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.
Now, engaging in some online jujitsu, the ACLU of Northern California is employing a cautionary Facebook quiz of its own to illustrate how quizzes that may seem “perfectly harmless” can release an array of data to the wider world.
The app, titled “What Do Facebook Quizzes Know About You?” delivers its answer by opening a window that scrolls biographical data, attributed comments and photos.
More than 8,000 participants have taken the ACLU’s quiz since it was quietly released a few days ago, the ACLU said Wednesday. The group hopes to prompt Facebook to upgrade its privacy default settings for its users. Facebook, which boasts of building its success on creating an online environment users trust, said Wednesday that it has been actively policing its service in recent days and has disabled hundreds of applications, including some quiz apps, found to be inconsistent with Facebook policies.
The text of ACLU’s quiz put it in ominous terms: “Once details about your personal life are collected by a quiz developer, who knows where they could end up or how they could be used. Shared? Sold? Turned over to the government?”
The group acknowledged the irony of its approach: “We know it’s a little weird to warn you about Facebook quizzes by asking you to take a Facebook quiz — but at least you know who we are and that we have a real privacy policy that we’re committed to upholding. Can you say the same for every unknown author of every quiz you or your friends take?”