Frazz by Jef Mallett for December 04, 2018

I get ads for Toyota pick-up trucks. In Spanish. I drive a Porsche, have never expressed the slightest interest in owning a pick up, and don’t speak any foreign language.

The all-knowing internet mainly tries to sell you stuff that you just bought.

Couple of words for you. surveillance capitalism. persuasion profiles. Get an adblocker. Get Ghostery.

Advertising mantra: make consumers feel hunger pains while getting up from a full meal.

Why is it that when I read “the all knowing Internet” I think of the “all seeing eye” from the Lord of the Rings books?

To be fair, the Internet itself is basically a neutral communications medium, no more interested in you than the copper wires or fiber-optic cables it travels over. It’s your choice of software, search engines, and service providers that has all the snoopiness built into it. This is one reason why I eschew Facebook, which is kind of like a gated community compared to the open terrain of the Internet.

LOL! So much for “all-knowing”!

In a word: Yes. It reflect what you look at the most often. So, if that is gifts for yourself…

Wasted effort by the all-knowing internet.

I have two browsers on my PC: One for general surfing, the other for anything commercial (product reviews, shopping, trip planning, etc.) I sign in to things on the first one, like Gmail and Google, and it’s synced with my phone. But I never sign in to anything on the second one. As a result, I almost never receive spam related to my commercial activities, but I still receive (mostly valuable) suggestions about things I might like based on my video-watching preferences.

One unloved feature of the no need to search. We got this internet is their tendency to note a movie genre from which I chose one example to watch, and then to load up my ‘may be interested’ list with nothing but yards of that kind of film. Same for merchandise after a purchase – a ton more of the same type. Since I bought it, why would I need to see more?

On the other hand, internet does offer so many search items that one can get a lot done in a short time. On balance, I appreciate it a little more than I dislike it.

Sort of like a car I once shared with a bank: when it ran it ran well, when it didn’t I vented lots of heat at it and the bank. Eventually it and the bank went to the dump. Wonder what’s in store for the internet as we know it?

I have Adblock.

The internet reminds me of something The Doctor (Tom Baker) said about Computers being very sophisticated idiots.

If you try researching something like Red Cheese Eating Dogs you’ll get lots of advertisements for them, and other things using elements of that term.

I’m an author, you wouldn’t believe the stuff the web tries to sell me.

That’s why I refer to the Internet as Marjory the All-Knowing Trash Heap ;-)(Here to those who remember Fraggle Rock!)

Big B{r}other has yet to begin cross-referencing who we communicate with and their interests with ads targeted to us for the purpose of marketing for gift giving holidays, but give it time.

Sudden scream of laughter. So, so dead-on!