'Digital Shadow' Marketing Stunt Is Really Creepy - Eye Opener

I'm one of the (what I assume to be) smaller portion of members on this site that has a Facebook account and am also an active user. I have a semi-large number of people that I connect and network with often enough for it's continued use. I've never really been too bugged out about how easily it can provide information about me, as it can be gleaned from 100 other avenues in just about the same way.

However, I was blown away by how much information this "app" was able to return to me about myself in the matter of 60 seconds.

Your data casts a digital shadow that grows with every online interaction and can be tracked, monitored and used against you. Every photo. Every email. Every purchase. Everything you've ever done in the digital world can follow you into the real world. Your actions leave you exposed.

Checkout the type of info that was returned to me with near perfect accuracy (names of friends/contacts removed for their anonymity):

We Know Who You Are - YOU CAN BE IDENTIFIED WITH 83.2% ACCURACY

We Know Who You Care About
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
Pawns
YOU EXHIBIT HIGH LEVELS OF INTERACTION WITH THESE CONTACTS. THEY CAN BE USED AGAINST YOU.

Stalkers
THESE CONTACTS CONSISTENTLY INTERACT WITH YOU AND MONITOR YOUR ACTIVITY. THEY CAN BE MINED FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT YOU.

Liabilities
THESE CONTACTS CONSISTENTLY TAG YOU IN POSTS AND PHOTOS, EXPOSING YOUR DATA. THEY CAN BE USED TO WEAKEN YOU.

Obsessions
THESE CONTACTS DO NOT RECIPROCATE YOUR INTERACTION AND CAN BE POTENTIALLY HOSTILE. THEY COULD BE TAPPED AS ALLIES IN AN ATTACK AGAINST YOU.

Scapegoats
YOU RARELY INTERACT WITH THESE CONTACTS AND WILL SACRIFICE THEM FOR SELF-PRESERVATION.

We Know What Makes You Tick
TACTICAL APPROACH
Volatile
APPROACH WITH EXTREME CAUTION

Your Commonly Used Words:
HIT
THOUGHTS?
WEATHER
PLEASE
GAME

We Know When You're Vulnerable
TARGET BREAK POINTS
You are most active Tuesday Morning. Opportunity for attack due to constant connectivity.

Most Active:
11am - 12pm
9 POSTS
Average Length:
23 Words

We Know How to Find You
GEO - TARGETING
The probabilities of your whereabouts can be determined by geo-location data.
You are giving away your position.
Cancún, Quintana Roo
Avenida Chichen Itza, 32, 77508 Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico

We Know What You're Worth
TARGET APPRAISAL
Annual Salary
$75,050 - $105,565
Age:
34 years
Education level:
College
Residence:
Indianapolis, Indiana
Occupation:
Insufficient Data
High Value Target
You have a high probability of multiple financial accounts and access to cash and material possesions.

Digital Shadow Value of REDACTED NAME
BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF ACCESSIBLE, PRIVATE DATA THAT YOU GENERATE ONLINE.
$74,955
Friends:
591
Posts:
78
Photos:
142
Profile Data Exposures:
17

Interesting and eye-opening to say the least. Again, most of the information that was returned was to near perfect accuracy.

If you were not concerned about Facebook previously, this may change your mind some.

a reply to: freakjive

What exactly is this app called?
Any sources?
Im intrigued....

a reply to: freakjive

its a god damned marketing app for the video game watch dogs
man, the amount of times I facepalm while browsing this website

I'm with chicken salad. I would be interested in knowing what program/app you used to gather this information.

Things like this make "ignorance is bliss" a good point. I think a lot of us do forget how much of ourselves is just floating around out there. It reminds me of "Wonka Vision".

I suppose that if you had some enemies that wanted to get at you bad enough... They could do it without even looking at the internet.

a reply to: freakjive

What you've done is tell people there is a cat on the lawn without a photo to prove it. So all the gullible accept there is a cat on the lawn, the suspicious want to see a photo before believing you, and I just want to show you what you've just done on ATS.

Whats the app?????

originally posted by: SpongeBeard
a reply to: freakjive

its a god damned marketing app for the video game watch dogs
man, the amount of times I facepalm while browsing this website

Stated in the title that its a marketing. Doesn't change how accurate the app is. Take your condescending face palms elsewhere.

For those wanting more info, Google digital shadow.

Very reminiscent of take this lollipop.

Take this lollipop

Click connect with facebook.

a reply to: freakjive

It's only as accurate as the information you post on facebook. For me it couldn't find half the things. It didn't get anywhere near my home location, nor could it figure out my financial values.

So, like the old saying goes, never put anything on the internet you wouldn't want your mother to know. Or lie you pants off.

