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Ads With Your Name On Them

Posted by kdawson on Tue Mar 11, 2008 04:29 PM
from the are-you-creeped-out-yet dept.
Privacy
eldavojohn writes "The NYTimes is running an interesting blog piece on the answers Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, & Google gave to the question: Can they show you an ad with your name on it? The results: 'Microsoft says it could use only a person's first name [which it doesn't consider personal information]. AOL and Yahoo could use a full name but only on their sites, not the other sites on which they place ads. Google isn't sure; it probably could, but it doesn't know the names of most of its users.' Now whether or not they would use this information is a different story. AOL has no plans to, Yahoo is open to it, and Microsoft has implemented a technological barrier preventing it (despite behavioral and demographic data being served to the ad companies). Although Google might use name information at some point, they don't now do so; nor do they use behavioral or demographic data."
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Submission: Where Every Ad Knows Your Name? by eldavojohn (898314)
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  • Mobil card (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Intron (870560) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:33PM (#22722324)
    Exxxxxon/Mobil gas pumps used to put your name up when you used your credit card to buy gas. Not for any reason, just because they could. I felt it was intrusive, since anybody at a neighboring pump now knows my name, but kind of a minor annoyance.

      • Re:Mobil card ms are NUTS... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Your.Master (1088569) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @05:15PM (#22722750)

        How can ms claim a person's GIVEN name is NOT personal? Sound's like they've got too much duroquinone in their brains. The NERVE of them to assert a thing.
        This is the problem with secondary sources, they make the slightest change in wording and people interpret it so differently.

        Microsoft does not say that your first name is not personal information. Their policy prevents the spread of personally identifiable information, which they define as information which could be used by theirselves or others to connect data (including your first name) to you, the individual. Now, using your first name might be a little dodgy in that you might be the only person in the world with the same first name. But generally speaking, you cannot match a person to their data with only first names.

      • Re:Mobil card ms are NUTS... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Mox-Dragon (87528) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @05:22PM (#22722788)

        Women or anyone who might be targets of stalkers should especially take great offence to this. Why? Well, some asshole/creeper could follow a mark to their car, then note the license plate. Then the creeper can proceed to obtain more information by following the person and getting their address. Next, rummage any accessible mailbox or driveway mail or deliveries and note th presumed name.

        Yeah, but it seems like this is the sort of thing that won't be influenced by somebody hearing your last name in a store. I mean, if they're going through your trash, they're probably going to find some piece of mail with your last name on it.

        Safeway could someday become "Dangerway".

        Really?

        So, now, i use a valid Safeway card with a borked name, and I ONLY use cash so as to not commingle my real and shopper names.

        Really?

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by McFadden (809368)

        After a shopper's membership card is scanned, and the goods are bagged and the customer is ready to go, the drone cashier will usually pipe (pretty much for ALL in earshot to hear), "Thank you, Mr/Mrs/Ms (last name)". THAT bugs the SHIT out of me. So, I would interrupt them -- as they say "Thank you" -- with "NO LAST NAME/DON'T SAY MY LAST NAME."

        Safeway could someday become "Dangerway"....

        Overreaction much? One wonders how you manage to step outside your house each day without the protection of your t

          • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

            by FLEB (312391)
            Those who don't put the "k" in America.

            I disagree. I'd say that the "k" in America is much more likely to be put there by someone who isn't really concerned-- or able-- to violate privacy by culling personal information. Look at their lack of data accuracy, for instance. Anyone with any sort of purpose, be it nefarious or otherwise, would at least be able to spell-check their way through "America". Do you think these type of people could even pronounce your name correctly?

            Blurting names also confirms the na

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by 1u3hr (530656)
            the creeper might, after following the mark,.... Blurting names also confirms the name of a mark who conscientiously and carefully LIED to her follower about her name, only to be f*scked over by her emerging stalker.... THAT's why it matters. We don't have the luxury of knowing who is our freak and our stalker.

            If you actually did have a stalker, they will find your name out pretty quickly.

            Have you ever had a stalker? Do you know anyone who did? I was under the impression that non-celebrities were sta

  • Amazon has already done this... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nebaz (453974) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:33PM (#22722326)
    Several years ago I was surfing some non-amazon related site, and there was an add at the bottom from amazon, with my name on it (presumably a amazon hosted ad that looked at my cookie information). Really freaked me out. I haven't seen anything like this for a while though.
    • Amazon still does it. I saw it happen last week.

    • Re:Amazon has already done this... (Score:5, Funny)

      by misleb (129952) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:49PM (#22722494)
      First time I saw "personals" ads on a web page that seemed to know what city I lived in, I kinda freaked.

