In the past two weeks a lot of my Facebook contacts have been posting this “What Would I Look Like as a Movie star” results from a test taken via the Nametests app. DO NOT TAKE THESE TESTS!
Consider this. A person says the following to you: “Give me access to all your personal information, your photos, the contact information about all your friends and everything you write or say in the future, and I will tell you what celebrity you look like.”
What would you say? My guess is: Fuck off!
However, when people are given the same choice on Facebook, they say: “Yes, let me know what celebrity I look like!”
Do people really think Nametests (that’s the perpetrator for this test) make tests like this out of the kindness of their hearts? When you give Nametests access to your Facebook profile, you have to accept several pages of terms, that are written in such a difficult lawyer language that you really don’t understand what you are saying yest to. But hey, it’s all for fun, right?
Wrong! You are giving them access to not only your information, but also the information of your friends. They immediately start searching through your friends list on Facebook, gathering whatever information they can that your friends haven’t locked securely away. This is most likely sold to spammers who will use the information to things I’m sure your friends wouldn’t like.
So why do you take that risk just because you want to take a silly test?
What you’re really doing is this: you’re “purchasing” a test about you, and “pay” by allowing them access to your friend list and Facebook wall—including all your past, current and future posts.
So what if you’ve already used Nametests? Is it too late? No, you can remove it by going to your Security Settings in Facebook, find the lists of apps you have given access to your account and then remove Nametests and all other apps you’ve given similar access. Get rid of them, now!
Rule of thumb: If an app asks you for access to your Facebook account, with a lot of legal mumbo jumbo language, do no install it! Simple as that. Send me a photo instead, and I will tell you what celebrity you look like. And I won’t even ask for any of your or your Facebook friends’ personal information.