Online quizzes are harvesting personal info, warns CQUni researcher
Although completing online quizzes is fun and may reveal interesting insights about you, they actually harvest your personal information.
That's a warning from CQUniversity social media researcher and senior lecturer, Dr Ritesh Chugh.
Melbourne-based Dr Chugh, from the School of Engineering & Technology, says many people complete seemingly innocuous quizzes via Facebook.
Lately, there has been a surge in people completing quizzes from providers such as meaww.com, nametests.com, funmix.eu, blobla.com, funapps.io.
"These inane quizzes can tell you your spiritual IQ, your longevity, the kind of person you are, match you to a famous personality, your greatest strength or the animal you resemble. However, these quizzes are not completely harmless," he says.
"By clicking to take a quiz, users essentially agree to the quiz providers' privacy policies often without reading them.
"Although completing the quizzes is fun and may reveal interesting insights about you, they actually harvest your personal information from your Facebook account public profile, including name, profile picture, age range, gender, language, country, friends list, email address, timeline posts, photos and like. It sounds like a privacy nightmare.
"All this information could be used for malicious purposes too. While there is a possibility that you may be okay with your blasé attitude towards privacy, what about all the personal information about your friends that you have just given away?
"Some of the quiz providers outline in their privacy policies that they do not share personal information with third parties without user permission.
"Nevertheless such admissions are usually followed by contradictory sub-clauses in the privacy policies that users rarely read. And, there are no details about where the information is stored and what steps are taken to protect it either.
"Information that you agree to provide about yourself and your friends can be collected and possibly sold to advertisers. After all, these providers need to make money too.
"Undoubtedly, your personal information is needed by the quiz providers to be able to pair you to the right quiz and more importantly, to be able to provide you with algorithmically-based responses.
"There is also a network effect (social engineering) to these quizzes i.e. you complete a quiz, the results are posted on Facebook and others are potentially attracted to complete it too. Often the results of the quizzes are only available after you agree to post the results on Facebook.
"The online quizzes on Facebook could also take the form of phishing scams or click-baits perpetrated by cybercriminals. They are meant to trick and tempt users to click on seemingly interesting facts or stories. Clicking on them could lead to the potential installation of malicious software such as viruses, spyware and ransomware and the obvious risk to your Facebook information, leaving you vulnerable to identity theft."
Dr Chugh says there is a high possibility that a lot of the quiz providers may be doing the right thing by not selling or misusing users' personal information but then the onus of discerning the rogue providers still lies on users. And users may not be adept at making that judgement for numerous reasons.
"So, the next time you take an online quiz on Facebook, think about your personal information and whether you are ready to hand it over to someone unknown!
"Be careful to respect your own privacy as well as that of your friends.
"Unfortunately, if you have already completed one of the many hundreds of deceptive quizzes easily accessible via Facebook, there is no going back.
"However, abstain from taking the next one and delete any existing online quiz apps via your privacy settings as they continue to run in the background. Don't fall prey to the virality of the quizzes and if you come across a post that feels nefarious, report it to Facebook."
