Apparently People Are Willing to Give Their Personal Info for a Cookie

We complain every time Facebook changes its privacy policies, but just how much do we really value our personal information?

New York artist Risa Puno discovered that some people are willing to give a hell of a lot of personal info in exchange for cookies. Not digital cookies, but real, flour-sugar-and-butter cookies. Puno conducted a social experiment called “Please Enable Cookies,” where she gave cookies to 380 New Yorkers at a Brooklyn arts festival, who in return gave some degree of intimate data.

Whether it was their address, mother’s maiden name, or even Social Security number, Puno was able to squeeze out some goods by handing out social media logo-shaped cookies to the public.

More than half of the participants allowed Puno to photograph them, and 42 percent handed over the last four digits of their Social Security number. Some-freakin-how, 30 percent of the people allowed Puno to take their fingerprints.

Naturally, when people asked her what she was going to do with the gathered information, she didn’t say and simply showed them her terms of service which stated she was allowed to share their information.

If you can fathom this, some people didn’t even eat their cookies, they just wanted to take pictures of them.

Puno said that questions like “Place of birth?” “Pet name?” and “Mother’s maiden name” aren’t usually perceived as security questions and that’s one of the reasons people get hacked.

She said she’d likely destroy all the information she gathered, but she had the right to do as she pleases.

If you’re offered cookies for all your personal data, at least hold out for some milk first. Smh.

H/T + PicThx Mashable