Technology

59594 readers

3434 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

355

Online Ads Can Infect Your Device with Spyware (www.scientificamerican.com)

submitted 1 year ago by Bebo@literature.cafe to c/technology@lemmy.world

77 comments fedilink hide all child comments

An investigative report reveals that new spyware can slip in unseen through online ads—and there is currently no defense against it. So not only that online ads are intrusive and can infect devices through malware, they can also be used for spying.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] fubo@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

This sort of creepitude isn't even specific to online ads.

You know postal junk mail? The "direct marketing" companies that enable it will cheerfully sell you a list of the home addresses of people meeting any demographic characteristics you want.

Do you have reason to want a list of 18-25-year-old gay men in the Boston area, widowed Asians in San Francisco, or military veterans in Oklahoma City? With their names, ages, and their home addresses?

They can sell you one, perfectly legally, and it's not even that expensive.