Are ad companies watching me through my webcam?

Okay, so my brother was in the bathroom and I needed a mirror to do my hair, so I went on this websight:

www.seenly.com...

I was using the webcam as a mirror, and I decided to put some deodorant on, no reason, I am just getting dressed and decided to put it on. It happened to be in front of my camera. My Deodorant is a simple cheap one called Speed Stick Power. So I put this on and decided to play with camera effects, and I held the label to the deodorant to see what it looked like with different effects. Obviously giving my camera a clear image of the brand and everything.

Then I exit the webcam and decide to log right onto ATS. The second I got on the websight, this showed up:




It is the same EXACT deodorant. Now, it could easily be coincidence.. But usually I always get ads based of of web stores and products I frequent online. For example, I constantly visit a guitar tab websight every day and almost all my advertisements are "how to learn blues guitar in 3 steps" or "Deal at Guitar Center!" But I happen to hold my deodorant to a webcam and get a huge #ing deodorant ad with the same brand? "Speed Stick." And not just any Speed Stick, the same exact type I use.

It makes me think about all the times I took my shirt off in front of the webcam and I see ads all the time saying "Look! A weird tip to help loose belly fat!"

I feel insulted.

Well, it's in there now!!!!

I don't have a web cam, and I have been getting that commercial for a few days now.

I like the one with "sweat", the commercial that is.

"Speed stick, turns odor into sweat!"

reply to post by FenderWolf


Wow. That's kind of funny/scary. Perhaps a simple experiment is in order. Take picture of, say, a bottle of bleach then log in to ATS. Do you see ads for cleaning supplies??? Try this experiment with other random crap in your home and let us know how it goes.

As a general rule of thumb, I don't use webcams for this exact reason. My solution... embedded webcams (like the ones that are built in to most modern laptops) usually find themselves covered with 3 layers of 10mil plumbing tape.

That's creepy!

But keep in mind, most Ad's delivered to your PC via webpages know: your age, sex, income, location, recent purchases, web pages visited.

Internet Advertisements look through your computer for cookies to discover your likes and dislikes, and then you are fed Internet advertising based on your online behavior.

reply to post by FenderWolf


Interesting, but I think it's just a coincidence. I have been seeing that speed stick ad on ats for like a week now. Not to say that nobody is watching thrue those web cam. It's probably more like DHS or NSA or the Isrealy equiveilent, thats spying through the cam and is gathering data for intelligence purposes. I don't think the data is going full circle to consumer crap companies yet.

I don't think???
I know...I'm out there

reply to post by FenderWolf
What adigregorio was trying to say is: Why yes, yes they certainly are.

Seriously, though...it's possible, whether or not it's actually occurring. There was a lot of hullabaloo some years back about computer microphones being accessed remotely by ad companies, and if that was true, I have no doubt they'd seek to do the same with video.

Overly paranoid or not, I will not have a networked camera in my home (including Kinect) - but if I ever got one, I would ensure was otherwise always covered up and never do anything in front of it that I wouldn't do in front of any other random strangers.

Better safe than sorry.

reply to post by FenderWolf


If you use Mozilla, get "ghostery" then none of this is a problem, I don't get any adds anymore

RUN!!!!!! HIDE!!!!!!

My brother-in-law thinks "they" are watching him through his t.v.

It is creepy I wouldn't rule anything out this year strange daze my friend.

I was watching cnn the other day after work it was 'Out Front' with......oh crap I can't remember her name right now.
Anyway I had just turned the show on and for a moment I swear she was looking at me......it sounds crazy but it gave me the chills. Her neck did some weird # like other videos I've seen about the lizard people and then it felt like she was smiling at me. Kinda like a I know you know but what good is it going to do you nobody will believe you anyway look.

I don't care if you believe me or not but I saw what I saw and that's all I have to say about that.

Peace.

It makes me think about all the times I took my shirt off in front of the webcam and I see ads all the time saying "Look! A weird tip to help loose belly fat!" I feel insulted.

Funny, at least they didn't offer you new boobs

Well... that would explain the ads about hair loss and erectile dysfunction. When I start getting ads for funeral homes, I'm disconnecting the internet.

Originally posted by Mianeye

It makes me think about all the times I took my shirt off in front of the webcam and I see ads all the time saying "Look! A weird tip to help loose belly fat!" I feel insulted.

Funny, at least they didn't offer you new boobs

edit on 18-5-2012 by Mianeye because: (no reason given)

I think it's a dude........remember the Speed Stick?

Why aren't you using ad-block plus? I haven't seen a single ad on any website for about 3 years now.

reply to post by cavalryscout
I know, the point was man boobs, that would be insulting

On topic my webcam is turned off, i never use it anyway, when i need to use it, it's only a few clicks away.

I am sure it would be possible for someone to hack into it, but putting that much effort (Time and Human Resources = Lots Of Money) into selling you some cheap deodorant or weight loss pills seems like a huge money wasting endeavor.

Either way, the web cams make me paranoid too. I just purchased a new PC and had a hard time upgrading my monitor to one without a built in camera. If I were you, I would probably feel the need to cover the camera lens whenever it was not in direct use.

You will either rest easier or start seeing advertisements for lens/electronics cleaners!

reply to post by FenderWolf


I've often wondered that myself, but I will tell you this...ad companies get reports of trigger words used in private messages, specifically those I.M. messages on Facebook. The day I found out I was moving overseas, I wanted to notify my relatives privately first, so they wouldn't be blind-sided with a public post. Within the hour, every single one of my ads on the right side were in Japanese. They've been Japanese ever since, no matter how many times I mark them as irrelevant.

In another instance, I had a private Facebook conversation in which the topic of pigs came up in a funny way...in fact, I think my friend had referenced someone as being "pig-faced", or something along those lines, I don't recall. A few minutes later, an add popped up having to do with pig faces.

There have been a few times in which I know for a FACT I did not type my conversations into my laptop, but had them with my spouse within earshot of my laptop....very specific things, I might add...and the adds later reflected those exact things. They had never come up before, and they were too random and specific to be a coincidence. Since then, I don't leave my laptop open or pointed at the room when I'm not using it. I'm considering moving all the computers into a single room, and keeping the door closed.

Why would an advertising company try to sell you a product that you clearly already know about, because you own it. If they were indeed watching you and saw the label as you say, don't you think it would be more in their interests to be offering you alternatives to what they saw incase you didn't know about them ?

This same thing happens a lot when my mom or brother and I are discussing a commercial or something. They'll tell me about it and i'll say "i've never seen that commercial" and sure enough, sometime soon something i've never seen before pops up on the tv. I think they actually are watching and/or listening to your home through your tv and/or cable box sometimes haha.

Originally posted by N3k9Ni
Well... that would explain the ads about hair loss and erectile dysfunction. When I start getting ads for funeral homes, I'm disconnecting the internet.

Holy Cow man!! you made me choke on my apple!!! That was brilliant!
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