AUGUSTA, Ga. – “My friends use it, and they sent me my face like I thought it was funny. I didn’t think nothing of it. Just some humor like oh this is how I’m going to look when I get old,” says Lashata Grayson, Augusta University intern.
“I saw on Snapchat that apparently there were Russian privacy issues or whatever, so I deleted it,” says Drew Vincent, Augusta University student.
There were 80 million active face app users and even celebrities– like Kevin Hart, the Jonas Brothers, and Drake– who took a peek at their senior-selves.
Then people noticed it wasn’t an american created app.
“A lot of the worry right now being a Russian made app is that the U.S doesn’t have any jurisdiction. They couldn’t do anything about it, if the Russians misuse any of that information,” says Sarah Rees, Director of the Cyber Workforce Academy at GA Cyber Center.
The small print states that FaceApp can own and have the ability to use your photos for anything they want. So, what do you have to give up to use free apps? Experts tell me it has already been done in apps like Facebook.
“We’re already giving them information to use our data, and they have very very similar standard language in their terms of service. as does FaceApp. you’re really not giving Facebook any less permission than you gave FaceApp.”
FaceApp put out a statement that they do not sell or share any user data, photos are erased from their servers within 48-hours, and that data is not transferred to Russia.
But people still plan to be more cautious with this app and the next viral app craze that comes out.
“I know we just take like those terms and conditions for granted, but after seeing that could happen, I’m a little more cautious now in hitting allow and when a notification comes up for allowing media access,” says Arnav Jain, Augusta University Student.
