I've been wondering about the quizzes. Every time I take a tentative pass near the orbital range of Facebook, I see another quiz, another post from a friend who is excited to share which mystical creature is hidden inside her, who his evil twin is, what 70s movie star she should date. Each one asks some set of questions in which we are supposed to rank preferences, tastes, associations, sometimes knowledge. Often this involves making ethical choices. Often one or more questions appear really off topic.
How comprehensive a portrait of each of us could be assembled by anyone with access to all our answers? If you were trying to keep tabs on the general populace of... someplace... can you think of a better first step than getting them all to participate in self-profiling for fun? Of course you'd have to control for trolling and playful answers, but I bet that could be managed. And then used for what? Marketing purposes (bread), or political crowd control (circuses)? I'm not paranoid enough to believe this is actually going on, just cautious enough about privacy and information issues to mark it with a ?
Full Disclosure: I am Ziggy Stardust Bowie.
How comprehensive a portrait of each of us could be assembled by anyone with access to all our answers? If you were trying to keep tabs on the general populace of... someplace... can you think of a better first step than getting them all to participate in self-profiling for fun? Of course you'd have to control for trolling and playful answers, but I bet that could be managed. And then used for what? Marketing purposes (bread), or political crowd control (circuses)? I'm not paranoid enough to believe this is actually going on, just cautious enough about privacy and information issues to mark it with a ?
Full Disclosure: I am Ziggy Stardust Bowie.
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