
A bit too big brother for me!!
I expect Firefox does just the same but at least it keeps it hidden!

Mick

Steve1200S · Post by **Steve1200S** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:40 pm

Everyone seems to be using fancy browsers these days.

What's up with good old IE?

slparry · Post by **slparry** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:44 pm

Steve1200S wrote:Everyone seems to be using fancy browsers these days.

What's up with good old IE?

I stick with IE for corporate compatability with web apps, and apparently so does 80% plus of the world

Grip Fast · Post by **Grip Fast** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 10:42 pm

There is money to be made from you visiting web sites, so there are databases of browsing information that is sold on to other companies. Prove that by looking at some high value item and see how long it takes for the big boys to start sending you recommendations of that item (fridge anyone). Even if you clear your browser history. It's a game to play of a winters evening.

What gets me is when I buy a one off item that I'll not need to buy again, but I get emails telling me they have just the one I'm looking for. AAAARRRGGG!

There is also a shared insurance database, which is how DVLC can tell that you are insured when you buy your road tax online. It's not taken on trust. But it also means the insurance companies can make approaches at the right time if you seem like a good risk.