From rights to insights: new AMS features promote data portability

ApplyMagicSauce.com updated to enable psychological predictions from user-submitted .zip folders containing social media data. No log in required.

ApplyMagicSauce.com has played a significant role in raising awareness of online privacy issues since its launch in 2013. The site - which allows users to predict thier psychodemographic profile from digital footprints of behaviour, such as their Facebook or Twitter data - has helped millions of visitors to discover their profile based on peer-reviewed algorithms.

It now benefits from the addition of new features - including the AMS Data Portability Tool - that allow users to upload a .zip file containing their data and obtain a prediction without the need to log in. This method also offers the individual enhanced control of the data they submit for academic research, meaning they can view and delete it at any time in future even if they have lost access to their Facebook or Twitter account.

Both these platforms now allow users to download an archive of their data in HTML/JSON or .csv formats respectively. This is in response to a requirement enshrined in Art.20 GDPR which states that data subjects must be able to obtain their data from a controller in a "structured, commonly used and machine-readable format" and transfer it to another controller "without hindrance". Nevertheless, some companies retain the power to limit users' portability rights by suspending apps or imposing restrictive API terms on third-party developers.

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, several Facebook data breaches, and the advent of of the General Data Protection Regulation (May 2018), the public's interest in digital footprint prediction and profiling has clearly intensified, but social science researchers have faced increased hurdles in the translation of methodologies to the digital environment. As the tech industry scrambles to appease regulators, it has never been more important to study what can be gleaned from our online behaviour. The Psychometrics Centre remains committed to this goal.

Click here to predict your psychology from your social media data