‘Fun’ online photo game really scam — tech expert

Thousands of social media users across the globe, including celebrities, have been jumping on what has been dubbed the 10 Year Challenge — but it’s been suggested it’s all a scam.

The trend, involving people posting two photos of themselves 10 years apart, has gained speedy traction on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

But technology commentator Paul Brislen yesterday told Newstalk ZB presenter Andrew Dickens the “fun game” exposes users to identity theft.

“Nine times out of 10 it is a scam, the whole push and the reason for these games or puzzles is to give a company access to your information and your data so that they can better understand you and your networks to pitch advertising at you,” he said.

Anyone in the information technology industry had the ability to start these games to test new software.

Social media sites could use the photos people are posting to better train their software algorithms, or robot brains that infest the sites, how to better identify users, Brislen said.

On the surface it didn’t seem a big issue as it could be a way of tagging people in photos automatically but the extent of invasion was a worry.

“For my kids or my elderly parents who don’t actually want everybody to know where they are, this capability becomes a threat to their privacy,” Brislen said.

He felt people walked into these “games” without thinking about the ramifications.