Over the last few days, FaceApp has become the latest and greatest app, where anyone who downloads it can upload their picture and find out what they would look like in old age. The app became viral, and even gained the interest of celebrities.
After its rise in popularity news and articles regarding the application’s questionable privacy practices began spreading. Why did these negative alerts begin to come out?
The app’s terms and conditions are very similar to those used by other applications, however, what made FaceApp stand out was that its creators are from Russia. Despite having fairly common terms and conditions, the alarm was raised concerning its data privacy practices. Users are now being more cautious thanks to recent data breaches.
FaceApp CEO, Yaroslav Goncharov, assures its users that the terms and conditions aren’t a matter to be concerned about and that they are not using data collected for any other purposes. The Buzzfeed News team put the CEO’s words to a test.
According to some tests they made using an iPhone and an Android phone, the app does not use or have access to any data you did not give permission to at any given moment. They simply upload the photograph to see how you will age.
It is normal to have some doubts about the apps that you’re using; it’s even logical to ask what they would do with our data. What shouldn’t be done is to believe and cause panic amongst users without having solid, real, and technological proof of these accusations.
FaceApp assures that they use servers provided by Amazon and Google and that no type of personal data makes its way back to them to be used in an improper manner. BuzzFeed News investigated this matter and confirmed that the app’s servers indeed can be found in Ohio, Portland, California, and Singapore.
From what we can tell the application is safe; however, we don-t know if it will continue to be safe to use forever. What we can take away from false panic is that it’s imperative to pay attention to what we consent and give access to within these applications. Similarly, it’s good to question who these apps are made by. It’s never a bad idea to be cautious when it comes to our data.
Source: www.buzzfeednews.com