FaceApp: the risks to privacy related to the use of Russian application

Although surprising, FaceApp – the mobile phone application that allows you to see anyone's face during their old age – is not new. Indeed, it has existed for years and its filter "Age" is available since its launch for iOS and Android mobile systems.

But in recent days, the app became trendy topic After football players, TV stars and even politicians shared the results of their transformations via their social networks, making the proposal a new viral challenge with its own name and everything else: the FaceApp Challenge. All this through a simple, but not insignificant, enhancement of the ability of this filter that allows the user to "change" the face of a person and see how it would look in the old age.

On Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have appeared thousands of images of users of this filter with a look of 70 or 80 years.

"Please note that we may transfer information, including personal data, to a country or jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as in its territory," warns the application.

The phenomenon seems to be a recurring social behavior in these times. It's worth remembering what happened in May of this year with the Snapchat filter that shows what a person would look like if she were the opposite bad. As on this occasion, FaceApp now recreates many entertainment.

The question is how it is advisable to give the application of personal information, such as those included in the pictures of the face, in exchange for a little fun.

This is not an unjustified paranoia. After cases such as the Cambridge Analytica algorithm or surveillance monitoring based on facial recognition in the UK or China, how the privacy of users of mobile applications or social networks is treated was at the center of the debate.

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How does FaceApp work?

The application is presented as a service to achieve the "perfect selfie".

"Get selfies with a magazine cover quality with a few touches! It works with FaceApp AI, the most advanced neural editing technology in portraits," that's how it's promoted in its description on Android.

Also in the iOS AppStore, you explain that your filters can add a "beautiful smile" to a photo, change bad or look younger or older.

The latter is what has been popularized in recent days, because even if it was a function already offered since 2017, the capacity of the filters has improved considerably.

A user can take a selfie or upload a photo of his face, or another person, and he gets a portrait in old age.

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This Tuesday, FaceApp was at number 1 in the list of applications of the moment of the iOS system, even above Instagram.

What is its origin?

FaceApp was launched a few years ago by Wireles Lab, a developer based in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The technology firm has been littered with controversy in the past. The best-known case is that of 2017, when two filters were removed in response to criticism for highlighting racial physical stereotypes. By "beautifying" people's faces with black teas, they have eliminated colors to make them more Caucasian.

At the time, the president of the company, Yaroslav Goncharov, had apologized for the inconvenience that this filter – presented under the name of "hot" – had caused among the users. Shortly after, a new function of the same application – which allowed one to change race to appear as African, Indian, Asian or Caucasian descent – was also to be removed due to the growing wave of criticism received.

However, the main concern today is Goncharov's explanations in 2017 about the problem of the "hot" filter. At the time, the President of Wireless Lab stated that, in the case of this filter, there was an "unfortunate side effect of the underlying neural network".

The "neural network" to which he has referred is the set of artificial intelligence algorithms allowing to modify a face on a photo while remaining photorealistic, explained Goncharov at the time.

What data is collected by FaceApp?

The conditions of use of FaceApp do not differ much from those of other applications.

The application says that it can collect "the user's content (for example, photos and other items) that it publishes through the service".

The app also performs a "monitoring" of the user's activity, including "the web pages you visit" and its location, and collects "metadata" about how the website is being viewed. User interacts with the service.

"We will not rent or sell your information to third parties outside FaceApp," states their privacy statement.

But badysts have highlighted the fact that FaceApp says that it can transmit the information to a different jurisdiction than the country where the user is located.

"Please note that we may transfer information, including personal data, to a country and jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as those in its jurisdiction," he said. warned.

Facial Recognition

A controversy similar to that of FaceApp has revolved around Facebook at the beginning of the year with the # 10YearsChallenge call, the challenge of uploading a photo from 10 years ago and a photo of the world. news to admire the time pbading.

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Some experts have stated that this could be useful for platforms such as this social network to "train" their facial recognition tools that can be used for commercial purposes (advertising sales) and surveillance (private or governmental).

Computer security experts warn that it is very difficult for a user to know if facial recognition is used in applications and for what purposes.

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And just like in China, the Russian government has in recent years implemented Internet-specific controls, which can deviate from the concept of a "network without borders" that predominates in the rest of the world.

However, Facebook was also faced with issues of managing the privacy of its users, as in the case of Cambridge Analytica.

The British privacy advocacy organization, Big Brother Watch, has described in the past the use of facial recognition technology as "dangerously authoritarian".

"Monitoring innocent people in public is a violation of the fundamental rights to privacy, freedom of expression and the right to badembly," he said after a face-tracking test by the authorities in London.

"We are fighting this for all those who do not want to become itinerant identity cards in a country under surveillance," he warned.