This article was published on June 14, 2017

Study: Students will trade their friends’ privacy for free pizza


Study: Students will trade their friends’ privacy for free pizza

Want to hack your way into someone’s network? Just offer their BFF some free pizza.

98-percent of students gave away their friends’ emails when promised free pizza, according to a recent study conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

74-percent of Americans have stated that it’s “very important” to them that they be in control of who can obtain their information. But throw a stuffed crust in the equation, and people will start dropping information. (Thank god they didn’t test social security numbers ー that would’ve been embarrassing)

The study’s authors noted:

The 💜 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

“Whereas people say they care about privacy, they are willing to relinquish private data quite easily when incentivized to do so.”

The results have clearly shown that people exaggerate how much they care about privacy, but pizza as an incentive? Actually I take that back ー as long the pizza didn’t have pineapples on it, I get it.

You’re probably thinking, “This is insane! Kids are out of control!” which is fair, but remember the time you gave up your email address to that random Chinese bootleg site to watch “Captain America”? Excellent movies count too.

Privacy is important, but pizza is a priority.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.