Revealed: The Source of Mystery Messages - Comments Page 1

Years ago, an electronics store, Radio Shop, would not let you pay until you gave them your mailing address. Of course, that produced a ton of junk mail, from them and everyone else they sold the list to. This isn't new, just more efficient, and it really is spooky. It's just too inconvenient to do; use a VPN, one-time email, keep location off and blocked from apps that track anyway, and all the other stuff you must do to even lower your visibility. When I was a WordPerfect user, a friend who was a big Microsoft fan told me: "You will be assimilated!" It appears he was right.

This e-mail scheme you described today sounds very creepy and annoying.The method of capturing your smartphone info while shopping is a little upsetting.That information is being sold to someone,not just used by the store itself.

I think it is time anytime you are shopping in a store or even a mall,you should just shut off your device.

I have a cousin who only pays cash and has an older flip phone. He drives a '90s pickup which has a recently fully rebuilt drivetrain. I understand why.

I used to think putting my phone in airplane mode would protect me against being tracked. Not true! I know that when I am home, with it in airplane mode, it will still receive phone calls. Is this thru my WiFi?

Would dropping the phone into one of these RF shielding bags help solve this?

I sincerely want to keep the GPS ability of my phone on. When I am driving, the phone connects into the spyware in the car, and would call 911 if I were in an accident.

I wonder (and am asking) if reporting the emails to SpamCop (for example) would help alleviate this issue.
I have to believe that legitimate companies would not want their emails reported as spam, and non-legitimate companies are, in fact, sending spam.

Next creepy thing we will be shocked by is that turning "off the Location Services" does NOT really turn them off.
Apologies if I did not get that memo and the above is yesterday's news. ;)

There are still stores that ask for your phone # when you check out (a certain freight company named after a body of water does this as do a lot of drug stores). I always smile politely and politely say "no thank you, I just want to check out". This usually works and I can get on with my day. Occasionally the cashier will insist and then I just rattle off any number that pops into my head. As irritating as this is, I always keep in mind that the cashier is simply a low paid employee following orders - so please don't snap at them. Smile and be polite. I have found that if you are nice, they will usually give you whatever discount you would have received if you actually gave them your personal information.

In Canada, this is illegal unless you give permission for that company to contact you! Does not prevent other companies in other Countries from spamming you!

It’s a start anyways

Turn off Bluetooth! Many people don't realize their bluetooth connects to beacons, giving away their identity. Most big stores do this, and a growing number of smaller stores. And a number of those wireless signs and kiosks on sidewalks.

I was listening to SiriusXM in my car and heard a Tom Petty song I really liked so I hit the back arrow to listen again and made note (sorry) of the song title. When I got home I pulled up Google>YouTube and... Holy Internet Batman! That song title was at the top of the search box!! They are watching and listening everywhere.

Well I guess my incident is on the same basis. I had looked up a phone number of a business on my smartphone but, did not call them. Five minutes later they called me.

Great article! I'm pretty sure that this problem is even more pervasive than indicated in the article. Two examples that I know of. If I want to go to Yahoo Finance, I have to log in to my AT&T account. If I want to go to YouTube, I have to log in with a Google account. And Google just got convicted of logging customer's activities, even when the customer is in "Incognito" mode. I strongly suspect that even when you are in a VPN, your keystrokes are still being logged by your ISP.

Great article. One place I know using this technology is a Harley Davidson website. The first time I went there I looked up the price for a part but made no purchase. Next day I received a email telling me my part was ready to ship, I need only to complete my order. I don't know if all H-D places do this but it did shake me up. Bottom line is we fed the monster and now it's turn to feed on us.

Well - In this time of Lock-Down, I've been having some fun with this. 1st, I made a new gmail address, signed up with a bogus name - we'll call him Sam Bogee. Then when I go around on the net, I use him! I get offers for loans, roofing, rain gutters, all kinds of stuff. If you can't enjoy life, why live it?

When signing up with Facebook, they ask for private information. It is requested to open an account. Most people do furnish this info gladly. Why would I need to give out personal info to surf companies' Facebook pages? Companies use Facebook as it is free and easy.

Any time I get an unexpected email from a source I do not know, or even one I did not expect from a known source on my gmail account, I move it to the spam folder. On my outlook account, I mark it as junk. If everyone starts to do this, perhaps someday, we will get less of this type of traffic in our email.

I have a smart phone that I use only when going out, so I keep it turned off most of the time. If anyone wants to contact me, they can use my 'land line' (powered by Magic Jack). My2Cents, Ernie

The "You still have items in your cart" e-mail has happened to me a number of times. From a company I do patronize, but in none of these cases did I have any items in my cart, nor did I even LOOK at the items they showed me. They did not get any information from a portable telephone, because I do not own one. At least now I have some idea why it happens. Next step: finding a way to block it!

Read "Surveillance Capitalis" by Shoshana Zuboff to see how really bad it all is!...

Read "Surveillance Capitalism" by Shoshana Zuboff to see how really bad it all is!...

You can also go into your settings, privacy, system services on a iPhone and turn off the “Location- Based Ads” There are three of them. And then go down to “Significant Locations” and turn that off. That should help stop the ads from showing up if you visit someplace that is tracking. Might not get all of them but its a start.