Fake news

[Butch]

So I get on my laptop this morning and on MSN I see a picture of Jungle Jim and Pam walking in the staging lanes at some track.
The headline say 15 PICTURES OF WOODSTOCK. WTF

 

[Luke Nieuwhof]

While it was on MSN, it's probably whichever company they are using for their web advertising units. 'Matched content' ad boxes use a combination of real and clickbait articles with an algorithm deciding what you are most likely to click. Because you probably have a search history of drag racing it will use that to get you to click. You probably get ads that say things like "Drivers in *your location* need to do this to avoid getting a ticket on Tuesday!" with a picture of a pretty girl getting arrested...it's all about those clicks.

 

[mick]

i have seen jungle pam show up on similar '25 photos from the past' sort of thing.......and she is actually one of the photos w/caption.
so talk about algorithms; yesterday was listening to an obscure artist's CD in my pickup. a CD a friend lent to me to listen to. later yesterday the guy shows up as a suggested play
on my youtube on my business computer. i have sirius radio. that is some scary stuff. i had never searched this guy on my computer at all.
btw, his name is Seasick Steve. r&b/blues guy. a little older. was pleasantly surprised w/his music.

 

[Cliff]

When I turn on my computer, goes right to Google. Have to go from there to various sites. Google follows you & starts sending ads as I go from site to site. I am quite sure they have a history of everything I have ever looked at. I also wonder about my cable company. That is kinda scary to me.

 

[sammi]

This is how we pay for all the free stuff Google provides(knock-off Microsoft Office, storage space in the cloud, maps, Google Earth). All of us have to decide how much intrusion into our lives we trade for the free stuff.