Data mining combined with artificial intelligence.

[skip fox]

I’m sure that with a better level of AI, Facebook might become a target-rich environment for certain entities. I don’t think that is the case, at least not at present. But what about the re-posts (I guess they are called) of personal questions in bold with a large font on a colored background? I saw one today that asked how old you will be in 2050 and another for the last three digits of your phone number. Have there been ones that asked the name of your first dog?

Even if they are not so obviously questions that can be used gain access to your accounts and/or steal your identity, think of the profile they could construct, the length of its shelf-life. and the purposes to which it might be put.

Note: I’m not blaming Facebook at all. I’m worried about the original posters of such questions. I cannot remember but they do not seem to be coming from a specific person, rather an organization or . . . ?

I'm sure someone else has noticed this.

[vanlassie]

1. Oh definitely. I wince every time I see friends answer.

With that recent one asking about how old you will be in 2050 I finally pointed out that it was a phishing activity. Like you, I’m picturing the profile accumulation.

[luv2fly]

2. You're being too kind

No reason to give Facbook a pass... it's their platform and they know what goes on. They are enabling it, like so many other things evil by nature.

[dclarston13]

3. youface is already a target

That is how people like Bannon get their data points, everywhere you go is tracked, therefore all your interests are tracked.
Youface is a satirical reference from the TV show 30 Rock.

[skip fox]

4. Here's a comment by one of my friends, Istvan Berkeley, on Facebook:

Hi Skip, it is actually worse than you think. They actually track your likes and supposedly your mouse movements and scrolling to figure out what might interest you. If you tell FB to hide a post, they will often ask you why. Why do they do this? For yet more data mining. I refuse to tell them why. Perhaps the worst thing is that they send you cookies that can track the other sites you look at also. There are however steps you can take to mess with them. First, use Firefox, rather than Chrome (if you use Chrome, you are just giving data to Google). Second, set Firefox to delete all your cookies, evertything in your cache and all your history every time you shut it down. After visiting FB, just shut down your browser. Problem (mostly) fixed!