I dislike writing about myself. But here I go again. I keep harping on internet stuff. Podcasts, surveys and other annoyances have recently shared this space. Here’s another.
Decades of playing or playing at stringed musical
instruments is a big part of life here. So are subscriptions to “updates”
from the sellers of the same. There are about 100 merchants in the
“favorites” or “bookmarks” column on the browser.
One morning, dreaming of a new amplifier (I only have
three!) I stumbled over a new one from one of the major brands and it was shown
in the daily emails from an aggressive but reliable merchant in the Midwest. Nice,
detailed pictures. All the right bells and whistles. Light enough in weight for
a diminished senior citizen to tote to his next gig. A pretty good price.
Maybe free shipping (to be determined.) Maybe they’ll forget to collect out of
state sales tax.
Not an hour later comes a personalized email: “Hey, can we
help you out? We noticed you were interested in the (insert name of
product.)”
You noticed? Just how did that happen?
Five hundred bucks. Not a big deal for a category of stuff that can range
well into the high four figures.
There are obviously some pretty sophisticated algorithms
floating in the ether. They send an email. Then they look over your
shoulder while you read it. And if you should actually explore an item
available for sale, they know it and pounce like a cat on a sleeping or
disabled mouse or bird or -- these days -- cicada.
This raises an interesting question. What else do they know
but don’t tell you they’ve spotted. Is someone tracking everything you
look at? Are you ready to switch from “Edge” or “Chrome” and do
everything online on the so-called dark web? And how dark is the dark web
now that we’re on that subject?
One service promises to bounce your i.p. address through a
maze of others in a maze of countries a billion miles from here -- wherever
here is. Do they really? Can you, yes you… sitting there in East
Nowhere, South Carolina convince an artificial intelligence machine that you’re
in Bulgaria or Rwanda?
And does it matter? Can the receiver trace your
breadcrumbs back to East Nowhere?
This merchant has spent decades building good will… and in
many cases deserves it. Or did until now.
So pardon this, but here’s a note to that merchant, sent
only through this blog:
Sirs: I am an old guy who has shopped with you for a good
long time and who loves to watch the stuff you promote. But as someone who
hasn’t played in public in decades, I resent the kind of invasion of privacy
you just demonstrated. I won’t outright tell you who I am, but it’s usually
right there in the signoff.
Now, we’ll see if these people are really on their
artificially intelligent toes. If the emails stop, I’m on to something we
all can use.
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome
to them. ®
Any Questions? wesrichards@gmail.com
© WR 2021
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