      "Meet sexy singles in [your town]." And then it shows some "example" profiles of some women who are most likely just models. Then I look closer and I think "Oh my God, I've slept with these women! How did they know?" Then I realized that they just got my location from my IP and that I've slept with pretty much all the attractive women around here so it didn't really matter which ones they chose.

      Good news is that it reminded me to go get tested for STDs.

      • When I'm on the internet at work my IP address is one registered to my company's parent company in a different state, not even close to my actual location. So I see all these ads telling me what great deals I can get on real estate, insurance, and bachelor's degrees in this other little town I have never even been to.
        I get a certain perverted kind of pleasure from that!

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Otter (3800)
      Yeah, I get those Amazon ads all the time and am surprised that no one among the author, interviewees, NYT editor, /. editor and submitter saw this topic and immediately thought "Amazon!"

      Anyway, while it freaked me out too the first (and still kind of does) it's not like they know anything that any other retailer with cookies doesn't know. It seems like unnecessarily off-putting advertising though.

  • Sounds scary (Score:5, Insightful)

    by flaming error (1041742) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:34PM (#22722346) Journal
    But the real problem isn't that they can *show* who you are, it's that they *know* who you are.

    Showing it would just be disclosing our already existing vulnerability.

    • Re:Sounds scary (Score:4, Funny)

      by XaXXon (202882) <xaxxon@gmail. c o m> on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:41PM (#22722406) Homepage
      Exactly. That's why they're not going to do this. They don't want you knowing that they know who you are. Unless of course they know you know they know who you are.

      • Re:Sounds scary (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Obfuscant (592200) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @05:48PM (#22723020)
        A couple of my credit card companies did this (call me by name when they answered the phone) for a while. It REALLY bugged me. Not that they knew my name, but that they assumed that my work phone number, used by a whole room full of people, was always me calling.

        They stopped. I asked why, and they said it really creeped their customers out.

        • Re:Sounds scary (Score:4, Informative)

          by HTH NE1 (675604) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @06:24PM (#22723304)
          Also, answering with the person's name eliminates an identity confirmation opportunity. Hell, I expect the place where I order pizza delivery to know my name and associate my phone number from Caller ID to my name automatically, but I'd like them to take notice if someone else orders a pizza from my phone and the names don't match.

          Not that if someone broke into my home or faked the CLID to order pizza wouldn't know my name, or that they'd even care. But leave the opportunity for a stupid criminal to be stupid:

          The phone rang. He stopped the tape and answered it, then almost dropped the phone like an electric eel as he realized what he was doing. Hardly daring to breathe, he held the telephone to his ear.

          "Rule One in housebreaking," said a voice. "Never answer the telephone when you're in the middle of a job. Who are you supposed to be, for heaven's sake?"

          Richard froze. It was a moment or two before he could find where he had put his voice.

          "Who is this?" he demanded at last in a whisper.

          "Rule Two," continued the voice. "Preparation. Bring the right tools. Bring gloves. Try to have the faintest glimmering of an idea of what you're about before you start dangling from window ledges in the middle of the night.

          "Rule Three. Never forget Rule Two."

          "Who is this?" exclaimed Richard again.

          The voice was unperturbed. "Neighborhood Watch," it said. "If you just look out of the back window you'll see..."

          Trailing the phone, Richard hurried over to the window and looked out. A distant flash startled him.

          "Rule Four. Never stand where you can be photographed.

          "Rule Five... Are you listening to me, MacDuff?"

          "What? Yes..." said Richard in bewilderment. "How do you know me?"

          "Rule Five. Never admit to your name."

          Richard stood silent, breathing hard.

          "I run a little course," said the voice, "if you're interested..."

          Richard said nothing.

          "You're learning," continued the voice, "slowly, but you're learning. If you were learning fast you would have put the phone down by now, of course. But you're curious - and incompetent - and so you don't. I don't run a course for novice burglars as it happens, tempting though the idea is. I'm sure there would be grants available. If we have to have them they may as well be trained.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by FLEB (312391)
          Bingo. Although I don't think there's a solidly backable one-way-or-the-other legal or ethical stance on this (realistically, it's not much of a "privacy violation" at all), I just can't see it being an effective method of advertising. It just creeps a person out when someone they don't know jumps in and starts acting like an old chum, especially when it's clear that they know nothing about you except your name off a list.
    • yes that's assuming that they have any clue. unless it absolutely positively cannot possibly be avoided [paying bills for one] why link anything about you to an online profile????? I really don't know how people can enter their actual information and be utterly shocked that it is possible to serve ads with your name on it... what they don't know can't be used.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Hoplite3 (671379)
      Exactly. If they put up an ad with my name on it, it would freak me out. I wouldn't exactly be racing to buy stuff.

