[ This is the message header of John's previous email.  Notice
 [ he uses "Workspace Webmail" instead of an email client program
 [ installed at his computer.

> X-Originating-IP: 75.139.100.156 [Charter Communications]
> User-Agent: Workspace Webmail 5.7.1
> From: reddawg@unameit.net.geentroep
> To: Mechanical Music Digest <rolls-1201@mmdigest.com>
> Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 14:10:04 -0700
> Subject: RE: 3D Printer Makes Ampico Valve Seats

Yesterday, 8/7/14 at 2:10 PM EDT, I responded to MMD 140806 with a
message in which I casually mentioned the name and website of the
3-D printer I have on order.  MMD 140817, which contains this message,
hit my inbox at 10:52 PM last night, 8/7/14.

This morning, my inbox contains a message from info@twitter-dot-com,
received at 1:54 AM, which provides me "Suggestions based on <the
name>" I used, consisting of two businesses and an individual
associated with 3-D printing, along with a button to click for more
"suggestions".

I find this pretty creepy and way too specific to be an innocent
coincidence.  I conclude that Twitter is either reading my emails
or somehow has hooks into the MMD mail feed, either of which I find
highly objectionable.  Also suspicious is that the email came from the
"corporate" Twitter, not any individual I follow in it.  Has anyone
else on MMD had a similar experience, either on MMD or another web site
to which you post?  I really don't use or depend on Twitter very much,
so I probably will not miss it after I uninstall it, but that looks
like a prudent action.

John Grant
Baltimore, Maryland

 [ A few years ago I, before Peggy and I were engaged, I was casually
 [ browsing on the Internet at diamond rings from the deskside computer
 [ in my office.  Days later, she and I were on the couch having
 [ a discussion about some news item we'd seen on TV and I
 [ grabbed my laptop and browed my way to a news outlet that had
 [ more details on the story.  This news website, like so many websites
 [ today, has a portion of every page devoted to ads.  To my horror,
 [ the ads on this page were all from jewlers, and every one prominently
 [ displayed an engagement ring or wedding ring set.
 [
 [ I quickly browsed away to another news outlet's webpage and thankfully
 [ Peggy never made the connection that I was about to "pop the question".
 [
 [ I puzzled over this for a long time and have come to some some
 [ conclusions.  This is where the so-called "tracking cookies" come into
 [ play.   You browse a website for a product.  That website displays
 [ an ad from a 3rd party website.  They tell the 3rd party website who
 [ you are and what you've been looking at.  They display a related ad
 [ as in "inset" into the web page you are looking at and the ALSO place
 [ cookie on your computer.   Later, you are looking at some other website
 [ that also has a relationship with that same 3rd party advertiser.  That
 [ advertiser retrieves the cookie that they put on your computer and
 [ they know what you were looking at last time and show you more of it.
 [ Given that I log into every computer I have to read my gmail and to
 [ check my Amazon account, etc., it's not unlikely that one of these
 [ sites I log into can pass some identity information (not
 [ necessarily my e-mail address, but enough so when I'm logged in
 [ somewhere else they know it's the same person) and voila, you've got
 [ more personalized ads.
 [
 [ In the case of you receiving advertising e-mail, it's quite interesting.
 [ The advertiser DOES have your e-mail address.   But it's not certain that
 [ the ad really came from Twitter dot Com.   E-mails "From:" addresses are
 [ super easy to forge.  But someone DID capture your e-mail address and
 [ your interest in 3D printers.   It is unlikely that the "leak" came from
 [ any kind of "planted" software or "malware" directly on the MMD server.
 [ That's because we don't lease our e-mail service from a 3rd party.
 [ Rather, we lease a "bare metal machine" and I put all the software
 [ (Linux) on it  myself.
 [
 [ There's still LOTS of ways that your interest in 3d printers and your
 [ e-mail address could have been captured.  Robbie is curious if your
 [ web-browser and your web-based mail program could have been involved.
 [ It's possible.   Your browsing history may have included visiting
 [ websites with these products.   One of these website may have your
 [ e-mail address.  There's also the possibility that any of our 3000
 [ plus subscribers' computers or their ISPs could be involved since
 [ your message has visited a lot of computers as "plain text".  We
 [ disguise your e-mail address, but that may not be enough.
 [
 [ The reason I posted your message and this response rather than just
 [ mailing to you privately is I'm very interested to hear from
 [ others about their "unexpected" advertising that "fit" their
 [ interests.   Some of this isn't going to be MMD related, but we'll
 [ print the more interesting ones and I'll try to get one of my security
 [ buddies to join in on the conversation.     --Jody