If you log on to Facebook right now, there’s a 90% chance you’ll see someone sharing their ‘most used words’ on their profile page. OK so that statistic probably applies only to me. But it seems like every five seconds there’s an 'OMG I use "hungover", "brunch" and "#goals" all the damn time’ post on my newsfeed.
That’s because Facebook has created a clever viral app called My Most Used Words On Facebook. It's a quiz that’s been shared thousands of times in the form of a word cloud showing all the words you post most frequently, taken from all your Facebook statuses. But there’s a catch – it’s hoovering up all your personal data, which could be sold on, according to a report in The Independent.
The paper says that once the app requests access to your information and Facebook profile, before you’re allowed access to the quiz, it can collect info on everything you’ve ever liked, data on the computer that’s being used, such as the IP address, your entire friends list and every pic you’re tagged in.
A glance at the apps’ terms and conditions tells us that this info will be stored 'for any reason whatsoever', even if you close your account, and can be stored 'on any of our servers, at any location'. Also the privacy policy 'does not apply to the practices of entities Vonvon (who own the app) does not own or control, or to individuals whom Vonvon does not employ or manage, including any third parties to whom Vonvon may disclose Personal Information'.
So, basically, your data could be sold on (although that’s not explicitly stated), and after it’s sold on, there will be no protection for how it’s used.
It’s probably kind of obvious to everyone who has ever downloaded an app or has a mild interest in internet security, but it’s probably worth considering next time you want to click on a viral quiz.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.