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Viral face filter app FaceApp is back, with a new gender-swapping function. Is the Russian owned app ... [+] a danger to your privacy?

Face-changing app FaceApp went viral last year as people used its old filter to find out what theyd look like in 50 years. Now, the app is back with a new gender-swapping filter thats once again taking social media by storm.

FaceApp is certainly a fun app, but is it a danger to your privacy?

FaceApp was launched in 2017, but it wasnt until its resurgence last year thatconcerns were raised about the Russian owned app having access to potentially millions of photos. At the time, a closer look revealed that Russian owned FaceApp wasnt all that badthe risks were hyped, as they often are with anything that goes viral.

But in December last year, the FBI issued a warning about FaceApp, sayingFaceApp and other apps developed in Russia are potential counterintelligence threat.

Its not long since FaceApp came crashing back into the mainstream, and people are again concerned. This week, theWashington Postran an article raising questions about the appwhat data does FaceApp collect, what is FaceApp doing with this information, who has access to it, and how can your data be deleted?

Likemany other apps, FaceApp does include trackers from Facebook and AdMob, and users in Russia may have their data stored in the country. But FaceApp ownerYaroslav Goncharov is adamant that the app does not share data with Russian authorities.

At the same time, it wouldnt be crazy to think an app that collected peoples photos might store it for use in the future for, I dont know, facial recognition? Again, Goncharov says no. When Goncharov and I exchanged some emails and he told me:We do not use the photos for any reason other than to provide the editing functionality.

Meanwhile, he underscored that FaceAppdeletes photos from its cloud servers within 24 to 48 hours after they are last edited. All photos are encrypted using a key stored locally on your devicethey are only temporarily cached on the apps cloud servers during the editing process.

FaceAppsprivacy policyhas been recently updated to reflect some more stringent controls and I asked a privacy expert to take a look.Rowenna Fielding, head of individual rights and ethics at Protecture saysFaceApps updated privacy policy is pretty solid and reassuring because it states explicitly that uploaded photos will only be used for the app itself and not shared or re-used for any other reason.

Reading between the lines, the purpose of improving the app probably includes training the algorithm itself, which has little impact on the individual who has uploaded their photo, she explains.

However, that doesnt mean FaceApp is risk freewith any free service, such as Google andFacebook, you are giving up some data in exchange for its use.

Jake Moore, cybersecurity specialist at ESET warns: When anything is free, you must always ask yourself what is in it for the owners of the app and how do they make their money?

He advises users to read every apps terms of use, pointing out that companies often have hidden agendas to gain mass information for purposes such as teaching facial recognition algorithms, or learning connections from phone contacts.

Fieldingagrees that like many free services, FaceApp includes the possibility of a large number of secondary data extractions and uses that have little to do with the function of the app itself.

She also warns that the social login facility opens up a much wider doorway for data-scraping by third parties. Therefore, she says: Id hardly call it privacy-friendly, but there has clearly been a significant effort to identify and explain the uses of data associated with the app.

On the surface of it, Fielding would give FaceApps privacy notice an 8 out of 10.

So FaceApp seems ok, but also be aware that deleting your data might not be as straightforward as it seems. The Washington Post mentions that simply deleting the app wont get rid of the photos FaceApp may have in the cloud. Goncharov said people can put in a request to delete all data from FaceApps servers, but the process is convoluted, the article reads.

So on the surface, its not exactly privacy-friendly, but FaceApp doesnt appear to be a huge danger to your privacy. Even so, remember that handing your data over to any app is still a risk, and most do share it with third parties in some way.

Its important to think firstif you really want to use FaceApp, go ahead, just make sure you are aware of the caveats and ensure share the risks with others too.

Read the original post:
FaceApp Privacy: What You Need To Know About The Viral Russian App - Forbes