Good evening and welcome back to another post from ToBeSecured. During lunch time at work, I noticed it was after 12 and I’d usually be drafting up my post. But, today starts my experiment of posting in the evening time because I noticed that is when most people are active on social media. Work is over and people are scrolling down their timeline to catch up on the latest news. Well, I hope you all come across this post, click it, read it, and share it.
It should not come as a surprise the topic I will be covering this week as I gave away too many clues last week. As you all know the FaceApp has been the highlight of the news media lately and everyone is discussing if their privacy is in danger with the app. Well, we can definitely discuss it today and find out.
First and foremost, FaceApp was not created on last week nor was it created during this year; it was put on the market in 2017 and received a multitude of press due to the use of artificial intelligence that transforms pictures of faces to make them look younger or older, male or female, or even adding a smile to appear happier. Recently, the application resurfaced and more people quickly joined the wave of downloading it.
I am more of a review type of person because I like to analyze things for myself instead of following trends or patterns that are “popular”. Instead of downloading the app to see what all the hype was about, I insisted on waiting to see if anything would come up in the news and it definitely did. As users were impatiently downloading this app, they were not taking their privacy as seriously as they should have. I cannot stress enough the importance of reading the privacy rights when purchasing or downloading anything. We have a right to privacy and are obligated to know what our information is used for; that‘s why these privacy laws are outlined in the applications.
I noticed some of my followers reiterating a point from a previous post of how the government and other similar companies/agencies already collects our information, but it does not solidify nor strongly argue that we may as well allow other applications to have access to our information and privacy as well. There is no valid excuse to collect information about us without our consent. If the creator of the product has outlined it, read it. It’s that simple because we now have a choice to accept or decline.
I came across an article that included a few statements from the creator of the FaceApp and here’s what he had to say: “Last Thursday, I tried to count the number of calls I was getting. … I counted 200 in three hours or so,” he says. “We couldn’t do our daily work.” Goncharov, who promises more transparency with an updated privacy policy, was overwhelmed. Now he tells Forbes about plans to calm the privacy storm. The new FaceApp terms and policy will likely remove references to the rights that the company claimed over people’s images, he says. “People got scared because they think everything we say in this policy we do, which of course is not the case at all,” he says. Goncharov said those terms were so broad because he had planned earlier to turn FaceApp into a “social network for faces.” “To do this kind of product, our privacy policy had to be very similar to what Instagram had. Our current privacy policy is very similar to what Instagram has … but nobody blames Instagram, because it’s Instagram,” he adds. So basically even the owner feels that it is no big deal of the whole privacy panic because other companies are doing it as well and are copying from one another.
"Most images are deleted from our servers within 48 hours from the upload date," the company said in a lengthy statement provided to TechCrunch addressing the privacy concerns. What remains concerning, however, is the language in the app's terms of service. In one densely-worded section, the company informs users that they "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." In translation, FaceApp can collect, store, and use your photos for whatever intended purpose without user compensation.
If you haven’t already, please delete the application until the Privacy laws are updated and you understand them and accept them for what they’re outlined as. If you are in a case similar to me, do not download it at all. I hope everyone learns from this and to appreciate and take their privacy serious.
If you would like to discuss further, please leave a comment or ask a question. I'd love to chat with my readers and hear your thoughts. Thank you for dropping in and remember ToBeSecured!
In this generation, it can be plastered on the screen “Read the privacy rights or else....” and some will still click accept because they don’t want to sit through a lengthy document trying to interpret those statements. In order for users to read the privacy statements, in my opinion, they would have to experience first hand one of the scenarios I have outlined in my blog whether it’s identity theft or someone hacking into their phone/pc. People are lazy nowadays and like I mentioned in the post they don’t take their privacy seriously. I have not come across an application that doesn’t collect data because I have a background in computer science where I am exposed to what happens on…
What kind of cyber security situation has to happen for users to READ the privacy statements? Have you ever came about an app in the 21st century, let alone, the past decade that doesn’t data collect? All in all, this post was exceptionally informative & contained much clarity. I’ll definitely be sharing this via everything. Thanks ToBeSecured!!!
Omg I cant for the next one