buzzbishop
on - last edited on
After "taking the lollipop" I had a scare like I haven't experienced since the days of the original Saw and The Blair Witch Project.
Created by Jason Zada, the same mind behind the fun and festive Elf Yourself, Take This Lollipop is a lesson in online privacy more perfectly crafted than any government PSA. After asking to access your Facebook profile (as every Facebook app does) you are transported into a scene where a scrawny, dirty, angry man is pawing at an old computer.
He logs into your Facebook account. He sees your pictures. He sees where you live.
He becomes increasingly agitated before leaving his home with your picture pinned to his dashboard. The clip ends with the man exiting his car, presumably at your front door.
Zada says the site has no ulterior motive. It's not on behalf of a sponsor, or a teaser for a movie (maybe it should be).
“People keep asking me what sinister plan we’re working on behind it,” he told the NY Times Bits Blog. “I just love Halloween, and got the idea about a month ago and decided to shoot it.”
He does, however, say the experience should be a good exercise for those who instantly approve every app online and open the vault to a wealth of personal information.
“When you see your personal information in an environment where you normally wouldn’t, it creates a strong emotional response,” he said. “It’s tied into the fears about privacy and personal info that we have now that we live online.”
“We’re not doing anything crazy with the info. It just makes you feel that way.”
So take the lollipop and learn a lesson. Go back through your app permissions in your own Facebook profile and see who you've agreed to share what with and what you've allowed them to do. Delete the apps you no longer use and think twice about the apps you've allowed in.
It's easy, go to the drop down menu in the top right of your profile page and select Account Settings >> Apps and the list will pop up on screen for you to manage from there.
After all, you never know who's on the other end of the modem.
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