corvallis

Please check your comment about BART schedules. BART guarantees a ride to your destination from any point in the system if you get into a station by midnight. The last train from Embarcadero station to Pittsburg leaves Embarcadero at 12:26 AM.

I can tell you exactly when the threshold was crossed for me. I'm pretty removed from the tech industry but many of my friends are in tech so I try to keep up. One day, I was searching for a photo of a jacket that I wanted to sell on eBay. Google images led me to a site called Tradesy which had a stock photo of the jacket. I clicked on it, it led me to an unrelated photo, so I clicked out of it. Immediately, I received an email in my personal/professional email box (not the email I use for website registration/spam/etc) inviting me to use Tradesy. To this day I have no idea how Tradesy or Criteo (who sent the email) got my personal email address from the simple act of my browsing to one page. An email I never enter anywhere, EVER. The violation I felt was so intense, I installed an additional ad blocker and blocked Tradesy. I have no idea if that helped but that was my moment.

I deleted Facebook about 2 months ago. Nothing bad happened. In fact, I feel relieved more than anything that I don't have this data-collecting overlord following me around. Also it takes out the stress of possibly "missing" Facebook messages or invitations.

I can't use one or two dating apps anymore, but I have a feeling my relationship status is unaffected regardless.

Would it be possible that he googled you, or you googled him after the meeting, that one of you searched for the others' LinkedIn or other similar sites (or on FB itself), and that the Facebook cookies/trackers connected the two of you?

Disclaimer: I am not connected to the tech world professionally; I'm just a bystander.

Step 1. Read Data and Goliath by Bruce Schneier. Step 2. Delete your Facebook account.

Something to keep in mind is the population that typically has chronic Hep C requiring this drug. It's IV drug users who share needles. Think they have $84K? Nope. Think they have insurance? Nope. Guess who pays for it. Oh that's right, it's Medicaid! It's you, the taxpayers. Where is there a large concentration of people that have Hep C? Prisons. Guess who pays for it then? Still you! The prison systems are obligated to provide health care and treatments in accordance with community standards of care, which they do. They have treated many people already who meet the criteria of disease progression to qualify for it. Still think Gilead should be charging this much for it here and not elsewhere?

I think you solved this!

I actually use the Apple mail client, so I get my spam mail and my personal mail in the same interface. My angry deleting of cookies and web history following the Criteo email would have cleared any log ins, but I haven't used the yahoo mail web interface for many years. However!! I remember going to flickr briefly about a month ago, and since it is a yahoo service, it would have been connected to my personal yahoo ID/email address (correct?). It's possible that I never logged out, so could it have mined my address that way? I am still incredulous and outraged that Criteo could use this to mine my address and spam me, but this could be how they got my personal email/yahoo ID.

Thank you so much for your insightful comments and for "investigating" with me! Even though this is still somewhat mysterious, I've learned from this and also discovered my ghostery settings were off which was very valuable. Now I just have to figure out how to block Criteo and similar invasive species. I may have to go off the grid after all.

I went to confirm that I only had the three extensions (ad block, ad block plus, and ghostery) and when I clicked into the ghostery settings, it turns out that none of the trackers were selected to be blocked!!! Not sure how long it was like that, or how, but it's fixed now. Do you think this explains how they got my personal email address? I am still not seeing the connection, but there are obviously many things I don't understand about this space.

Yes, I use Safari! I actually have cookies set as "from current website only" - I wrote the wrong one and edited. I suppose it's possible that one of my contacts entered in my personal email in some new website/app referral and that's how it was mined, but I clear out my cookies fairly often and don't remember clicking on anything in the recent past.

Here is the note on the bottom of the email from Tradesy/Criteo:

To opt-out of receiving Tradesy emails, click here. This message is personalized by Criteo Email based on your previous browsing behavior. To understand why you received this email and access Criteo Email privacy policy, click here. If you want to opt-out only from Criteo Email personalized emails, click here.

When I went to their email privacy policy, it doesn't explain how they got my email address.

I am very disturbed by this kind of stealth data mining. Is there a way to set up my browser to become more anonymous on the internet? Clearly my ghostery and ad block is not effective. I deleted my Facebook and Linked in after Linked in somehow spammed me to link contacts that I sold random crap to on craigslist (and probably spammed them too.) Somehow they both still deposit cookies. I am willing to pay someone who is familiar with this landscape to block trackers from invading my internetting. Or block websites that use criteo and similar. Is this possible?

I'm not one of those people that wants to go "off the grid". I use credit cards, I use amazon, I know what I'm getting into. It just seems like Criteo has crossed a line.

I could swear up and down that I have never used my personal address on any website/app ever. (I use my "spam" address for all internetting.) So if I had accidentally opted in somewhere, it would have been with my "spam" address. Even then, they should not be able to get my email address, period! My fear is that they have other info that I am supposed to have control over, such as my address/DOB/credit card/SSN. Can they mine all of those things just from cookies/browsing or when I purchase something from amazon?

The reason I am fairly concerned about privacy is due to the nature of my work and the fact that I have a unique name. As it is, you can find my whole family and their address/phone number on a search's first page. I feel even less secure knowing that my sensitive personal info is so easily mined and distributed despite my best attempts to block ads/cookies/tracking and stay away from clickbait/social media who I would assume to be the primary offenders.

I am also a little surprised that no one else seems terribly bothered and a company like Criteo is instead lauded for its innovative methods. Do we as users just have to accept that a lack of control over personal info is the new normal?

I already block third party cookies. I have it set to allow cookies "from current website" only. I had once tried to set it to never but then I couldn't log in anywhere so that was a bust. I really don't know how they would have gotten my personal address if I never enter that one anywhere. I only use my "spam" address for any/all internetting. That's what is most creepy to me. Thanks for the links! Mostly over my head but maybe someone else reading this thread will appreciate.