What Disney Character Are You? Those Online Quizzes Give Marketers Info You May Not Want To Share

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- What Disney character are you? What city should you live in? What kind of pet should you have? What precious gem are you?

If you know the answers to these questions and others like them, chances are you learned them by taking a quiz online.

According to the Wall Street Journal, online quizzes are not just idle ways to waste your time. They've become a virtual data goldmine for web marketers.

London-based company Visual DNA is mining that data and has built profiles on more than 300 million people using online quizzes.

Websites like BuzzFeed and Zimbio claim they don't collect your answers for marketers, but others do. As you unwittingly answer ten simple questions, you may be handing over clues about what you like, what you buy, how old you are, your family, your values, even your credit history.

Your answers, in the hands of advertising companies, can lead to certain cookies on your browser, products on your newsfeeds, and in some cases, will impact your future purchases. Visual DNA uses data from online quizzes to determine how likely you are to repay your credit lines.