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struggle4progress

(120,554 posts)
Tue Jun 26, 2012, 09:29 AM Jun 2012

On Orbitz, Mac Users Steered to Pricier Hotels

Updated June 26, 2012, 9:31 a.m. ET
BY DANA MATTIOLI

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. has found that people who use Apple Inc.'s Mac computers spend as much as 30% more a night on hotels, so the online travel agency is starting to show them different, and sometimes costlier, travel options than Windows visitors see.

The Orbitz effort, which is in its early stages, demonstrates how tracking people's online activities can use even seemingly innocuous information—in this case, the fact that customers are visiting Orbitz.com from a Mac—to start predicting their tastes and spending habits ...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304458604577488822667325882.html

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On Orbitz, Mac Users Steered to Pricier Hotels (Original Post) struggle4progress Jun 2012 OP
This is a bit frightening. Craig_Langford Jul 2012 #1
 

Craig_Langford

(48 posts)
1. This is a bit frightening.
Thu Jul 5, 2012, 05:39 AM
Jul 2012

There's a lot a website can tell about you just by where else you've been surfing. I've noticed this for quite some time as well. For instance last week I was buying some bike parts online from ebay, and for the rest of the night i kept getting biking-related ads wherever I surfed. Then I'd clear my cache and history and I'd be getting ads about something completely different, like say business schools (all of which are within 100 miles of me).

Can't figure out why they'd quote higher prices just because a user has a Mac. I do know that in my experience right-wingers tend to use PC's and PC's are used widely in the corporate world. Is this possibly the beginning of political discrimination?

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