Advertising May Soon Follow You From One Device To the Next

moon_unit2 writes "We're all familiar with ads that seem to follow you around as you go from one website to another. A startup called Drawbridge has developed technology that could let those ads follow you even when you pick up a smartphone or tablet. The company, founded by an ex-Google scientist, employs statistical methods to try to match and identify users on different devices. The idea is that this will preserve privacy while making mobile ads more lucrative, although some experts aren't convinced that the data will be truly anonymous."

Comments

My action on adds

[Anonymous Coward]

I make an effort to avoid buying products that im bombarded with as much as possible , so im turning their advertising around,

Re:My action on adds

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be an exception, otherwise how would you explain the huge popularity of Apple products at every release?

Re:My action on adds

[hazah]

Lack of critical thinking.

Re:My action on adds

[cdxta]

Same here, all ads make me think is that a portion of my purchase price is going towards the ad instead of a better product. I tells me that their product does not have enough merit on its own that they have to advertize it to you instead of informed buyers choosing their product based on its ability alone.

Re:My action on adds

[TheRaven64]

The current plan for most advertising is to raise brand awareness. So, when you see two competing products you pick the one that feels most comfortable and familiar, because you've seen the brand before. I make a conscious point of avoiding products that seem more attractive for a reason I can't consciously bring to mind, but not enough people do for this to work as a strategy.

Two words:

[oGMo]

Got root?

Re:Two words:

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

Does it matter? I'm logged in to google almost 24/7 on all devices. I think Google has a pretty good idea its me when serving up its ads. Almost all tech ads, very few video games, pharmecutical or fashion products.

Re:Two words:

[wiedzmin]

I stopped using Google services long time ago for that same reason. Used to be a huge fanboy... and I mean I used everything - email, docs, blogger, maps, adwords, adsense, freaking shopping site, everything. Now the only one I have left is Gmail, to make sure nobody steals whatever accounts I haven't moved off of it yet.

Re:Two words:

[JohnFen]

If you're staying logged in on google services across several devices, then it clearly doesn't matter to you. You don't mind being tracked.

I avoid it on my phone by using Cyanogenmod (so I can selectively allow and deny specific access types to specific applications) and using a firewall so that google and other advertisers can't be reached. Pretty much the same way I do it on my laptop, desktop, and servers.

Re:Two words:

[ickleberry]

Used to be a bit of a google fanboy myself. Now I realise they are no better than the rest and are also hell bent on world domination like Microsoft.

Re:Two words:

[Desler]

And you think that makes any difference, how?

Re:Two words:

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

I'm just saying that the system being devised by this ex google engineer isn't really that spooky for most people ( who I think are like me) that already don't mind being tracked. I mean its kind of scary,but I think I'm adjusting to a world where real privacy as we used to think of it doesn't really exist. Between google and amazon, they know where I go, do, see and what I buy. So far those companies have done a good job not sharing that in a publically accesible way. Facebook, on the other hand, has in the past. Which is why I don't share anything meaning ful there.

Another Ripoff Article...

[kc67]

http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&type=submission&id=2387715
Seriously?

Re:Another Ripoff Article...

[CanHasDIY]

http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&type=submission&id=2387715 Seriously?

You... don't understand how the firehose works, do you?

good call

[Trepidity]

some experts aren't convinced that the data will be truly anonymous

You don't say? In particular, note the complete lack of incentives for the company to actually care how good its anonymizing is.

Re:good call

[davecb]

This is a classic disambiguation effort, like figuring out that there is only one family in a postal code with children, and therefor associating my ad-tracking with them in particular. And then selling that information to other vendors.

How It "Works"

[CanHasDIY]

From TFA:

Drawbridge works by looking at the cookie data that comes with a request from a mobile or desktop browser or app to an ad exchange, and using its “bridging” algorithm to assess the probability that any two arbitrary cookies from different devices are associated with the same person. The Web cookies that Drawbridge uses [allegedly] contain anonymous, relatively benign information, such as the browser client, the site accessed, and a time stamp. Unlike a method known as device fingerprinting, Drawbridge doesn't rely on technologies that directly track user activity, or report geolocation or other invasive device identifiers... Once they reach a threshold of certainty that two cookies represent the same person, they call it a match.

Here's hoping my own browsing habits don't match too closely with any person the government has decided to put on its "disposition matrix..."

Just This Morning...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just this morning, at breakfast as I stared over the paper at the wife, I said; I really wish that DVRs would listen in on us and watch us and feed us "contextually accurate" ads.

She responded; it would be even better if the ads followed us from device to device, jump form the TV to your phone and then onto the tablet when you got to work.

I mused; that would truly be a great world.

Re:Just This Morning...

[Gmooron]

Huh no, it would not.

Even more invasive

[meerling]

In their continuing quest to impose their marketing scum on every aspect and moment of your life, they are now taking yet another step in their bid to become omnipresent and unavoidable.

It's getting to the point where these marketing invasions need to have serious and painful repercussions to those creating or employing them.

