Recently, pictures of all your friends covered in wrinkles
have gone viral. Everyone’s doing it and commenting on how much they look like
a grandparent of theirs. Then, the debate over terms of service agreements and
the company’s origin and intentions have sparked controversy. Should you have
privacy concerns online regarding the FaceApp?
Let’s take a look.
A Bad Idea?
As soon as it seemed like everyone was posting their
picture, the “thoughtful” friends appeared in the comments. Didn’t you read the
terms of service? Don’t you know this company owns all your photos now? Is the
company spying on behalf of Russia?
The Industry Norm?
And of course, there was the in-turn response: Facebook
creates just as many privacy concerns online as the FaceApp. No one reads the
terms of service agreements. Doesn’t the US government already keep track of
our online activity?
A Mixed Bag
Well, the truth is somewhat murkier than either side would
have you believe. FaceApp is probably not going to use your photos to create
crazy DeepFake videos. The App’s founder Yaroslav Goncharov insists
that no data is sent to Russia. They also claim that your data is not
shared or sold to third parties. While all of this is comforting, it does not
seem to be entirely true.
Privacy Policy Woes
In its privacy policy, FaceApp does ask users to “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.” That’s definitely not something most
people would be comfortable with.
Beyond that, the Washington Post found that FaceApp did
have third party trackers in its app. Also, its photos are processed in the
cloud rather than on your device. While it claims photos are deleted within 48
hours, there’s no real way to verify this.
FaceApp and Privacy Concerns Online
The most alarming aspect of the whole FaceApp debate is not
that it is some anomaly in the tech landscape, but that it isn’t. Privacy
policies are rarely read, and for good reason. They’re super long, and they’re
written by experts who can easily bury their true objective in legalese on
behalf of the app. Checking the “agree” box initiates a commonplace scheme: your
data is sent to a variety of locations.
The stakes are huge. They’re not just using our data to sell
us more stuff. As the Cambridge Analytica and 2016 election taught us, they may
be influencing the way in which we elect our government. This is why we feel
Trustwire’s mission is so essential.
How Trustwire is Different
In the world of surveillance, where your data becomes the
property of other’s agendas, we are committed to protecting your privacy. This
is why we encrypt your messages, files, and photos. In fact, no one who works
at Trustwire has access to any of your content or pattern of access.
This means that you are in complete and total control of your privacy. We think this should be the industry standard. Learn more about how we can help you protect your privacy online.
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