Listening to phone calls as user profiling for marketing [closed]

Question

I had a landline phone call about xyz with an xyz-expert (also on landline) for about an hour, for the first time. After couple of days I started getting suggested links on websites as an ad exactly about xyz's services.

Question: In theory, either my landline phone company or my smartphone is listening in, then probably selling my info. Is this type of ad profiling common and/or legal? Or was it pure chance I saw the targeted ad?

Update from comments:

• I am based in the UK
• I never did a web search on the xyz topic, nor sent/received emails regarding this topic. That is why I am assuming phone calls are being profiled.
• As pointed out, the legality side belongs to a different SE, so just in case if anyone can provide legal side of the question, it would be a huge bonus.

Updated question:

I am also curious if these types of practices exist at all:

• A Landline company keeping track of certain word frequencies
• Or my smartphone doing something similar, even when it is not in use

Answer 1

Data dealers often buy data from multiple sources and aggregate it to generate an all-compassing user-profile from it. For example:

• xyz company sold your telephone number and what the conversation was about.
• social network which asks for your phone number for password recovery sold your telephone number and your ip address at some point in time.
• advertisement network sold the tracking cookie ID for that IP address at that point in time.

Now the data dealer has linked your call with xyz to your identity on the advertisement network and can pay the advertisement network to show you xyz-related advertisement.

To avoid this from happening in the future:

• Look at the privacy policy of any companies and websites you interact with and refuse to do business with them when the policy allows them to resell your data.
• Do not reveal more personal information to internet services than strictly necessary.
• Use a browser plugin like Ghostery or Privacy Badger to block web trackers (keep in mind that an advertisement filters like AdBlock only blocks visible advertisement and are not designed to prevent invisible trackers from tracking you).
• Inform yourself about what rights to privacy you have according to your local laws and make use of them (for example, in many EU countries you have the right to order companies to tell you what private information they have about you and can order them to delete it).

Answer 2

The whole discussion of privacy issues today has turned to matters of profiling and patterns, think, prediction. Prediction is the big thing these days. "You might also be interested in xyz..." This is because others who did searches on abc and Wxyz ALSO were interested in xyz, and you also looked for some of these terms, you get classified as a target for xyz. It's also called pattern-of-life analysis, and it's what data-miners are salivating for.

Then there is the agreement you have with your phone company. You made a call to a company in the xyz business, and THAT association is all that is needed for your phone carrier to connect you up with a paying advertiser in the xyz biz, or more likely, allow their advertising agency to do so. Check your phone company's privacy policy. And while you're at it, check the email headers of the mail you got, whether it originated from the business represented, or from your phone carrier or some other advertising agency.

A javascript blocker, such as NoScript, in your browser is highly recommended to prevent Java scripts from running without your approval. AdblockPlus is also a superior tool for blocking ads.

Answer 3

There is no need to analyze the actual data (eg have someone listen to your call), when there are metadata, unprotected by privacy laws, readily available in convenient format. Just by looking into phone log it can be seen that:

• You (your number) was called by xyz (Xyz's number)
• The conversation lasted for about an hour so it can be concluded it went very well.

That's it. This is excellent source that's already there, machine-readable, just waiting to be fed into advertising algorithms.

Metadata are the most important data. Knowing who calls whom and how long they talk is in most cases enough.

Imagine that: a guy called HIV clinic for 3 minutes and then suicide support line and talked for 2 hours. Nobody listened so nobody knows what they were talking about, right?