Want to figure out if someone is a psychopath (精神变态者)? Ask them what their favourite song is. A New York University study last year found that people who loved Eminem's Lose Yourself and Justin Bieber's What Do You Mean? were more likely to  highly on the psychopathy scale than people who were into Dire Straits.

    Over the past few years, Spotify has been enhancing its data analytic  in an attempt to help marketers  consumers with adverts tailored to the mood they're in. They infer this from the sort of music you're listening to,  with where and when you're listening to it, along with third-party data that might be available.

    Now, to be clear, there's nothing particularly  about what Spotify is doing with your data. I certainly don't think that they are working with shadowy consulting firms to serve you ads promoting a culture war while you're listening to the songs that  you might be in a casually racist mood. Nevertheless, I find it that our personal private moments with music are increasingly being turned into data points and sold to advertisers.

    You can see where this could go, can't you? As ad targeting gets ever more complicated, marketers will have the ability to target our emotions in  exploitative ways. According to one study, titled Misery Is Not Miserly, you are more likely to spend more on a  if you're feeling sad. You can imagine some companies might take advantage of that. And on that note, I'm feeling a little down about all this. I'll  off to treat myself to something expensive.