| how did these sites get my info....wow i am shocked hi,
last night i was looking to buy an old version of an adobe software product that i need. so i typed into google search and a bunch of OEM software sites came up. i clicked on about 3 links but did not enter any info, just browsed for a few seconds then closed. this morning i open my email and i have about 10 emails for OEM software in my inbox. i cannot believe this, i am absolutely shocked. how did these guys get my private email address (its a private email, i.e noy google. yahoo etc...), i performed no action on their sites, only browsed for a few seconds. i use avast pro and spybot....how did this happen. |
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 dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO | Were you logged into facebook?  |
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Reviews:
 ·WestNet Broadband
| reply to thirteenone
Re: how did these sites get my info....wow i am shocked
It's called data mining, and it happens a lot. Most people just click happily away not knowing that it is all being collected.
The Internet is still learning to spell Privacy.
--
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke
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packets
join:2013-03-18
Holly Springs, NC
1 edit | reply to thirteenone
said by thirteenone :hi,
last night i was looking to buy an old version of an adobe software product that i need. so i typed into google search and a bunch of OEM software sites came up. i clicked on about 3 links but did not enter any info, just browsed for a few seconds then closed. this morning i open my email and i have about 10 emails for OEM software in my inbox. i cannot believe this, i am absolutely shocked. how did these guys get my private email address (its a private email, i.e noy google. yahoo etc...), i performed no action on their sites, only browsed for a few seconds. i use avast pro and spybot....how did this happen.
Really, you're shocked? Hmm...Acknowledge the complete power that is Google, get angry, and begin using a different search engine (e.g., www.startpage.com) for your future searches... |
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Reviews:
 ·Callcentric
| reply to thirteenone
said by thirteenone :hi,
last night i was looking to buy an old version of an adobe software product that i need. so i typed into google search....
.....how did this happen.
That's how. 
That's their business model.
As was said, a search engine that protects your privacy much more is:
»startpage.com/
From the same company, but one that uses more input sources:
»ixquick.com/
Another good one:
»duckduckgo.com/
------------------
Company background on the first two:
»ixquick.com/eng/company-background.html
Company background on DuckDuckGo:
»help.duckduckgo.com/customer/por···-history |
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davePremium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:8 | reply to thirteenone
But no replies here have explained how it is that the email address (not gmail, not typed on the web sites) was discovered.
I search for stuff in google. I buy things online. And yet somehow I have never had the experience that the OP has had. So it's not explicable by simply saying "google does data mining". |
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Reviews:
·WestNet Broadband
| Javascript. Who knows what sites were referenced, and yes even Facebook captures user history of sites not linked to them, and email addresses are known if a user is set to public.
The other possibility is of logging the IP address of the visitor to the site and then a bot sends email out to to the block of IP's and if it's a standard Peter, John, Paul or Mary email address of the ISP's block of addresses.
Logged into a Google Acct, synced? You don't need a Google email address if you use your private email online.
You may have used your email address in a previous web page and user history, user referrers, CSS, XSS etc.
Probably a good place to start:
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_addr···rvesting
»www.faqs.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq/harvest/
--
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke
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 BlackbirdBuilt for SpeedPremium
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:3
·Frontier Communi..
| reply to thirteenone
Perhaps it would help if there were more specific details provided...
1. What is your browser & version?
2. How do you access your email (an online ISP web portal or downloaded by an email browser on your system)?
3. Do you use Google Toolbar?
4. Was JavaScript in use by the browser when visiting the OEM sites just prior to the emails?
5. Had the browser been turned off prior to browsing to the OEM sites, or had it been left on from previous usage/sessions? Did such previous usage include the input of email address to some other site?
6. Had you done any previous online searches for the same kind of software before the session that seemed to trigger the eMails?
7. Is your email address rather obfuscated (hard to guess) or is it of simple construction? (eg: is it something along the lines of 87bkp5u@isp.com or instead perhaps like lastname@isp.com?)
8. When was the last time you did a full system scan using your anti-malware tools prior to the email arrivals?
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“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” A. de Tocqueville |
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 NormanSPremium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
kudos:9
·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to norwegian
said by norwegian:The other possibility is of logging the IP address of the visitor to the site and then a bot sends email out to to the block of IP's and if it's a standard Peter, John, Paul or Mary email address of the ISP's block of addresses.
How does this work? If you know my IP address, how will you blindly find my e-mail address?