Re:Even more invasive

[geekoid]

Why? hmm? Don't use the products that use advertising. Otherwise deal with the way people get paid for the stuff you use.

Re:Even more invasive

[JohnFen]

Why? hmm? Don't use the products that use advertising. Otherwise deal with the way people get paid for the stuff you use.

No, I'll just block all the ads instead.

If people want me to pay them, they can charge me money. If they're offering a paid version that doesn't include any ads, doesn't track me, and doesn't phone home, I always it.

Re:Even more invasive

[tlhIngan]

Do you really need statistical methods? I mean, the vast majority of internet users use Google in some shape or form, and probably have a Google account.

Android phones account for 3/4ths of all smartphones out there, and most will also be associated with a Google account, most likely the same account as their desktop PC.

That would match a good chunk of people right there - Google's already got all that information to tie people together. Hell, Google probably knows which computers are public use by seeing how many different people login from it (made easier with IPv6 - a bit tricky with IPv4...).

Hell, Facebook's in an even better position - login from their PCs, tablets and smartphones, thus linking them all together. And I'd be surprised if Twitter didn't have such similar information as well.

The three of them together can probably positively identify who owns what devices. (I'd add Apple, but they're a minority player - an Apple ID can only identify a PC and tablet, and a minority of smartphones...).

Too late

[davidbrit2]

Adblock already follows me from one device to the next.

Re:Too late

[Guppy06]

Hosts files don't follow people around, pretty much by definition. That's the point of having it local to begin with.

Re:Too late

[Guppy06]

Yes, congratulations on your Network+ certification. Each client has its own hosts file, which would have to be updated individually, manually, which is why FSM gave us DNS instead and, in this case, subscription-based ad-blocking.

Re:Too late

[PlusFiveTroll]

I don't think HOSTS did it, but LMHOSTS could be loaded from a server you can reach
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc751132.aspx

In theory on a VPN it could follow you.

Re:Too late

[antdude]

Which ones? Where's Adblock Plus for iOS? :P

Re:Too late

[davidbrit2]

Ads will do that anyway, as they all have to compete with each other for your attention. By accelerating the process, we're just drawing attention to the awful tactics, rather than letting everybody slowly get accustomed to them over time.

Re:Too late

[davidbrit2]

Nowhere, unfortunately, but I do at least have some black hole zones configured on my home DNS server.

Re:Too late

[ciurana]

Privoxy (http://privoxy.org) follows me wherever I go with ad blocking.

* Set it on my gateway.
* Require my own authenticated proxy for computer + mobile device, that in turn connects through Privoxy.

I haven't seen an ad in like, forever. Not on iOS, not on any of my systems.

Cheers!

We are?

[Anubis IV]

We're all familiar with ads that seem to follow you around as you go from one website to another.

Ads? Do companies still use those silly things? Between Ghostery and Adblock Plus when I'm in Chrome at work on my Windows 7 box and Adblock Plus and a modified hosts file when I'm at home in Safari on my Mac, I haven't seen an ad in months, let alone one following me around.

Re:We are?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is NO EXPECTATION or REQUIREMENT that a visitor to a site be served ads. There is no implied contract, even. Stop being such a capitalist already. NO IMPLIED CONTRACT. If a site cannot make it via some other method besides ads, they possess a poor business model.

I've not seen an ad on my personal machines in several years thanks to adblock plus, hosts files, no cookes enabled, etc.

I already pay to access the Internet via my ISP; I will not pay with my privacy. I and everyone else has the RIGHT to privacy and anaonymity if we so choose to exercise that route.

Re:We are?

[nukenerd]

If you are in marketing, it is you who is the leach. I pay for my internet access and dont want you riding on my bandwidth.

I remember when most "sites" were bulletin boards and they were not that bad for the time. There were mostly free apart from the phone call, for which I still pay the equivalent today. There were plenty of them on many topics, without adverts, and they mostly kept relevant to the topic.

I have several web sites which are free, have no adverts, and anyone is welcome to visit. I pay for the hosting which is actually quite cheap. Here is one. As it happens it is about Mrs Thatcher who also believed that nothing could or should exist unless it was commercialised.

I have no objection to web sites which are meant as advertising, such as when I want a new camera I go to camera shop web sites to see what they have got. The internet will always exist for such sites.

Arhhhhh!

[UK Boz]

I really hope they dont follow me from my VM Porn browser!!!!

soon?

[geekoid]

what do you mean, soon?
most ads are tied to your username into whatever software you are using.

Not new...

[Anonymous Coward]

I've encountered this some 4 years ago already. One day, while at the office, I noticed an ad on my work laptop for something that I just recently had spent a few hours searching for on my home machine. Nice coincidence, I thought. But it wasn't. I noticed over the next few weeks that it was not just one ad. I was being targeted with stuff related to that earlier search. I think they linked the two devices because both regularly go onto the network via my home router.

Since that event I've become really extreme as far as ads & cookies & ... are concerned. Nowadays I block & filter & rewrite so much that I'd never see such targeting anymore even if they still manage to link my devices to each other. I also "dropped" all Google stuff from my set of regular web tools.