      If the advertiser reveals how well he knows me, he's making me uncomfortable. It's like some stranger knocking on your door an inquiring about the health of your child. It sounds like a threat, or at least establishes an asymmetric relationship (they know more about you than you do about them).

  • Coming Soon ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by daveime (1253762) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:34PM (#22722350)
    Well now that the EU have approved the Google / Doubleclick merger, expect ads VERY soon with your name on them ... and possibly a lot more.

  • Cheers (Score:4, Insightful)

    by TheMeuge (645043) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:35PM (#22722356) Homepage
    A. Let's go ahead and tag it "sometimesyouwanttogowhereeverybodyknowsyourname"

    B. Google certainly can show me my name in the ad. Certainly it knows which gmail account I use, and the name on that. It also knows what billing name I used for my Google Checkout purchases. Similar ways of identifying users apply to the other companies. What worries me, is seeing my name on an ad served by somebody I did NOT share my name with.

  • It's the end of an era! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kamineko (851857) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:36PM (#22722362)
    Will slashdot implement a form of this as a replacement for the CowbowNeal option?
  • This reminds me of the old BBS days. Someone would figure out the BBS code for displaying variables, and start posting messages with stupid things like "If your name is on this list, you will be banned: Joe, Frank123, [$name], ...".

    The computer doesn't know your name. It echoes a variable.

  • I could see some sort of username/nickname, but not my personal name. My personal name, even only my first, would be creepy and I'd probably have to start supplying false names for it. However, I would crack-up with laughter everytime I read an ad like "Dr. Eggman, click here to stop your pest problems today!"
  • Or, they could simply take shots in the dark against the most common names.

    Worth a try.

    John Smith: This is a message directed for you, and only you. Yes -you-, John Smith. Buy my snake oil! It cures everything, even *that* special problem. Only $99.
  • Since I got modded down for an earlier overlord comment (Though, it's not like I'm hurting for Karma) I'll just say that this could be very much like in the movie mentioned in the subject of this post. On the other hand, It's not like it's a real suprise that advertisers get to know you, and, I'm not sure I'd be too upset by it. I mean, when Yahoo mail greets me by first name, I don't get worked up by it, nor when several other services do it. And this would just be a logical extention.
  • Granted, I was very un-hopeful when that flick came out, on the one hand, Philip K. Dick, on the other three (and both legs and much of the torso) was Tom Cruise. Still the personalized ads bit was there. Funny how they offered him pink clothing.

    Roflmao
  • Click Here To Claim Your Valuable Prize!

  • Screw them... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by apathy maybe (922212) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:43PM (#22722428) Homepage Journal
    I don't care if they have ads (that I can't see) addressing me with names that aren't mine.

    I do however, care about those people who are less technologically capable, and less privacy conscious being tricked into clicking on ads because they think it is from a friend or whatever (when reading emails especially).

    Just because I rarely give out my real name on the web, doesn't mean that there are people who use their real name for everything and don't mind giving it to everyone.

    And that's the problem. This won't matter for most people on Slashdot, but it will matter to at least minority of people. And the people with knowledge should promote that knowledge, we should fight against this sort of thing.

    (Actually, I suspect that there are a number of people who would get rather angry being addressed by their name when looking at ads. Imagine your TV saying "Hey Joe, I've got a great new beer for you to taste!" or "Hey Joe, I've got a great new computer bit", most people I know would get angry at that. Meh, now I'm starting to ramble.)

  • I work for an ad agency. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by verbalcontract (909922) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:46PM (#22722464)

    And I've written text-based ads for Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.

    But I can't imagine anyone would want to purchase a product based on an ad with their name on it. "Hey Morley! Buy some laundry detergent!" I'd get freaked out, and I'd forever associate that creepy feeling with the product. And I'd never buy it.

    I imagine most people would feel the same way. And I imagine most copywriters -- who are less like the oily marketeers you're thinking of -- would feel the same.

    I say, if some oily marketeer wants to use this feature -- and it is only at most my first name -- he deserves to scare off his customers.

  • "Hi, Cro! I have some V!aGra for you for only $9.95. And for an extra $4.99, I'll throw in some hygine products for Mrs. Magnon"

  • Snail Mail does it all the time. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Marc_Hawke (130338) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:50PM (#22722516)
    I imagine a crafted ad would be quite effective (although misleading). We've all gotten the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes where they call us by name and say we won. Remember back to the first time, and you can know what it would be like to have that happen online.

    One time on the news site forum I frequent they did that. The news posting/headline used a little trick to display who you were logged in as. Everyone assumed that the story was actually about them. The forums were chaos until everyone figured it out, and through-out the day new people would hurriedly make a comment and then get modded 'redundant' by everyone else.

