- Jan 24, 2011
- 9,378
The Most Used Words quiz game on Facebook and its creator, a company called Vonvon, are being accused of collecting personal user details, which they plan to sell to online advertisers.
The accusation was made by Comparitech, a technology review website, which, unlike any of us, took the time to read the app's Privacy Policy and discovered many disturbing issues.
Most Used Words quiz collects Facebook profile details
In its default settings, the app asks its users to give it full access to their profile. All permissions besides "access to Facebook posts" can be turned off and allow the app to work normally, but very few people know this, and very few limit the app's reach.
With access to almost all the user's details, the app's policy allows it to make copies of all the data and then store it on remote servers.
Even worse, there are passages in the license that also enable the company to share the data with third-parties (usually online advertisers), and then wash their hands of all what happened.
The shady privacy policy should have been a warning to users, but nobody reads it anyway
"We do not share your Personal Information with third parties unless we have received your permission to do so, or given you notice thereof (such as by telling you about it in this Privacy Policy)," reads the shadiest portion of the Most Used Words policy.
Read more: This Facebook Game Is Hoarding Personal Data on Millions of Users
The app, like many Facebook quiz apps, is a privacy nightmare. Here’s a list of the info quiz players have to disclose to Vonvon.me:
- Name, profile picture, age, sex, birthday, and other public info
- Entire friend list
- Everything you’ve ever posted on your timeline
- All of your photos and photos you’re tagged in
- Education history
- Hometown and current city
- Everything you’ve ever liked
- IP address
- Info about the device you’re using including browser and language
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