The Hidden Secrets of Online Quizzes

This article relates to Chapter 10 because this article talks about e-commerce. There are quizzes all over the internet that will tell you something about your personality. These quizzes are very tempting and I have taken many of them. They are fun and you hope that they will reveal something to you. You hope that they might help you find yourself, in some small way, or give you new insight about your repressed self.

However, internet quizzes are also a tool for companies to collect data and even money. Online quizzes require you to give much information about yourself. Consequently, these quizzes get you to pay attention to advertisements. For example, RealAge, a quiz that assigns you a biological age based on family history and heath, sells your answers to questions to drug companies who want to market medications. This is unethical. Web quizzes should have full disclosures before people take the quiz that tells them that their information will be sold to advertisers. If people knew the full consequences of their actions, they would make different choices. Many people would not choose to take part in the RealAge quiz if they knew that their private information was being sold. There needs to be sweeping legislation that mandates full disclosure. There should also be public awareness campaigns that informs people that this is taking place. Had I not read this article, I would not know that the information that I enter into little quizzes is being sold. I will now think twice before taking the quiz that tells me which Care Bear I am. The reason that I now know that personal information is being sold on the internet via tricks is because I am in this class. Information is not free, and it should be, especially if it protects people from financial predators.

Some online quizzes even surprise you with required payments or purchases before you can access your results. Test-IQ, a quiz advertised on Facebook has this payment model. You have to look up the privacy policy and read in very fine print to even know they charge. They do not disclose this on their main page and it is difficult to find this out.

CheckMyPersonality.com allows its owners to track down information about you such as your household income, buying habits, and sells that data to marking agencies. The site also periodically accesses your credit card once you’ve signed up. It also can verify that your credit card account is valid and has credit available by charging fees and later crediting them off. This has happened to me also on a website that I visited. This disclosure is very hard to find and buried under the privacy policy in fine print. This is clearly unethical. Companies should have full disclosures that are very easy to understand and transparent. They should not be able to trick people into giving them money. This is unethical and the government should do something about it. It reminds me of credit card companies because they too have terms that are constantly changing, difficult to understand, and in fine print. Both of these type of companies rely on tricking the customer.

On Facebook, opening an application automatically grants its developer access to your entire profile. Many policies need to be re-evaluated when it comes to maintaining privacy in this age of e-commerce.

Reference : Raphael, JR. (May12, 2009). The Hidden Secrets of Online Quizzes. Retrieved May 17, 2009 from PC magazine. Website: http://www.pcworld.com/article/164527-2/the_hidden_secrets_of_online_quizzes.html