Jaws dropped when I saw this.
This website requires both:
- a Google or Apple account
- a social media account
Just to take a free test. (On the site, scroll way down, click Apply)
The vast majority of people in my country may have a Google account (because of Android), but many don’t have a social media account. I’m one of them - I do not even have Google at all because I’ve been deGoogling for years.
I have an email address and GitHub for code writing, but no social media. SNS just isn’t for me - I’m definitely not wasting my time on doomscrolling.
Seeing a site that requires Google is heartbreaking, and I’m sure other minorities who care about their privacy will simply give up on participating.
Besides the scam website that you shouldn’t even be interacting with, that’s why you can simply use burner accounts for Google and social media as needed.
If it’s a scam, shouldn’t it be removed from post?
The site itself is a red flag. Grammar is even off.
OP account is sus. Opened account 3 months ago to immediately cry wolf on GrapheneOS. Now a scam site (don’t bother opening. Probably safer not to.) Calling honeypot.
What are you even saying? They’re obviously super reliable, their name is “rocksolid” after all!
/s
If you managed to get to the end of the page without realising the site is dodgy, this should have been a strong indicator:
“On the next page, you’ll create your account. We ask you to link social media profiles as an anti-spam step.”
The photos at the top should have been enough though
It’s a nice way of telling you to look elsewhere.
It smells a lot like a honeypot to me. It doesn’t seem to have any proof that taking the exam actually converts to any benefit for real people, AND they collect TONS of data from people taking this exam.
Their privacy terms indicates they don’t directly sell your data to 3rd parties. But they say that, if another company eventually acquires them, they inherit all the data and can basically update the privacy terms how they see fit and do whatever they want with it. They also admit to share your data to a lot of other companies and services in order to be able to do their ‘job’ whatever it might actually be, which in simple terms probably mean they share your data to commercial partners so these partners can do whatever they want with it.
So, even if they really don’t (directly) sell your data, God knows what they and their partners will use it for.
It seems very clear to me, though, that they will collect all your data and will not give you anything in return but false hopes.
Why does that surprise you?
Free is rarely free. As the saying goes, “if you’re not the customer, you’re the product”.
Authentication of users seems to be outsourced to ‘identity providers (IdPs)’ (primarily: Google, Facebook, Apple, etc.: “login with…”); that manage access to a service’s resources, which are increasingly distributed throughout various cloud-based services. A service’s chat application might be hosted at provider X, whereas its website at provider Y; so managing access to these resources from a centralized identity pool is convenient. Well, unless you value you privacy, but that’s the end-user’s problem…
At least that is the impression I’ve gotten from my limited research on Amazon Cognito: required for contacting my doctor’s office through their forced chat application (automatic account creation, no longer a phone line for uses outside of emergencies). And yes, to anyone wondering: I am going to look for alternatives, because this should not be acceptable, at least for a doctor’s office of all places.