Before any typical juvenile /. reader jumps on this story: No, the stuff in question was not NSFW rated. If it would have been, I'd never have noticed as it would not have gotten the company filters. I was at the office when it happened, remember?

Kill them with fire!

[Dunge]

Down with intrusive ads and behavior monitoring!

AdBlock goes cross-platform

[wiedzmin]

In other news - AdBlock Plus announces support for other platforms.

If I don't buy first time I see an add

[kawabago]

If I don't buy something first time I see an add, showing it to me again is just going to fail again. Repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result is one of the hall marks of insanity!

I'm sure it does, already

[DogDude]

I'm sure that advertises follows people across devices, already. Most people I know are either logged into Google or Apple at home, at work, and on all of their gadgets. Of course, they're already being tracked.

Google account

[Tony Isaac]

What's the first thing you do when you set up a new Android phone? Log in to your Google account.
You probably search for things on Google using your Google account.
If you use Chrome, you probably log in with your Google account.
Who is the biggest Internet advertiser?

It already doesn't matter what device you are using.

Re:Google account

[TractorBarry]

I don't even set up a Google account. I can live without all that crap thankyouverymuch - The only two "apps" I wanted I wrote and compiled myself, temporarily allowed my phone to load unsigned apks so I could install them and er.. that's it :)

Re:Google account

[knarf]

Actually that is not what I do when I set up an Android phone. I skip the Google account creation, root the phone, disable the Google services and re-enable them on demand. That way I only get to tell Google about my activities with the phone when I'm using the 'play store' (horrible name, that). As soon as I'm done playing with the store I press the 'disable' button and 'poof', there goes my Google login. The only disadvantage to this is that I have to enter my account details whenever I want to use the 'play store'. Since that does not happen all to often I don't feel this is a serious problem.

If you have a rooted Android phone (or if you have any Android phone but have not gotten around to rooting the thing yet) you might want to look into the possibilities of the 'pm' command. Use 'pm disable package_name' to disable packages, 'pm enable package_name' to re-enable them. This, by the way, is often called 'freezing' and 'thawing' packages since those terms are used by the 'Titanium Backup' program. It should be clear that there is no need for such programs if you have a little bit of command line/scripting savvy, Android is a (rather odd) Linux distribution after all...

Re:Google account

[Tony Isaac]

Clearly, you are not a typical Android user.

No it wont.

[Lumpy]

In fact I get no advertisements on any of my phones, tablets, TV or computers.

you see, I'm one of those evil terrorists that blocks advertising. I block it in my devices, I record TV with MythTV that strips out Commercials.
I am evil incarnate. Children go to sleep hungry because of my actions, and the enture economic collapse is my fault due to the adblocking.

Want to know what is even more evil? I block telemarketing calls, and I dont read any spam. I am evil Incarnate and utterly proud of who I am.

Re:No it wont.

[Lumpy]

Run a real router.

Pfsense router with a transparent proxy that hits squidguard with advertising filtering files.

Note: iPhone will pull ad's from the cellular connection if it cant pull them from the Wifi Connection.

Re:You might like this for your Windows rig then

[lister king of smeg]

If you are going to that much effort why not run your own DNS sever? Bind9 is fairly light weight. Hell I run it on my Linux laptop without noticing much of anything in the way of a performance hit, and it will fallow you from device to device if you set your dns service provider to your home server.

Re:Like fuck it will.

[lister king of smeg]

You can tun that "feature" on and off with a simple check box in the plugins configuration dialog.

Say It Ain't So!

[Taigitsune]

"...some experts aren't convinced that the data will be truly anonymous." By virtue of the fact that advertisers are trying to link mobile data to desktop/laptop data, I'd say it's pretty far from anonymous. Advertisers will do anything to waste our time with irrelevant data in the interest of making a few bucks. In other news, the sun will rise tomorrow.

What advertising?

[Galestar]

Adblock+Ghostery+Downloading all my movies/tv. I don't get any advertising, let alone that which "follows" me.

Preaches to the Choir

[Roachie]

In current implementations of the scheme many of the ads I see on webpages using this type of system are to products and services I have already purchased.

A good example is when I log into my student account at my local university and I then get start getting inundated with ads about what a cutting-edge school it is.

Not quite as clever as it seems.

Re:Preaches to the Choir

[Roachie]

P.S.

As a matter of fact one company that does this type of marketing is literally across the street from the aforementioned university ( you know who you are ).

Speak for yourself

[nukenerd]

From TFA : "We're all familiar with ads that seem to follow you around as you go from one website to another"

Speak for yourself moon_unit2. I never notice the adverts

Re:Trends

[cvtan]

I guess those people working for Lions International or Rotary or the Salvation Army or Building Minds in Sudan will have nothing to do. The impoverished will be advertised out of poverty.

Re:Multiple evidences to the contrary

[mcgrew]

Dude, use your account to post stuff like this; it's insightful as hell but sitting at -1 because you're AC.