Facebook attribute transparency tool Research Study
Facebook collects information about users for use in advertising. We developed this tool (browser extension) to let you see your information.
In order to use our tool, and participate in our research, we first ask you to first carefully read a consent form below. Once the tool is installed, we will ask you to like our Facebook page. This will allow us to show you your information; we describe how in the consent form.
Facebook information survey study
We are inviting you to install a tool developed by Alan Mislove and Giridhari Venkatadri at Northeastern University.
This tool was developed to help users see what attributes (information) Facebook has collected about them.
If you are at least 18 years of age and decide to install this tool (browser extension), indicate your consent by clicking next. Once the tool is installed, you will have to like our Facebook page (we’ll show you the link to the page once the tool is installed). This allows us to run ads to you. We run a different ad for every attribute that Facebook has; our tool then checks which of these have been delivered to your account and thus is able to show you which of these attributes you have. This process can take a few days - our tool will prompt you when it is done. Since we can only show ads to you when you browse Facebook, the time this process takes depends upon how active you are on Facebook once you install the tool. You will then be presented with a brief survey about whether you think these attributes are correct.
You will have to complete this survey to get the second part of the payment ($8). However, in case you are not comfortable answering questions about particular categories, you will have an option to say so and skip to the next category. Using this option does not affect your payment - we only require that you complete the survey.
Note: If you complete this survey, this information will be securely stored in an anonymized form; we do not keep any personally identifying information about you.
You can also optionally share your attributes with us - again, this information will be securely sent and stored on our servers in an anonymized manner.
Once again:
Only you will see your information unless you decide to share it with us.
We will not store any personally identifying information about you.
There is minimal risk to participating in this study. Sharing any data with us is completely optional.
Data that you share will be collected and stored on a secure computer at Northeastern University. Besides, we will collect a minimal amount of information (such as crash reports) to help us ensure the tool works well (this is unrelated to any of your Facebook data or other personal data). All data will be identified using randomly generated identifiers.
Your part in this study is anonymous to the researcher(s). However, because of the nature of web-based surveys, it is possible that respondents could be identified by the IP address or other electronic record associated with the response. Neither the researcher nor anyone involved with this survey will be capturing those data. Any reports or publications based on this research will use only group data and will not identify you or any individual as being affiliated with this project. The only individually-identifying data we receive from Prolific are your unique identifier and your country. Your data (not the data collected by our tool) are also stored on Prolific's servers, and the data there are subject to the Prolific Privacy Notice and Participant Terms of Service.
Once you install this tool, you will be paid $2. Once you complete the survey, you will be paid an additional $8.
Your use of this tool and sharing any data is completely voluntary. If you decide to delete the information you have shared with us, the tool will provide you an option to do that. Similarly, you may uninstall this tool whenever you want.
If you decide to stop taking part in the study, if you have questions, concerns, or complaints, please contact the investigator:
Alan Mislove
amislove (at) ccs (dot) neu (dot) edu
+1 617 373 7069
614 ISEC
360 Huntington Avenue
College of Computer and Information Science
Northeastern University
Boston, MA 02115
Giridhari Venkatadri
venkatadri (dot) g (at) husky (dot) neu (dot) edu
If you have any questions regarding electronic privacy, please feel free to contact NU’s Director of Information Security at privacy@neu.edu.
If you have any questions about your rights in this research, you may contact Nan C. Regina, Director, Human Subject Research Protection, Mail Stop: 560-177, 360 Huntington Avenue, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115. Tel: 617.373.4588, Email: n.regina@neu.edu. You may call anonymously if you wish.
This research has been reviewed according to the Northeastern University IRB procedures for research involving human subjects (IRB# 18-03-07).