FaceApp,\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0AI-powered selfie-editing app\u00a0that\u2019s been having another viral moment of late, has now responded to a privacy controversy that we covered earlier\u00a0here.<\/p>\n
The tl;dr here is that concerns had been raise"},"modified":"2019-07-18T08:50:34","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T08:50:34","slug":"faceapp-responds-to-privacy-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/18\/faceapp-responds-to-privacy-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"FaceApp responds to privacy concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FaceApp,\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0AI-powered selfie-editing app\u00a0that\u2019s been having another viral moment of late, has now responded to a privacy controversy that we covered earlier\u00a0here.<\/p>\n
The tl;dr here is that concerns had been raised that FaceApp, a Russian startup, uploads users\u2019 photos to the cloud \u2014 without making it clear to them that processing is not going on locally on their device.<\/p>\n
Another issue raised by FaceApp users was that the iOS app appears to be overriding settings if a user had denied access to their camera roll, after people reported they could still select and upload a photo \u2014 i.e. despite the app not having permission to access their photos.<\/p>\n
As we reported earlier, the latter is actually allowed behavior in iOS \u2014 which gives users the power to choose to block an app from full camera roll access but select individual photos to upload if they so wish.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t a conspiracy, though Apple could probably come up with a better way of describing the permission, as we suggested earlier.<\/p>\n
On the wider matter of cloud processing of what is, after all, facial data, FaceApp confirms that most of the processing needed to power its app\u2019s beautifying\/gender-bending\/age-accerating\/-defying effects are done in the cloud.<\/p>\n
Though it claims it only uploads photos users have specifically selected for editing. Security tests have also not found evidence the app uploads a user\u2019s entire camera roll.<\/p>\n
FaceApp goes on to specify that it \u201cmight\u201d store the photos users have chosen to upload in the cloud for a short period, claiming this is done for \u201cperformance and traffic\u201d \u2014 such as to make sure that a user doesn\u2019t repeatedly upload the same photo to carry out another edit.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost images are deleted from our servers within 48 hours from the upload date,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n
It also claims no user data is \u201ctransferred to Russia\u201d, even though its R&D team is based there. So the suggestion is that storage and cloud processing are being performed using infrastructure based outside Russia. (We\u2019ve asked it to confirm where this is done.\u00a0Update:\u00a0<\/strong>Founder Yaroslav Goncharov told us it uses AWS and Google Cloud.)<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t sell or share any user data with any third parties,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n FaceApp also says users can request their data is deleted. Though it doesn\u2019t yet have a very smooth way to do this \u2014 instead it asks users to send delete requests via the mobile app using \u201cSettings->Support->Report a bug\u201d with the word \u201cprivacy\u201d in the subject line, adding that it\u2019s \u201cworking on a better UI for that\u201d.<\/p>\n It also points out that the vast majority of FaceApp users don\u2019t log in \u2014 making the point that it\u2019s not able to link photos to identities in most cases.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s its statement in full:<\/p>\n We are receiving a lot of inquiries regarding our privacy policy and therefore, would like to provide a few points that explain the basics:<\/p>\n 1. FaceApp performs most of the photo processing in the cloud. We only upload a photo selected by a user for editing. We never transfer any other images from the phone to the cloud.<\/p>\n 2. We might store an uploaded photo in the cloud. The main reason for that is performance and traffic: we want to make sure that the user doesn\u2019t upload the photo repeatedly for every edit operation. Most images are deleted from our servers within 48 hours from the upload date.<\/p>\n 3. We accept requests from users for removing all their data from our servers. Our support team is currently overloaded, but these requests have our priority. For the fastest processing, we recommend sending the requests from the FaceApp mobile app using \u201cSettings->Support->Report a bug\u201d with the word \u201cprivacy\u201d in the subject line. We are working on the better UI for that.<\/p>\n 4. All FaceApp features are available without logging in, and you can log in only from the settings screen. As a result, 99% of users don\u2019t log in; therefore, we don\u2019t have access to any data that could identify a person.<\/p>\n 5. We don\u2019t sell or share any user data with any third parties.<\/p>\n 6. Even though the core R&D team is located in Russia, the user data is not transferred to Russia.<\/p>\n Additionally, we\u2019d like to comment on one of the most common concerns: all pictures from the gallery are uploaded to our servers after a user grants access to the photos (for example,\u00a0https:\/\/twitter.com\/\n