Firstpost
  • Home
  • Video Shows
    Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
  • World
    US News
  • Explainers
  • News
    India Opinion Cricket Tech Entertainment Sports Health Photostories
  • Asia Cup 2025
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
Trending:
  • Nepal protests
  • Nepal Protests Live
  • Vice-presidential elections
  • iPhone 17
  • IND vs PAK cricket
  • Israel-Hamas war
fp-logo
FaceApp's privacy policy on photos uploaded is not sitting well with users, Twitter reacts
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
  • Home
  • Tech
  • News & Analysis
  • FaceApp's privacy policy on photos uploaded is not sitting well with users, Twitter reacts

FaceApp's privacy policy on photos uploaded is not sitting well with users, Twitter reacts

tech2 News Staff • July 18, 2019, 12:04:24 IST
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter

FaceApp “may use information” they receive to “provide personalized content & information to you and others”.

Advertisement
Subscribe Join Us
Add as a preferred source on Google
Prefer
Firstpost
On
Google
FaceApp's privacy policy on photos uploaded is not sitting well with users, Twitter reacts

The viral **face changing app called FaceApp** , which has been becoming viral for the past few days, is not exactly the most privacy-driven product. The app is made by a Russian company that sends photos from your device to its servers and also has the rights to retain the image for as long as it deems necessary. [caption id=“attachment_7011811” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]FaceApp. FaceApp.[/caption] Many Twitter users have thrown caution in the wind regarding the way FaceApp handles user data. Elliot Alderson, who has earlier given details on a possible data breach of the Aadhaar database, says that FaceApp heavily uses Firebase, Facebook SDK and AccountKit which he says are tools that can be used to track users’ online.

I downloaded the app and looked at the traffic. They heavily use @Firebase, @Facebook SDK and @AccountKit 3/n pic.twitter.com/QtJ2Y5bphh

— Baptiste Robert (@fs0c131y) July 16, 2019

( _**Also Read: FaceApp does have privacy issues, but they're not much worse than Snapchat's**_ ) The privacy policy of the app also mentions that  FaceApp “may use information” they receive to “provide personalized content & information to you and others, which could include online ads or other forms of marketing.”  

If you are thinking of using the #FaceApp consider Section 5 of the ToS & that you grant FaceApp a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable sub-licensable licence to use your content (and which may be of your friends or colleagues)

— Privacy Matters  (@PrivacyMatters) July 17, 2019
More from News & Analysis
What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

FaceApp’s terms of service explicitly states “a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your User Content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your User Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed, without compensation to you.”

HOWEVER: they do appear to upload single images in order to apply the filters server-side. while not as egregious, this is non-obvious and I am sure many folks are not cool with that.

— Will Strafach (@chronic) July 17, 2019

Many users had said that FaceApp collects your entire camera roll and uploads them to its cloud servers but security researcher Jane Manchun Wong has said that only the photo which is clicked for the purpose of using a filter is uploaded to the cloud. There is, however, no method for users to delete this photo although the company claims that it itself deletes the photos within 48 hours of uploading.

I am not seeing much fishy in FaceApp

Photos are uploaded to FaceApp's servers on AWS w/ authorization. Not much info is being sent to FaceApp's servers other than user metrics (e.g. ui interactions)

I just wish there's an option for users to delete their photos from the server

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) July 17, 2019
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD

While the app is certainly Russian based, the servers are located in the US on Amazon’s cloud service called AWS. “People give photos to lots of different apps. I think this is probably getting attention because it’s Russian developers,” said Christine Bannan, consumer protection counsel at the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center

Tags
facebook Amazon AWS Elliot Alderson FaceApp
End of Article
Latest News
Find us on YouTube
Subscribe
End of Article

Top Stories

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Top Shows

Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
Latest News About Firstpost
Most Searched Categories
  • Web Stories
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • IPL 2025
NETWORK18 SITES
  • News18
  • Money Control
  • CNBC TV18
  • Forbes India
  • Advertise with us
  • Sitemap
Firstpost Logo

is on YouTube

Subscribe Now

Copyright @ 2024. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved

About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms Of Use
Home Video Shorts Live TV