Okay; I understand if you know I accessed your site from [64.174.91.254], you can run a reverse lookup and find, 'adsl-64-174-91-254.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net'. From which you can deduce that my e-mail address ends in, '@pacbell.net'. But you still don't know if my email address user name bears some resemblance to any name I plugged into your site.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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 John GaltForward, MarchPremium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
kudos:5 | reply to thirteenone
Many companies sell email addresses as a normal part of their operations.
Most people have a disposable email address that they use for things such as shopping and such...to avoid this kind of problem. |
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quatrixPremium
join:2005-02-11
South FL
kudos:2 | reply to norwegian
said by norwegian:The Internet is still learning to spell Privacy. And some people still haven't realized that there's nothing about a right to privacy in the Constitution. Nor is an email address sacred. |
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 DrModemPremium
join:2006-10-19
USA
kudos:1
 ·exede by ViaSat
3 edits | reply to NormanS
said by NormanS:said by norwegian:The other possibility is of logging the IP address of the visitor to the site and then a bot sends email out to to the block of IP's and if it's a standard Peter, John, Paul or Mary email address of the ISP's block of addresses.
How does this work? If you know my IP address, how will you blindly find my e-mail address? Okay; I understand if you know I accessed your site from [64.174.91.254], you can run a reverse lookup and find, 'adsl-64-174-91-254.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net'. From which you can deduce that my e-mail address ends in, '@pacbell.net'. But you still don't know if my email address user name bears some resemblance to any name I plugged into your site. Because that's not how it's happening.
Probably you have an account with and are logged into some site that is tracking your web activity with a cookie (Thus how they can pair the email with the web activity) and then selling your email address and search history to third parties who are sending interest based spam. It's not google because they don't do that (You can read their privacy policy, it says so, unless you have reason to believe they are lying).
You should look at the privacy policies of sites you log into(Somewhere in all the legalese they should say whether or not they sell info to third parties) and maybe clean out your cookies/cache. |
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 XiodenPremium
join:2008-06-10
Monticello, NY
kudos:1 | reply to Gershom 1624
said by Gershom 1624:said by thirteenone :hi,
last night i was looking to buy an old version of an adobe software product that i need. so i typed into google search....
.....how did this happen.
That's how. That's their business model. Except that isn't Google's Business model. You would begin to see Google ads related to your searches. You would not receive emails from advertisers as Google doesn't sell email addresses in the first place. OP would however be pretty likely to see Adobe OEM related ads in GMail (but not as actual emails). |
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DrModemPremium
join:2006-10-19
USA
kudos:1 | Since google runs it's own ad network it has a vested interest in keeping that info to itself.
Otherwise it would be like walmart letting target use it's supply chain. |
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pandoraPremium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Google Voice
 ·Comcast
·ooma
·Future Nine Corp..
| reply to thirteenone
Google analytics uses JavaScript and urchins to follow you from site to site. Other companies use similar software. It is likely your computer has a unique accessible identifier of some sort that allows you to be tracked even without cookies.
If you are logged into facebook or google, tracking you is very easy.
--
Congress could mess up a one piece jigsaw puzzle. |
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 Dude111An Awesome DudePremium
join:2003-08-04
USA
kudos:11 | reply to norwegian
quote:
It's called data mining, and it happens a lot. Most people just click happily away not knowing that it is all being collected
Yes and its quite disturbing!! -- Many ppl dont care its hapening which is quite sad! |
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 jaykaykay4 Ever YoungPremium,MVM
join:2000-04-13
Scottsdale, AZ
kudos:22 | reply to norwegian
Re: how did these sites get my info....wow i am shocked said by norwegian:It's called data mining, and it happens a lot. Most people just click happily away not knowing that it is all being collected.
The Internet is still learning does not know how to spell Privacy.
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davePremium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:8 | reply to norwegian
said by norwegian:The Internet is still learning to spell Privacy.
Indeed. |
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NormanSPremium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
kudos:9 Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to DrModem
said by DrModem:Because that's not how it's happening.
That is exactly what norwegian  says is a possibility:
quote:
The other possibility is of logging the IP address of the visitor to the site and then a bot sends email out to to the block of IP's and if it's a standard Peter, John, Paul or Mary email address of the ISP's block of addresses.
So how does that possibility work?
Here is one way I think could work:
Autofill in Opera.
But does anybody actually fill out their browser with "Auto-complete" data any more? Especially using a "Private" e-mail address?
And, in any case, by obtaining the e-mail address from a browser "auto-fill" database doesn't require a blind send to a random name at a block of IP addresses.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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