This post may be for Neil, I'm not sure. This is something that happens to me now and then.
A couple of evenings ago, I was reading the website of MSNBC, which - if you don't know (and even if you do) - is an American news and media channel with somewhat liberal leanings. I was attempting to catch up with the latest doings of the FBI*.
While I was in there I was interested - pleased, you might say - to note that the bots that work for the agencies who buy advertising space on the site had sent me a personalised ad. Imagine, if you will - they had used unauthorised access to the personal and location information on my computer to target this ad just at me. I was flattered. Maybe I fit some desirable class of potential client - wealthy? sophisticated? Maybe this is why YouTube sends me all those notes from single women in the Ukraine? Maybe they also know I tend to buy Terry's Chocolate Orange Minis when I visit Tesco's? I'm digressing here, but you will gather that I was a bit excited.
I was also concerned about these spare 2024 cruise cabins; did this mean that I would have to take my reduced-price cruise in 2024? How does this work, Charlie?
Charlie dismissed the whole deal as a con. Not only are there no actual cruises available, says Charlie, but if I click on this ad something very bad will happen to my bank account, and those trainers I bought from Hotter last month for working in the garden will no longer fit properly. Someone in the old Balkan States will steal my identity, and then absolutely everything will go down the toilet.
Of course I am disappointed that I am not getting a cheap cruise out of this, and I am also scared by what seems to have happened to That Internet, but I'm also not a little angry. I have come to trust MSNBC to tell me the news with the sort of spin I approve of, but they will not let me read it unless I allow these adverts to appear. That in itself is not too serious, but it seems there is a layer of scuffling piracy in there as well - there are, as Charlie says, invisible, bad people just waiting to trip me up and leave my body somewhere behind the recycling bins down at the harbour.
That really is a bit much. I might add, in passing, that if someone does pinch my identity then I hope they get better value from it than I did.
* Fat, Brainless Idiot
I'm flattered my mitherings register enough......☺
ReplyDeleteStrangely, my first thought was what about the unsold cruises from 2020! They must be even better value and there will be lots of them.....
Your problem is not embracing the mindset of MAGA; if something is stated, however ridiculous, that doesn't mean it isn't true.....don't let things such as facts and science stand in your way....
That cruise company have obviously invented time travel (as well as the ability to turn North Berwick harbour into a cruise ship terminal - perhaps in 2052) so you can experience already having had your cruise (journeying into the future in order to embark for the past). Did you enjoy your journey sir?
This is obviously much more likely than some east European con....☺
Personally, I always reject cookies, even ploughing through those advertisers options for preferences or question whether I really need to visit that site.....
It rather sums up humanity that the potential of the internet for shared knowledge is reduced to unpleasant shits trying to con pensioners and the gullible or sell unwanted tat you never knew you needed.....
Neil
I must thank you for taking my post seriously - there is so little respect around now. I have to say that I am pretty hot on rejecting cookies of all possible varieties - I also go into the bowels of Firefox and have a scrub out every now and then. The things I find in there lead me to suspect that all the time I spend selecting things in those WE CARE ABOUT YOUR PRIVACY pup-ups is unproductive - that seems to be as dishonest as everything else.
Delete2020 cruises! - now you're talking - wasn't that the year that cruise ships became floating Covid cities, and many were unable to dock as a result? They really would be very cheap - especially as you might get an enforced extra few weeks. Your scenario of travelling into the future to cruise into the past also gets me wondering at what point the Faster Payments system would rush your money to the seller?
Time for another cup of tea - my head hurts.
What a bargain, now you'll be able to take a quick cruise over to Charles' new pad! I have long since given up the idea that any sort of privacy exists on the internet but time cruising does sound fun...
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting idea. I'm a bit stuck with the thought that a cheap 2024 trip would get me to Charles' new place before he bought it. I'm working on it.
DeleteNeil as hit the nail on the head...the internet could (and should) be a golden platform for sharing knowledge, understanding and ultimately tolerance.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is that even an organisation like MSNBC is prepared for a little sell-out from time to time. Money talks.
I sometimes think I would be better off sitting somewhere like the real North Berwick harbour with an old fashioned (analogue) book and a cheese and pickle sandwich for the rest of my days.
But I will book on the internet again tomorrow night I am sure*.
*Carefully ignoring the scandalous invitations from Natasha from Ukraine who would love me to end of my bank account and back.
That is a very pleasing image Matt - thanks for this, though I am not entirely comfortable with the idea of you eating a cheese & pickle sandwich for the rest of your life. All good though.
DeletePerhaps the celebrated Mussolini Effect will sort out a few of these personalities in the near future. Everyone is currently busy suing each other (or appealing against a previous suit, or claiming that the law doesn't count for anything anyway). Any chance the rest of us could take a class action against some of these guys for making us physically sick? Mrs Thatcher's voice very nearly convinced me to go and work in Germany in the mid 1980s - too late for that sort of bravado now.