faceapp-privacy-concerns

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Should you be concerned about your privacy on FaceApp?

If you're worried about FaceApp, you should definitely be worried about Snapchat.

 

Mikael Thalen

Tech

Posted on Jul 17, 2019   Updated on May 20, 2021, 8:31 am CDT

Privacy concerns are being raised over FaceApp, the highly-popular tool that uses artificial intelligence to apply filters to photos.

The app recently went viral through the “FaceApp Challenge.” Celebrities and internet users alike are using the app’s old-age filter to make themselves appear significantly older. FaceApp has repeatedly made headlines over the last two years by stirring up controversy regarding filters that changed people’s raceskin color, and gender.

The company’s latest problem, however, stems from issues related to user privacy.

For starters, FaceApp is a Russia-based company with its headquarters in St. Petersburg. That information alone has raised eyebrows given Russia’s heavy-handed approach to dealing with Russian-based tech companies–many of which are required to hand over user data.

https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1151311662592532480

Analysis of the app’s network traffic by a French security researcher, known online as Elliot Alderson, found that users’ photos are processed in servers hosted by Amazon in the U.S., not Russia. Still, the Russian company has access to those servers, although it remains unclear how much access FaceApp employees have to photos.

A now-deleted tweet thread from app developer Joshua Nozzi alleged that the company could be downloading users’ entire photo rolls. Alderson debunked that claim and instead found that the company is only gathering photos that users actually want filters applied to.

FaceApp released a statement backing up Alderson’s analysis, noting that it only deals with photos selected by users.

“FaceApp performs most of the photo processing in the cloud,” the company wrote. “We only upload a photo selected by a user for editing. We never transfer any other images from the phone to the cloud.”

Lawyer Elizabeth Potts Weinstein tweeted that users are giving up their likeness to FaceApp, citing the company’s privacy policy in its terms of service.

Security researchers argue that the terms of service are no different than most other popular photo-based apps like SnapChat.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have any concerns though. When using any app, users should try and be aware of what information they are handing over. Overall, FaceApp doesn’t stand out as being any more concerning than other apps at the moment.

Either way, the conversation brings attention to how most apps operate and the potential privacy implications that come along with them.

For what it’s worth, FaceApp says it doesn’t sell the data it gathers to third parties and that users who want their data removed from the company’s servers can send them a request to do so.

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*First Published: Jul 17, 2019, 4:15 pm CDT