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My girlfriend made a series of very specific product searches yesterday, mostly on Google and Amazon, using Google Chrome. Today, Skype shows an ad banner that matches those searches.

I checked that:

  • She did not use Internet Explorer or Bing
  • She did not mention any of these searches to any of her Skype contacts

How is this possible? It happens that she uses the same gmail address as a primary email for both Google, Amazon and Skype, but could that really be how she's being tracked?

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  • Its very common thing. they are collecting user search details. Sometimes selling those informations for other dealers.
    – Sachith Muhandiram
    Aug 6, 2015 at 2:07

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It's possible Microsoft (and by extension, Skype) is tracking her through a cookie in whatever browser she's using and then conveying that information to the Skype client upon login.

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  • It's not just cookies. Various companies take your data and share with 3rd parties. Some of which will specialise in targeted advertising. I've even seen a demonstration where tracking is possible without cookies based upon the fingerprint of a browser and browsing behaviour.
    – albal
    Aug 6, 2015 at 7:05
  • Can you elaborate? If she's not searching on any Microsoft owned website, where does the cookie come from?
    – trethaller
    Aug 6, 2015 at 12:12

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