Dangers of FaceApp Applications

FaceApp

FaceApp suddenly exploded. One of its functions, namely to change the photo of someone growing old with a realistic form, makes many people, including netizens, race to wear it. But behind that, there are potential dangers that can be caused, especially regarding privacy.

The application uses Artificial Intelligence or AI technology to change user photos. But some parties worry about what FaceApp owners do with the photos they access.

FaceApp, a startup owned by the Russian company Wireless Lab, was launched in 2017. The application accesses photos, location information, data usage and browsing history.

Indeed this application claims that it will not sell data to third parties, but there is certain information shared with advertiser partners, of course for monetization. One of the problems highlighted is, FaceApp requests access to all user photos.

"To make FaceApp work, you have to give permission to access your photos, all of them. But it also gets access to Siri and Search. Why? Not for something good I think. It also has access to refresh background, so even if you don't use , the application uses you, "said Rob La Gesse, former CEO of Rackspace cloud company.

Another aspect that is considered worrying is the matter where the data is stored. According to FaceApp's privacy policy, user information can be stored and processed in the United States or other countries where FaceApp does business.

On the other hand, because the company is based in Russia, the user's face is likely to be seen and processed there. And so far, it is unclear to what extent FaceApp employees can access the photos that have been registered.

Obviously too many photos have been collected by FaceApp. Because according to the App Annie, this application has been downloaded more than 100 million times on the Play Store. Whereas on the iOS App Store, FaceApp is a top ranking application in 121 countries.

That concern reached the ears of CEO of FaceApp, Yaroslav Goncharov. He stressed that FaceApp does most of the processing in the cloud, especially on Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.

"Most photos are deleted from our server within 48 hours of upload time," he said, while adding no user data was sent to Russia. "We also do not sell or share data with any third party," Yaroslav added.

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