It's a good exercise to let you know what kind of personal identification you're putting out to the world, but beyond that it's nothing to get excited over. Your local police force could gather more info on you in a week just by tailing you.

interesting but yeah it only knows what your put into face book.
i have very little info that ive put in.
did have some usage states that was kinda interesting.
found out my average number of postings is well below the average. lol
i wouldn't keep a FB account except its the only way to
talk to some family members or friends.

a reply to: freakjive

Checked it out as freakjive had said to and do see why you arent posting the link.
That being said it does only mine your fb data but nothing really suprising really.

Im guessing the irony of it was lost on the developers though considering it spouts about your "digital shadow" expanding the more you let your guard down. Then ask you to give them full access to your fb profile.

originally posted by: Chickensalad
a reply to: freakjive

Checked it out as freakjive had said to and do see why you arent posting the link.
That being said it does only mine your fb data but nothing really suprising really.

Im guessing the irony of it was lost on the developers though considering it spouts about your "digital shadow" expanding the more you let your guard down. Then ask you to give them full access to your fb profile.

Exactly. The app works because you give it full access to information. It was an eye-opener, as it shows how much data can be mined based on what you post and what other users post about you, etc.

It was late and I was extremely tired last night, so I failed to elaborate sufficiently.

The parts I found most interesting were the peak posting times, etc. I also found the prediction for my income strange. I suppose it finds that information based on the type of degree I hold, etc. It also notes that I likely have cash on hand and assets. I wonder if that's due to the amount of travel, restaurants and bars, as well as sporting events I attend. (places I check in)

The last part I found interesting was the valuation of my information. Almost 75k. I guess that is what my personal information and habits would be worth to the companies purchasing from the data miners.

Anyway, as I said, it was eye-opening and interesting. I thought I would share.

a reply to: freakjive

Can you provide more info such as a link and name of the app?

a reply to: Staroth

It's a Facebook app created by UBISOFT. It's meant as a marketing ploy. You have to "allow" it to access your Facebook. There is a button on the homepage.

Digital Shadow

After you give it permission for this

Watch Dogs Digital Shadow will receive the following info: your public profile, friend list, News Feed, relationships, birthday, work history, status updates, education history, groups, hometown, interests, current city, photos, religious and political views, follows and followers, personal description and likes and your friends' status updates and photos.

I found it to be pretty random with the info it generated. Even the location and salary were way off.

I gave it a try, all it found was a few pics from my fb, nothing else.
Probably because I dont actually use it. My gf made it and maintains it for me.

originally posted by: MrSpad
After you give it permission for this

Watch Dogs Digital Shadow will receive the following info: your public profile, friend list, News Feed, relationships, birthday, work history, status updates, education history, groups, hometown, interests, current city, photos, religious and political views, follows and followers, personal description and likes and your friends' status updates and photos.

I found it to be pretty random with the info it generated. Even the location and salary were way off.

You must be much more disciplined about what you post than I am.

I am sort of a free-spirit when it comes to social media, so I assume that's why it picked up so much accurate information about me and my interactions.

Yup, way off on mine as well. This is completely dependent on how much information you share on Facebook. Interesting I suppose, but it's akin to me writing a diary, giving someone permission to read that diary - and then gleaning whatever information they can from it.

They only know as much as you tell them.

One thing really stuck out to me -

volatile
Approach with Extreme Caution
You display unstable temperament and threaten to react with violence when provoked.

That's so far off it makes me laugh, I'm the most patient person I know and unless I have to defend myself against violence would never react in such a manner. Even then, I'll try to use humor and charm to get out of a situation before I resort to violence.

Just to illustrate how far off that quote is, I've always been larger than people my age. Back in the third grade I was playing with someone during recess, he was laying on the grass and I grabbed his feet and just pulled him along because I thought it would be funny.

The kid ended up having to go to the hospital due to the damage the ground did to his back. I didn't even realize it until I got called into the principal's office. This was about 30 years ago now and I still remember the speech I got about how I was bigger than other people and I had to be careful because I could hurt them easily.

I felt terrible that I had sent this kid to the hospital and it has affected my life ever since.

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.

I guess the fact that eurozone privacy laws are what they are, means that Ubisoft feel they have to deny access since Im in the UK. Pity, I was curious.

I deplore it when people tag photos and try to tag me, in facebook. It's like they're idiots. I even send them a msg to not tag me in the future, & I don't allow their previous tags to "stick". Oh, idiots.

a reply to: freakjive

Pretty inaccurate:

It couldn't figure out my real name
Way off on salary
People I talk too
Hell it even put my location at a outdoor shooting range.