Principia Discordia

Principia Discordia => Apple Talk => Topic started by: Cramulus on April 24, 2014, 12:48:26 PM

Title: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Cramulus on April 24, 2014, 12:48:26 PM
There's a game coming out called Watchdogs, which is about being a 21st century hacker. Kind of a modern day assassins creed.

To promote the game, they launched this website called Digital Shadow (http://digitalshadow.com/shadow.php). If you go there, it asks for all your Facebook data. If you are trusting enough to give it to them (I was. As a rule I never share that data but ehhhh okay fine just this once), it will generate all these interesting charts about you. It creates a profile which lists what words you typically use, what time of the day you're online, profession and income level, which people in your social network can be used to exploit you (based on your interaction frequency), and what time of day/week you're most likely to be using facebook (and are therefore more vulnerable to attack). The more data you've given facebook, the more complete its profile is.

It was fun, a bit scary, but ultimately I was relieved that my privacy settings and general good practices online left big holes in their data.

here's an article about it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/22/watch-dogs-facebook-privacy-settings_n_5191237.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

here's a chart it generated of my language use vs Roger's.
(http://i.imgur.com/nEGM3Q4.png)
(my name shopped out, obviously)


and here's the site
http://digitalshadow.com/shadow.php


Anyway, I thought you guys might be amused by this. If only for that chart of Roger's language usage.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: LMNO on April 24, 2014, 12:58:34 PM
Hold on.  Did Roger know you were essentially datamining him?
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on April 24, 2014, 01:50:53 PM
I really haven't got words to express my reaction to this.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on April 24, 2014, 01:53:26 PM
If this is just a language analysis based on my writing, I'm okay with it.  Although I'm still a little weirded out, in a "do I have to keep looking over my shoulder" kind of way.

If anything else was used, I want to know about it.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: LMNO on April 24, 2014, 01:56:54 PM
I mean, granted, it only scrapes what you make publicly available on FB, which just about every marketing firm worth their fees already does, but still.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Sita on April 24, 2014, 01:57:48 PM
Even as socially inept as I am, I know to ask someone first before doing something like this.

Though based on Roger's posts looks like that didn't happen :(
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on April 24, 2014, 02:04:47 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 24, 2014, 01:56:54 PM
I mean, granted, it only scrapes what you make publicly available on FB, which just about every marketing firm worth their fees already does, but still.

I just don't exactly understand what just happened.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Cramulus on April 24, 2014, 02:07:31 PM
it's just generating a word frequency table based on publicly available data
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on April 24, 2014, 02:08:58 PM
Quote from: Sita on April 24, 2014, 01:57:48 PM
Even as socially inept as I am, I know to ask someone first before doing something like this.

Though based on Roger's posts looks like that didn't happen :(

I ain't mad.  At least not yet.  I want to know what the hell is going on.

I am required by my job to be in a paranoid mindset right now, on account of this:  http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=36313.msg1340509#msg1340509

Not to mention coming down off a brain fluke attack.

Right now, I am confused. 
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on April 24, 2014, 02:09:14 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on April 24, 2014, 02:07:31 PM
it's just generating a word frequency table based on publicly available data

Okay.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Cain on April 24, 2014, 02:10:28 PM
Quote from: Digital ShadowWe could not log you in: You can't log in to this app because you do not meet this app's requirements for country, age or other criteria.

Haha!  I am not a data cluster, I am an INDIVIDUAL.  In your face, corporate conglomerates as imagined by Ubisoft but probably based on a great deal of facts.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Cramulus on April 24, 2014, 02:15:12 PM
To be clear (in case you skipped the linked article), the profile it generates is about the person who submitted the info, not his/her friends. You can compare your word usage frequency to any of your friends word usage, but you can't get detailed info about them.

the scary thing isn't that you have access to your friends posts,
the scary thing (IMO) is that facebook has a LOT of data about people, and this suggests a way the data could theoretically be used maliciously.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on April 24, 2014, 02:16:18 PM
Quote from: Cramulus on April 24, 2014, 02:15:12 PM
To be clear (in case you skipped the linked article), the profile it generates is about the person who submitted the info, not his/her friends. You can compare your word usage frequency to any of your friends word usage, but you can't get detailed info about them.

the scary thing isn't that you have access to your friends posts,
the scary thing (IMO) is that facebook has a LOT of data about people, and this suggests a way the data could theoretically be used maliciously.

I understand now.

I am paranoid, but not paranoid enough.   :lulz:
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Cain on April 24, 2014, 02:24:25 PM
Watch Dogs is all about not being paranoid enough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmwyW-Q960M

Things like this, and Person of Interest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xAK3ueOJxE) are likely closer to reality than most people would like to admit.  At the very least, MAIN CORE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Core) represents the seeds of a turn-key police state, when integration with PRISM and facial recognition data are considered.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Faust on April 24, 2014, 04:14:23 PM
Hehehe.

So I went to the page and the first thing I see is the noscript block.

Then I have to pause ghostery

Then I have to allow facebook

and then I still get:

We could not log you in: You can't log in to this app because you do not meet this app's requirements for country, age or other criteria.

