Is last.fm leaking information to Google?
I use last.fm, which means in effect I’m giving up large ammounts of privacy — the kind of music I listen to — for the sake of social networking (which in the end I don’t use at all) and fun stats. And that’s okay; at least the terms of service assure me that
We won’t pass your email address on to anyone, not even Lars Ulrich at gunpoint.
Sure, it also claims that
We reserve the right to sell or license pseudonymous listening data for commercial use, however we will never sell your personal data that can be traced back to a specific user. We may, for example, license our weekly charts for commercial use. This would not compromise any personal information.
But then today I started getting ads in hebrew characters in my Gmail. I don’t ever receive or send emails with hebrew characters, or in Hebrew, or related to Israel in any kind or form.
click for full size
As you can see, my Gmail is set to portuguese language, and except for automated newsletters most every email I receive or send is in portuguese. I’ve been intrigued for most of the day. Then, just fifteen minutes ago, a friend was complaining about an annoying message she had been sent on last.fm. I went there to check and saw this:
click for full size
As you can see clearly on the right it says “Link patrocinado”, which means “Sponsored link”. It’s not a feed I subscribe to.
Of course, just this morning I dusted off a CD I had received as a gift when I was a teenager and ripped it to iTunes. The title on the cover says “Hava Nagila and other Jewish Melodies”, but the CDDB-derived title was written in hebrew characters.
And then the two things clicked. What kind of sinister coincidence is this?
Filed under: Uncategorized | 15 Comments
Data.Syntaxfree 
I’d be tempted to guess they use Google Ads, and part of the agreement for that is to pass limited information in order to target the ads better. The, once it’s in their ad targeting stuff, anywhere else Google Ads can identify you it will use that contextual information.
прочитал с большим интересом — очень очень понравилось
Уважаемый пользователь интернет читающий этот коротенький очерк.
Корпорация Мегаполиса Pi7.ru порадовала новым выходом очередного сборника нюансов.
Что на самом деле происходит? про ситуацию в стране
Ну а впрочем лучшее лекарство от скуки это анекдотец.
Вовочке сильно надоел урок русского языка.
Он поднял руку и спросил:
– Марья Ивановна, а ПОХ.Й пишется вместе или раздельно?
За что его удалили из класса до конца учебного года. Чему он очень обрадовался.
Но Мария Ивановна ушла в декрет, и язык начал вести старый, умудренный опытом
Абрам Исаакович. Он позвонил родителям Вовочки и сказал, что тот опять может
ходить на уроки.
Вовочку это не устраивало, и на первом же занятии он спросил:
– Абрам Исаакович, а ПОХ.Й пишется вместе или раздельно?
– Это – когда как, – ответил старый учитель, – если, молодой человек, вы имеете
в виду мое отношение к вашим закидонам – то вместе, а если глубину великой
еврейской реки Иордан – то раздельно.
Привет! Приглащаю в Обнинский чат http://ktoki.ru/obninsk.html знакомств и общения.
I leave a response when I especially enjoy a
post on a site or if I have something to add
to the conversation. It’s a result of the sincerness communicated in the article I browsed. And on this post Is last.fm leaking information to Google? | Data.Syntaxfree. I was actually excited enough to post a leave a responsea response 😉 I actually do have a few questions for you if it’s okay.
Could it be only me or does it seem like a few of these responses appear as if they are left
by brain dead visitors? 😛 And, if you are posting at additional
places, I’d like to keep up with anything new you have to post. Could you list the complete urls of all your communal sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but
I find this topic to be really something which I
think I would never understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me.
I am looking forward for your next post, I’ll try to get the hang of it!
I enjoy, cause I found exactly what I was taking a look for.
You’ve ended my 4 day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye
Hello, I enjoy reading all of your article post.
I wanted to write a little comment to support you.
What’s Happening i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It absolutely helpful and it has helped me out loads. I am hoping to contribute & aid other users like its aided me. Great job.
I am really enjoying the theme/design of your web site.
Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility issues? A couple of my blog
visitors have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer but
looks great in Safari. Do you have any ideas to help
fix this problem?
Hi Dear, are you truly visiting this wweb paghe regularly, if so
afer that you will absolutely get nice know-how.
Produces also be changed easily, a quick and inexpensive solution to change the
style of a bedroom. Before hiring any new support company,
seee what their previous customers have underestimation ..
Land in Singapore and redach your hotel, Plan your days accordingly make
suire most for the places aare covered.Feet that tend tto be in sandals in jamaica all day
will naturally collect earth.
Where do must to network to best speaking gigs? Or, do must
make sure to give targeted action plans regarding
how your audience can strengthen their shortcomings? Define your niche and target demographics to some
tee.
You’re so cool! I do not believe I have read anything like that before.
So nice to discover another person with some unique thoughts on this subject matter.
Really.. thank you for starting this up. This website is one thing that is required on the web, someone
with some originality!