Dear all,
I know that many of you worry about your personal information and would prefer if it stays private. For the past three years, I have been doing research on social network analysis and have gained a bit of understanding how social networks function. Although cybersecurity is out of my scope, there are numerous ways of obtaining personal information; not all of them are illegal.
Just think about it: Why are there so many web-pages that tell who you were in 1917, or which actor you look like the most, or which of your friends is your personal angel/demon, or what you did in your past life, etc.? Some of them are simple — yes, stupid, but isn’t it fun to know which character you are in the Harry Potter stories. Others are more complex and are based on existing psychology tests — sure, I would like to know more about my personality, and it’s free! These tests/quizzes may seem fun and innocent, but they have a certain purpose apart from entertaining: they collect (note: not steal) personal information. In fact, they ask your permission to do so. Of course, you may say, Why not, this is only “to make the test more precise”, besides, I have nothing to hide.
Yes, some personal information — including your name, schools you attended, your current location, past and present jobs, even photos — is accessible with a little effort if one needs to find it. However, these quiz-pages do not require any effort at all: they are very fast and efficient in collecting large volumes of data from thousands of people.
What happens next: well, who knows. It depends on who created the web-page: the test may be collecting statistical data for research purposes, or in order to shape targeted marketing strategies; it may be sponsored by the government and used for the sake of security, or, alternatively, by an organization for malicious purposes.
Big data is not just a fancy term; it is indeed a powerful tool. Some of you probably read the controversial article about how big data won the U.S. election (the original version was published in Das Magazin, Switzerland). One may agree or disagree with the article, but the methods of predicting/analyzing what people like and believe based on their activity on social networks do exist and are quite impressive.
