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September 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
Specifically, US Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer asked the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission last month to launch a probe
into FaceApp. He claimed that the app poses "national security and privacy risks for millions of US citizens," since its users “must provide the company full and irrevocable access to their personal photos and data."
According to Schumer, FaceApp’s location in Russia also raised "questions regarding how and when the company provides access to the data of US citizens to third parties, including potential foreign governments" and Russian intelligence or military.
Schumer's worries triggered rumours that the app operates as a malicious spyware and once a user uploads a photo to FaceApp, the application can access all photographs on the user's smartphone, and there would be no way to block such access.
However, Russian experts dismissed the rumours. Tech expert Sergey Golubitsky was quoted by local daily Novaya Gazeta as saying that privacy concerns about FaceApp were just "paranoia" as the amount of data the app gets from a user is limited even in comparison to what other photo apps get.
According to Golubitsky, Google's photo app can view contacts and even edit them, receive access to user geo data and download files without notifying users.
FaceApp also addressed the controversy in
a statement. Only photos chosen by users are uploaded to the cloud for photo processing, Wireless Lab said, adding that most of the users' photos are deleted less than 48 hours after being uploaded to the servers.
In addition, upon request, users may delete all of their uploaded images, Wireless Lab added, also assuring users that it doesn't sell or share any user data with any third parties and although the core R&D team is located in Russia, user data are not transferred to Russia.
Incidentally, this is not the first time FaceApp has come under fire. Two years ago, it triggered criticism for a filter allowing users to alter someone’s ethnicity in selfies.
Within Russia, another Russian photo app, FindFace, sparked controversy three years ago over what was perceived as the destructive power of new technologies with regards to user privacy.