So This Was A Little Creepy
I don’t spend a lot of time in my office here at the radio station…far more often than not, I’m in a studio. But I was typing away on something the other day when the phone on my desk rang.
It was someone who mumbled his name and said he represented some company…none of that connected with me… he admitted that I was not expecting his call, and in fact that it was a “cold call” to sell me something. I quickly pointed out that I made no decisions regarding company purchases…completely true, by the way. He asked me who was, so I gave him the boss’ name—so far, so good. Interesting that he did not ask me how to reach that person, or for any contact information…but I was certainly not going to volunteer it.
He then wondered if he could ask me some questions…I was a bit intrigued at how odd this would get, so I said he was free to ask. He wanted to know what software our sales department used in creating materials to give to prospective clients. I told him I had no way of knowing…and this is when it got a little creepy.
He said someone at our internet protocol, or IP, address had been doing a web search and looked at something on his company’s website, so he was just following up to answer any questions.
I quickly suggested I had no idea and we finished the call soon after.
Now I am smart enough to know that every place we search on the internet, every key stroke we type, is being tracked somewhere by someone. I know that in theory.
But what a difference when that theory is shown in practice. Literally, someone in our building surfed a website looking at a product, and the vendor knew what was being searched, by who generally, and could then figure out how to make a phone call to follow up.
It was a good reminder that clearing your browsing history after using the internet only stops people who open the browser from seeing where you’ve been…but your tracks are already cemented in place, especially with a site you landed on.
Again, this is just a company trying to make a living selling things…and their tracking system led to my phone. Can you imagine what kind of tracking governments…ours or others…have on what we do?
Like I said…creepy.