Because I've never put in my age, education or location.

Edit: not that that should in any way make me feel more secure.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Faust on April 24, 2014, 04:20:42 PM
Quote from: Cain on April 24, 2014, 02:10:28 PM
Quote from: Digital ShadowWe could not log you in: You can't log in to this app because you do not meet this app's requirements for country, age or other criteria.

Haha!  I am not a data cluster, I am an INDIVIDUAL.  In your face, corporate conglomerates as imagined by Ubisoft but probably based on a great deal of facts.

I guess it's a european thing?
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Cain on April 24, 2014, 04:21:21 PM
Yeah, I would guess so.  Both my FB profiles have ages and locations, even if one set is fake.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Faust on April 24, 2014, 04:25:55 PM
I'm actually disappointed now. I want to try this out.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 24, 2014, 04:27:25 PM
Wow, apparently I say "need" and "don't care" a lot and also generate a generally completely misleading sense of everything about myself, including who's important to me, where I go, how  much money I make, and what I care about. Also, I exhibit a high level of interaction with my dog, and she can be used against me.

Either that or the algorithm's broked.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on April 24, 2014, 04:29:12 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 24, 2014, 04:27:25 PM
Wow, apparently I say "I don't care" a lot and also generate a generally completely misleading sense of everything about myself, including who's important to me, where I go, how  much money I make, and what I care about. Also, I exhibit a high level of interaction with my dog, and she can be used against me.

Either that or the algorithm's broked.

I'm pretty sure that just means that you're using FB correctly.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 24, 2014, 04:30:14 PM
Quote from: Cainad (dec.) on April 24, 2014, 04:29:12 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 24, 2014, 04:27:25 PM
Wow, apparently I say "I don't care" a lot and also generate a generally completely misleading sense of everything about myself, including who's important to me, where I go, how  much money I make, and what I care about. Also, I exhibit a high level of interaction with my dog, and she can be used against me.

Either that or the algorithm's broked.

I'm pretty sure that just means that you're using FB correctly.

The funniest thing is that I use my real name and assume that everything I post on Facebook is totally public, because, well, it is. Which makes the wild inaccuracy of these results that much funnier!
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on April 24, 2014, 04:31:47 PM
Well, this gives me a false sense of security:

"We Know Who You Are
(One picture listed, it's not me.)"

*

"We Know What Makes You Tick
TACTICAL APPROACH
Insufficient Data
Your psychological profile cannot be assessed due to limited information."

*

"Obsessions
INSUFFICIENT DATA. YOU EXHIBIT LOW RISK OF EXPOSURE. YOUR RELATIONSHIPS ARE SECURE."

*

"Pawns
YOU EXHIBIT LOW RISK OF EXPOSURE. YOUR RELATIONSHIPS ARE SECURE."

*

"We Know What You're Worth
(wildly inaccurate income range)
High Value Target
You have a high probability of multiple financial accounts and access to cash and material possessions."

***

Interesting. I also apparently didn't have enough info to generate the word usage graph.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: LMNO on April 24, 2014, 04:37:00 PM
Apparently, "Fear" "Kill" and "Killing" are my favorite words.

Anyone who has seen my FB page will find that amusing.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Anna Mae Bollocks on April 24, 2014, 06:27:46 PM
I broke it, too.

(http://i.imgur.com/42LfZ8E.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/LbMgHpa.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/z0QtcI2.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/Yo4xqHc.jpg)
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: The Good Reverend Roger on April 24, 2014, 06:34:29 PM
 :lulz:
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on April 24, 2014, 07:26:58 PM
:lulz:

So far, I think Stella wins.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Eater of Clowns on April 24, 2014, 07:43:27 PM
DEAD, DIE, KNIFE, ASS, CROTCH

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ENRICO SALAZAR
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on April 24, 2014, 08:11:08 PM
Wow, Stella.  :lulz:
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: The Johnny on April 24, 2014, 10:58:06 PM

Does it use chat log contents or just the newsfeed and public publications? Cause chat log is whats worth gold.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Pæs on April 25, 2014, 03:44:38 AM
Seems not to work outside US.

I AM ANONYMOUS.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: P3nT4gR4m on April 25, 2014, 07:02:30 AM
Looks like the same idea as the site that generates posts for you (can't remember the name) Fun with datamining and a pretty good illustration of the kind of info you're giving up when you click "yes" to give access to your profile and friends list.

This is what facebook was always about. Zuckerburg was totally upfront about it from the git go, too but for non-techies, I can totally understand how this might come as a surprise/shock.
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: PopeTom on April 26, 2014, 11:12:27 PM
My experience with this 'data mining'

50% chance of being at the Boston Museum of Science.
26.7% chance of being a Lizzy's, an ice cream shop in Waltham, MA
3% chance of being in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis, MN

I feel unusually safe from assassins.

Which I am sure is exactly what they want me to think.  :fnord:
Title: Re: Watchdogs promotional site sniffs your FB data, generates charts!
Post by: Junkenstein on April 29, 2014, 09:45:03 AM
Oh shit  :lulz: