[ad_1]
FaceApp. So. The application became viral again after the first operation about two years ago. The effect has improved, but these applications, like many other viral applications, tend to come and go in waves driven by networks of influence or by paid promotions. We first approached this AI photo editor by a team of Russian developers about two years ago.
It has become viral again because of some features that allow you to edit a person's face to make it look older or younger. You may remember that at one point, there was a problem because it turned a person into a digital blackface by changing one person from one ethnic group to another.
In this current wave of virality, FaceApp raises new questions. The first is to know if he downloads your camera roll in the background. We have found no evidence of this and no security researcher and the CEO of Guardian App, Will Strafach or researcher Baptiste Robert.
The second is how does this allow you to take pictures without giving a photo to the application. You can see a video of this behavior here:
Although the application actually allows you to take a single photo without giving it access to your photo library, this is actually 100% allowed by an Apple API. introduced in iOS 11. It allows a developer to let a user choose a single photo in a system dialog box for the application to work. You can see the documentation here and here.
<img clbad = "vertical alignright size-medium wp-image-1856623" title = "IMG_54E064B28241-1" src = "https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_54E064B28241-1.jpeg? w = 139 "alt =" IMG 54E064B28241 1″ width=”139″ height=”300″ srcset=”https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_54E064B28241-1.jpeg 1125w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_54E064B28241-1.jpeg?resize=69,150 69w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_54E064B28241-1.jpeg?resize=139,300 139w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_54E064B28241-1.jpeg?resize=768,1663 768w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_54E064B28241-1.jpeg?resize=314,680 314w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_54E064B28241-1.jpeg?resize=23,50 23w” sizes=”(max-width: 139px) 100vw, 139px”/>
Because the user has to tap on a photo, this represents an important element for Apple: the intention of the user. You have explicitly pressed it, so you can send this photo. This behavior is actually a well net In my opinion. This allows you to give an application a photo instead of your entire library. He can not see any of your photos until you type one. It's much better than engaging your entire library in a same jokey application.
Unfortunately, there is still cognitive dissonance because Apple allows an application to call this API. even if a user has set the photo access setting to Never in settings. In my opinion, if you set the option to Never, you should edit it before no photo can get into the application from your library, no matter how inconvenient it is. Never is do not By default, it is an explicit choice and this permanent intention of the user outweighs the unique user intent of the new photo selector.
I think that Apple should find a way to remedy this situation in the future by specifying or prohibiting the authorization of users to explicitly refuse the sharing of photos in an application.
<img clbad = "aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1856624" title = "IMG_0475" src = "https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_0475.jpg?w=300" alt = "IMG 0475″ width=”300″ height=”135″ srcset=”https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_0475.jpg 1125w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_0475.jpg?resize=150,68 150w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_0475.jpg?resize=300,135 300w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_0475.jpg?resize=768,346 768w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_0475.jpg?resize=680,306 680w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_0475.jpg?resize=50,23 50w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px”/>
A good idea could be the equivalent of the "one-time" location option added to the next iOS 13 might be appropriate.
FaceApp, however, uploads your photo to the cloud for processing. It does not do any processing on the device as does Apple's first apple application and allows third parties to do so through its ML libraries and routines. This is not clear to the user.
I asked FaceApp why they do not warn the user that the photo is being processed in the cloud. I also asked them if they kept the photos.
Given the number of screen shots that people take for sensitive information such as banking and the like, access to photos is a greater security risk than ever these days. With scraping and OCR technology, you can automatically find a wealth of information far beyond "people's photos".
So, overall, I think it's important for us to think carefully about the safeguards that are in place to protect the photo archives and the motivations and methods of the applications we are accessing.
[ad_2]
Source link
