Why you should avoid FaceApp, the viral aging app

There is a lot of buzz and panic regarding privacy with the photo morphing FaceApp. In an instant the app can change gender, eye color, skin tone, expression, age or hairstyle to name a few of its features. There are both fun and useful applications such as aging backwards and looking younger (my idea of fun, anyway), aging a photo of a child or person who has been missing for a while to help locate them or knowing how a new haircut will look before you try it out. But as with other apps, there is a privacy or security related price to pay here!

Morph your photos for fun and for other reasons too.

What are the objections to FaceApp?

• The app cannot be trusted because it was developed in Russia and we’ve been talking about Russians using social media to influence USA elections for years now. FaceApp says this should not be of concern but since Russian servers are used it’s hard for me to feel confident that they have full control of this factor. That said, there are talented programmers in Russia and those resources are used by other platforms and businesses successfully even if it is not public knowledge.
• Some suspect that the FaceApp downloads all of a user’s photos but FaceApp CEO Yaroslav Goncharov says this is untrue. He says photos are processed in the cloud and the app only uploads specific photos selected by the user to edit.  
• The app shares phone information with Google Admap and Facebook. (True.)
• The app sends a lot of data to its own servers and people are using the app with photos belonging to other people such as friends and family. By doing that the privacy of biometric data of any morphed person is compromised and that’s not fair to do to others. I agree with this point but it is not the only app doing that. The Waze app owned by Google compromises privacy of others when users use their contacts to navigate to that person’s location.
• The app runs facial recognition on faces. This has been denied by Goncharov but if the app is sold it’s impossible to predict if the new owners will respect the data or not.
• FaceApps “terms” give the app permanent access to the data they get from users. True but Goncharov says they are deleted after 48 hours. As of today, the details in the terms of service as quoted below are certainly enough for me to stay far away from this app. How about you?

You grant FaceApp a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your User Content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your User Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed, without compensation to you. When you post or otherwise share User Content on or through our Services, you understand that your User Content and any associated information (such as your [username], location or profile photo) will be visible to the public.

You grant FaceApp consent to use the User Content, regardless of whether it includes an individual’s name, likeness, voice or persona, sufficient to indicate the individual’s identity. By using the Services, you agree that the User Content may be used for commercial purposes. You further acknowledge that FaceApp’s use of the User Content for commercial purposes will not result in any injury to you or to any person you authorized to act on its behalf. You acknowledge that some of the Services are supported by advertising revenue and may display advertisements and promotions, and you hereby agree that FaceApp may place such advertising and promotions on the Services or on, about, or in conjunction with your User Content. The manner, mode and extent of such advertising and promotions are subject to change without specific notice to you. You acknowledge that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such.

• Deleting the app will not get rid of photos and user data already stored in the cloud. This is true but a solution has been provided by FaceApp. Read on…

What can you do if you already used the app and want to reduce the consequence of that?

• Send a request to FaceApp directly from the FaceApp mobile app.
• Go to ‘Settings->Support->Report a bug’ with the word ‘PRIVACY’ in the subject line.  After you get confirmation that your data has been deleted, then remove the app from your device. (They are getting lots of requests so there may be a backlog in response from them.)

As a person who avoids apps and has a general mistrust of them I don’t see how this one is any worse than most others. In addition to obvious privacy issues with this app, there’s one other important lesson to drive home. This is not a new lesson since we live in a time where filters and Photoshop have been popular for a while now. Need I say it? I will. We have even more reason now to mistrust any photo (or video) we see!

Until next time,… Stay Cyber Safe!