What the Tech? FaceApp Privacy
An app that went viral this week is now making a lot of people worry about their privacy and how
their images might be used without their knowledge.
FaceApp has been around for a couple of years now and it’s gone viral before. It’s #1 in the app stores now for this photo filter that adds about 25 years to a photo of yourself.
But here’s why some people are freaking out: The app, in its privacy policy, reserves the right to use a photo you upload to its servers, in advertisements and marketing without your permission and without paying you anything.
Here is the paragraph that users agree to, giving FaceApp:
“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 you 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.”
But check this out: you probably have another app on your phone right now that does the same thing. An app you may have uploaded hundreds of photos to, along with more personal information than any organization has on you. Facebook.
In its own privacy policy, Facebook reserves the right to use anything you upload or post. In fact, Facebook’s policy looks almost identical to the FaceApp policy.
