Experts Warn The Viral FaceApp Is Selling Your Personal Information And You Gave Consent Without Even Knowing It
If you’ve been browsing the internet at all this week you’ve probably seen a picture of your B.F.F. that looks like she went into a time warp of the future and aged 50 years overnight.
Or maybe it was a celebrity because everyone from the Jonas Brothers to Gordon Ramsey has used the app.
Yes, the viral new trend is the FaceApp which takes an image of you and shows you how you’d look 50 years in the future which at first may seem fun.
But now that it has reached over 80 million users, experts are warning that The Viral FaceApp Is Selling Your Personal Information And You Gave Consent Without Even Knowing It!
Trust me, when I read the information I was just as scared as you are right now but you have to know about what consent you gave the moment you downloaded the app.
According to British digital strategist James Whatley and in regards to the terms of service you accept upon download, he said:
“You grant FaceApp a perpetual, irrevocable… royalty-free… license to use, adapt, publish, distribute your user content… in all media formats… when you post or otherwise share,”
Even ABC News chief business correspondent Rebecca Jarvis explained the terms you agree to in further detail sharing:
“FaceApp cannot ensure the security of any information you transmit to FaceApp or guarantee that information on the service may not be accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.”
“FaceApp’s privacy page also says they may share user content and your information with businesses that are legally part of the same group of companies,”
So yes, you are willingly agreeing to them receiving access to everything on your phone and allowing them to use for pretty much whatever they want.
And if you thought it was just these journalist experts getting involved and being worried, you are wrong.
In fact, US senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has asked the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a national security and privacy investigation into the app, which was developed in Russia.
In a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray and FTC chairman Joe Simons, Schumer said the app requires “full and irrevocable access to their personal photos and data,” which could pose “national security and privacy risks for millions of US citizens”, according to Reuters.
The Democratic National Committee also sent out an alert to the party’s 2020 presidential candidates on Wednesday warning them against using the app, pointing to its Russian origin. In the email, Reuters says, DNC security chief Bob Lord also urged Democratic presidential campaigns to delete the app immediately if they or their staff had already used it. (Source)
So, what can you do if you’ve already downloaded and used the app? Well, the damage might already be done since you already granted an “irrevocable” license. However, you can prevent further use and damage to your personal information by deleting and revoking access to everything.
