ACLU Warning on Facebook Quizzes

[The Sushi Bandit]

Privacy advocates have long warned that users of Facebook and other social networks who seek amusement from quizzes like "What Simpsons Character Are You?" might be mortified by the way creators of such applications can access and potentially "scrape" personal information -- not just about the quiz-takers, but their friends as well.

full story at: http://current.com/items/90802178_aclu-warning-on-facebook-quizzes.htm

[Mojambo]

1. If you're concerned with privacy you shouldn't be on Facebook in the first place.

[depakid]

6. Especially if you want to be gainfully employed....

[Exultant Democracy]

14. Many of the high level professionals and executives I know are on facebook.

Of course they don't share their entire private lives like some teens do but they are there.

[Lex]

15. Umm, wrong.

nt

[Humbertink]

12. Bingo!

[NYC_SKP]

2. Never use the "Find People You Email" Function!!! Never. N.E.V.E.R!

It's the first thing that pops up on your "Friends" page.

Do not give them permission to rifle through your inbox, address book, and other folders.

You've been warned.

:patriot:

[hyphenate]

3. Facebook is just

the latest one to allow personal information to become public. It isn't a new thing as someone like myself can attest to: it began when there wasn't much of a 'net' at all, only bulletin boards, compuserve and smaller college groups. (A lot more than that, actually, but I'm writing a post, and not a novel!)

Personal information was traded because there was no graphical interface for the most part, and often because you knew, or were casually connected to the people you encountered online.

I've been online for 21 years, and except for a minor hack on one of my AOL screennames around 1995, I have never had trouble with the security of my data.

As with any online site, the best thing anyone can do is to post only as much information as you feel you want to share. It's that simple!

[pipi_k]

5. Exactly....I don't get real personal

But I know some who do.

I mean, people talking about their drinking problems, sex problems, family problems, etc.

and the inevitable "I'm eating a bowl of ice cream now". "I'm on my way to work now and I hate my coworkers". "I'm home from work" "Back to work" "Home from work"

etc., etc. Down to every last detail that we'd be better off not knowing.

what can ya do...
:shrug:

[pipi_k]

4. hahahah I dare them to try and figure out what my test habits mean...

"What kind of fruit are you?"

"What kind of old person will you be?"

A brain dominance test (right or left brain)

"How long would you survive in the Maine wilderness?"

"Inkblot test" (I got all the answers "wrong")

and.... "Which one of the Seven Dwarves Are you?" (answer: Grumpy)

:7

[eomer]

13. Quizzes can access your profile and maybe even your friends' profiles.

http://www.aclunc.org/issues/technology/blog/quiz_what_do_facebook_quizzes_know_about_you.shtml

[TicketyBoo]

7. The danger I see…

…is that once you're on Facebook with a few friends, all of these things THEY (your friends) do give the purveyors of such inanity YOUR information (as one of their "friends"). It's really insidious. And, yes, I'm on Facebook because some of my far-away relatives wanted to share pictures that way. But I'm nervous about it. (Note that they encourage you to use your real name so your friends and family can find you. They're not the only ones.)

[lolly]

8. Just posted this on Facebook

Really.

Actually, I don't think it's the answers to the quizzes that are problematic. It's the fact that many of these apps can reach into your profile once you've added them, and pull out information on you and possibly on your friends.

[realisticphish]

9. precisely

reading the TOS is very important, too.

[The Sushi Bandit]

11. I dropped my account this year

over security issues

[Kat45]

10. I get emails supposedly from people I know asking me to join to see their photos

They are people I know but I know that they are not asking me to come and look at their photos. I believe that Facebook somehow gets into their email address book and sends these messages to everyone in them. I think Facebook is basically trolling for new members. And I absolutely know that these people are not directly emailing me because one is a former f-buddy (from a couple of years ago) who is getting married imminently. Another is someone I know from another mailing list and I barely know her.