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Facebook users warned about online quiz

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 25 Nov 2015
Taking the 'most used words' on Facebook quiz could pose a security risk for users.
Taking the 'most used words' on Facebook quiz could pose a security risk for users.

Facebook news feeds have been flooded with 'word clouds' this week, as over 17 million people scramble to a take a quiz which reveals the words they have used most frequently on the social network.

Internet security Web site CompariTech calls the quiz a "privacy nightmare". By completing the quiz, users allow Vonvon.me (the company that created the quiz) access to their friends list, everything they have ever posted on their timeline, all photos, everything they have ever liked, and their IP address, among others.

Once the quiz has been taken, the terms and conditions (T&Cs) state the company: "May continue to use any non-personally-identifying information... after the termination of your membership to this Web site and\or use of our services, for any reason whatsoever."

"Vonvon is free to sell your data to whomever it pleases for a profit," reports CompariTech.

The T&Cs state: "We do not share your personal information with third parties unless we have received your permission to do so, or given you notice thereof." Users give permission when signing up to do the quiz.

Step away

"We've singled out Vonvon because it recently went viral, but it's far from the only shady data dealer to masquerade behind a viral quiz mill," reports CompariTech.

"Facebook is a haven for a large number of these companies and, frankly, hasn't done enough to educate or warn users about the risks."

The company suggests avoiding online quizzes, which require Facebook login details, altogether.

Vonvon responds

Jonghwa Kim, CEO of Vonvon, responded to CompariTech, saying the company does not store personal information, and only uses it to generate quiz results. "The information is never stored in our databases.

"We have asked our users for a comprehensive list of access privileges so that they can enjoy our vast library of quizzes as smoothly as possible."

Jonghwa said the company does realise users have privacy concerns and the data requests will be adjusted this week.

He reiterated: "As we do not store any personal information, we have nothing to sell. Period."

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