Big Photobucket Brother

turnsouth · **on:** May 23, 2011, 12:05:40 AM

So today I was uploading photos for some posts, and I was looking over my Photobucket folders and I realized that the ads around the edges reflected the items that were in my pictures. I know that this is standard industry practice (like in the way Gmail scans all emails for key words and customizes the ads for the contents) The creepy thing is that I have no titles on my photos, so someone must be looking at my pictures and entering the keywords manually.

Chako · **Reply #1 on:** May 23, 2011, 01:11:35 AM

After my motorcycle accident, I posted a photo of my not so nice looking knee on Photobucket. No tag words or anything. It was taken down within minutes.

gustophersmob · **Reply #2 on:** May 23, 2011, 03:32:33 AM

I know they have stuff out there, I think even apps for smartphones, that recognize faces and pictures and will search for them on the internet. So, likely it is not a real person.

I have been using the noscript add-on with Firefox to block "google-analytics" which seems to cut down on a lot of the auto generated ads based on your personal history. I then use the adblock add-on to hide the rest.

frugalscotty · **Reply #3 on:** May 23, 2011, 05:10:23 AM

There is incredibly sophisticated software in use monitoring photographs. Check out the link below for a recent story about software that breaks down a photo into a digital signature and compares it against a database of known targets. They claim no false positives so far.

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/facebook-adopts-microsofts-photodna-combat-child-pornography

turnsouth · **Reply #4 on:** May 23, 2011, 05:32:44 AM

Interesting, but I'm not sure whats better, being watched by people, or knowing that computers are deciding what I need to see...

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #5 on:** May 25, 2011, 01:59:46 PM

Not all killer robots are created equal....

Def

jzmtl · **Reply #6 on:** May 26, 2011, 11:49:22 PM

Well we are using it for free, so gotta put up with the advertising they use. One of these days I need to get off my butt and get my own pic hosting space.