So, the big privacy/security story in the non-techie media this week has been FaceApp. Somewhat surprising that there has been no mention of it here -- possibly cuz it may be much ado about nothing, or not So here it is -- The Wilders FaceApp Post: FaceApp is a mobile application for iOS and Android developed by Russian company Wireless Lab which uses neural network technology to automatically generate highly realistic transformations of faces in photographs. The app can transform a face to make it smile, look younger, look older, or change gender. FaceApp had been downloaded 150+ million times. People need to upload their picture to the cloud whenever they use FaceApp FaceApp’s privacy policy notes its affiliates and service providers 'may transfer information that we collect about you, including personal information across borders and from your country or jurisdiction to other countries or jurisdictions around the world.' The company’s privacy policy does not explain how it safeguards user content stored on its servers, which are reportedly located in the United States. However, the company claims that any data collected is aggregated 'so that it cannot reasonably be used to identify any particular individual User.' The fear apparently is that FaceApp is a Russian State sponsored program to vacum up millions of faces, names, and other personal info. that will be used for malevolent purposes. The developer claims that all photos are deleted every two days. Here's a sampling of the media FaceApp frenzy: "Senate Minority Leader Schumer calls for investigation into FaceApp over security concerns and Russia ties.." https://www.washingtonpost.com/tech...-concerns-russia-ties/?utm_term=.358713e16531 "Democratic leaders are warning campaigns to delete the Russian-created app ‘immediately’..." https://www.washingtonpost.com/tech...ises-privacy-concerns/?utm_term=.e201ea3d8353 "Viral App FaceApp Now Owns Access To More Than 150 Million People's Faces And Names..." https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnko...million-peoples-faces-and-names/#97c2ff62f175 "Read this before using FaceApp — you give up more personal data than you realize on this Russian-made app..." https://www.marketwatch.com/story/h...sian-made-app-2019-07-17?mod=mw_theo_homepage etc., etc., etc..........
FaceApp Is Everyone’s Problem It feels good to call out people for being duped by the Russian app, but the individualist framing of privacy is the bigger culprit July 19, 2019 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/07/faceapp-mess/594361/
Viral FaceApp Unnecessarily Requests Access to Users' Facebook Friends List https://thehackernews.com/2019/07/faceapp-facebook-privacy.html
People using Facebook shouldn't see it as a nuisance, they were willing to share parts of their life, what is a friendlist in comparison.
FBI confirms: FaceApp image-slurper poses a possible 'intelligence threat' from Russia December 3, 2019 https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/03/fbi_faceapp_warning/