    Even though it was a simple echo of your login-name and not some great technical trick, it was effective enough to give everyone a bit of a startle.

    • I love those becasue my first name is legally C. (it's a long story). I love getting junk mail addressed to C.

      "Act now! You could get a check made out to C. today!"

  • What no "minorityreport" tags? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SeaFox (739806) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @04:57PM (#22722570)
    I already am slightly unnerved when ads for dating sites and such already know where I am, and that doesn't even require a cookie generally.

    • Well, they know your ISP (Score:4, Interesting)

      by SmallFurryCreature (593017) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @05:12PM (#22722722) Journal
      Which in my case screwed it up since with my old ISP it used to be correct, but not with my new one. Apparently I live in some small village, not the city.

      And yes, it makes a difference, these ads are HORRIBEL and anyone with a brain will know that they are ALL scams, how come there are only attractive women near you?

      But the naming of your home town makes it seems more legit. It is afterall how confidence tricksters work, by finding stuff out that you somehow let them know but using it in the right way to make you believe they really know you.

  • As soon as they pay me for the use of my name.

    We take our names seriously here at the Desperation compound. Why just the other day my brothers, Utter and Six-Degrees-Of, were talking about hunting down some of those there mappers for using their email addresses. But then they had to chase away from revenooers and got all distracted like.

  • what are these ads you speak of? (Score:3, Funny)

    by stokessd (89903) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @05:36PM (#22722920) Homepage
    they could be doing it now for all I know. Between adblock, flashblock, and spam filtering I don't see many ads at all. Actually with the DVR at home ads anywhere are a rarity in my life. Maybe they should advertise during the superbowl...

    Sheldon

  • The Evil Scale as an economic indicator (Score:3, Insightful)

    by martin-boundary (547041) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @07:33PM (#22723800)
    It's interesting that the Evil Scale on this issue is now

    1 (Least Evil): Microsoft (implements tech. barriers)
    2 : AOL (no barriers, no plans)
    3 : Yahoo (no barriers, shows interest)
    4 (Most Evil): Google (no barriers, no comment, lots of extra available data)

    If we assume that companies think Evil is a negative for business, this suggests that Google and Yahoo are getting complacent, while Microsoft is working pretty hard again to woo customers and improve its market position.

  • "You Can't" (Score:4, Funny)

    by greyhueofdoubt (1159527) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @08:51PM (#22724324) Homepage Journal
    I'll change all my user names to "Your Can't". That way I'll know which ads are useless.

    "You Can't find everything you need at carpet warehouse!"

    "You Can't find 'quadratic equation' and anything else on eBay!"

    I hate those eBay ads that just take your google search input to serve in the ad. Apparently eBay will sell you entire cities.

    -b

  • Google knows your name (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CopaceticOpus (965603) on Tuesday March 11 2008, @10:49PM (#22724982)

    [Google] doesn't know the names of most of its users.
    That's cute, real cute. I'm pretty sure Google knows more about me than anyone in my life. They know my name from Gmail and they've confirmed it with Google Checkout. They got my address there and know it's the same street I use as an origin when getting directions on Google Maps. They also know all the alternate emails I use that forward into Gmail. They follow my Slashdot usage because Gmail gets notified when someone replies to one of my posts. They learn about all my online purchases that way too. They recently learned more about my web endeavors thanks to Google Analytics.

    They know countless random topics that have popped into my head, because the first thing I do is to Google them. This has taught them all sorts of things about my personality and interests, including topics I might keep private from most everyone I know. When I go to Google News they learn about what events catch my attention. They know I still only click on a Google Ad every few months, but that hasn't stopped them from showing ads every chance they get. And of course, they've got Doubleclick now just on the off chance that I might be visiting a site they don't cover or that I might click on an ad they didn't provide.

    I didn't even mention Picasa or Google Earth. And if that's not enough, just imagine what they'll know once they get a piece of the internet backbone.

    No offense to the Googlebot reading this!

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by hedwards (940851)
      I don't think that annoying is quite the right word.

      Excellent vector for phishing, perhaps. Great way to devalue a person's name; almost assuredly. Great opportunity to figure out which sites are handing over my person all information; definitely.

      If this sort of thing does happen, I'm going to start using a different handle for each site that I join, and then refuse to do business with whichever sites are providing my information to the sort of sleaze that would use my personal information to address me via
    • Thats just annoying, not to mention most people I know go buy a nick name anyway.

      Really? Most people I know just select one for free. Your friends must have more money than mine...

    • Tell your friends I'll sell them the same brand nicknames for 35% off retail price. I also offer an extended warranty for $29.99.

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