As FaceApp rage hits social media, experts advise caution

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As FaceApp rage hits social media, experts advise caution

Dubai - It collects your location data, some browsing history and unspecified 'other information that assist us in improving the service'.

By Sandhya D'Mello

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Published: Fri 19 Jul 2019, 10:04 PM

Images with wrinkles and grey hair seems to have taken the social media by storm with people posting their images of 'timeline' of FaceApp everywhere.
It gives a snapshot of how they would look in their old age, compared to their youth, under the theme, 'yesterday-today-tomorrow'. The opinions are wide and varied as people have tried from gender swap to change on hair colour, hairstyle, reactions and much more. First the temptation is to fast forward your own look and then try your loved ones, and in bargain, people unintentionally have parted with data even without raising their eyebrows or suspecting anything of notorious. For a momentary fun, the app asks for an access to your data, cautions Dubai resident Amol Kadam, digital transformation consultant. "So the product is not the app. The real product here is you.
It collects your location data, some browsing history and unspecified 'other information that assist us in improving the service'. It does retain the right to share information 'such as cookie data with third-party advertising partners'. These days, there are many of these traps on the Internet and for few moments of fun, I don't see the point of it."
More than 100 million people have downloaded the app from Google Play. And FaceApp - developed by Russian company Wireless Lab - is now the top-ranked app on the iOS App Store in 121 countries and opinions are being formed if people prefer looking younger and yet try FaceApp to see how they would advance in few years.
Sai Krishnan, 27, said: "The new trend of the FaceApp is fascinating and sort of hysterical. People argue with themselves and their friends about staying and looking young, but finding it amusing to capture their old age look. I also find it surprising that people are aware of how they are being trapped by social media and being on phones but yet new ways and new trends keep coming up to keep their thoughts against social media at bay."
While there are critics of the app, there also are strong supporters, like Natallia Tsishkevich, Dubai resident, who says being a beauty advisor and hair educator, she thought it was harmless and had fun while discovering the app.
"The app provides a small little window into the future. It is also a bit discomforting to see how easy it is for all of us to slip away from reality in an instance. Then I also read a few posts about the risks of privacy around this app, but these days, most of our data including pictures are already all over the Internet. So I don't get the fuss about it."
Word of caution
In these days of rapid change in world of technology, digital literacy is the basic skill which is mandatory. Dr James Piecowye, associate professor at College of Communication and Media Sciences, Zayed University, said: "The downside of technology and apps like FaceApp is we are certain to become more sceptical and suspicious of images we see in general. And then there is the whole segment of the population that is oblivious to what is possible with technology and might believe everything they see and read. If we start to ask more questions about what we see because of FaceApp, that may be a good thing. This app will for sure promote a conversation about why we all need to be digital literate and the fact that this literacy is constantly evolving."
"It's important to note what permissions the app requests for when downloading for the first time. One should refrain from downloading applications that request permissions for access to features that are not normally associated for use by the app. For example access to the microphone, camera, contacts, photos, etc. Users should be prudent in identifying and downloading applications, and do a regular clean-up of applications that they haven't used in a long time."
Kalle Bjorn, director - systems engineering, Fortinet, said: "If a user is unsure about how their information will be used, they should delete the application. However, that won't change whatever information has already been shared with the app. One last thing that could help is that users should always read the fine print like terms and conditions when downloading applications for the first time. Its tedious, and realistically not many do, but reading the fine print is crucial to understanding what and how the app is going to use the users information."
sandhya@khaleejtimes.com


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