Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 18 July 2019
Myths and risks in app that gives you peek into older self

BY RACHEL LERMAN the processing on the de-
AP Technology Writer vices themselves, not in the
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — cloud.
Is a peek into the future FaceApp's privacy policy
worth your privacy in the also says it is using data
present? That concern was from the app to serve tar-
pushed to the spotlight this geted ads and to develop
week with the resurgence new products and features.
of a smartphone app that It says it does not sell data
uses artificial intelligence to to third party apps, but lists
transform your current face many exceptions including
into your younger and old- one that allows it to share
er selves. data after removing infor-
People raised fears on Twit- mation that identifies users.
ter and other social media FaceApp, which is devel-
sites that on iPhones, Face- oped in Russia by Wireless
App would be able to see Lab, has had surges of viral
and upload all your photos, popularity before. The app
including screenshots with also allows people to swap
sensitive financial or health their genders or add facial
information or photos of hair or makeup.
kids with the names of their Wireless Lab told technol-
schools in the background. FaceApp is displayed on an iPhone Wednesday, July 17, 2019, in New York. The popular app is ogy news site TechCrunch
That's not actually true, under fire for privacy concerns. that it may store users' pho-
but the scuttle serves as Associated Press tos in the cloud, but "most"
a good reminder to think are deleted after 48 hours.
twice before downloading grabs a photo only if you You have the option of phones don't tap photo li- It said no user data is trans-
new apps. specifically select it to see granting access to your en- braries the same way. ferred to Russia.
Even large, mainstream your face change, security tire photo library, but even That's not to say the app The company has not re-
apps routinely collect user researcher and Guardian then, there is no evidence isn't free of problems, Stra- sponded to questions from
data. But many trendy- Firewall CEO Will Strafach the app is uploading any- fach said. The Associated Press. It told
at-the-moment apps are said. thing other than the photo Among other things, pho- TechCrunch that users can
guilty of mining user data The confusion comes from selected. tos get sent to the cloud request to have their data
as a primary purpose. an iPhone feature that "I'm always looking for pri- for processing in both the deleted.
Some personality quizzes shows your photo library vacy concerns," said Stra- iPhone and Android ver- Even with those admissions,
on Facebook and similar within the app. It is an Ap- fach, who used a network sions, exposing them to Strafach urged people to
services collect user infor- ple feature that lets you analyzer tool to track what hacking and other prob- resist the pull of the app. He
mation as a business, open- select a specific photo, but was happening. "When it's lems. FaceApp does not said the app should have
ing people up to breaches doesn't give the app full not happening, it's not hap- explicitly tell users that the been upfront and told us-
such as in the Cambridge access to the library, even pening." photos are being sent to ers it was processing photos
Analytica scandal. though it may appear that There's a version of Face- the cloud. Some apps try in the cloud rather than on
As for FaceApp, the app way. App for Android, but those to limit exposure by doing phones.q

Apple, Google continue

inclusive push with new emoji

the number of images of Diya lamp so that Diwali person in France, for exam-
human diversity. can be celebrated along- ple, can send an emoji or a
Apple Inc. is releasing new side Christmas and Thanks- text message to a person
variants of its holding hands giving. in the U.S. and it will look
emoji that allow people to New emoji routinely pop up the same, no matter what
pick any combination of every year. Earlier this year brand of phone or operat-
skin tone and gender, 75 the Unicode Consortium ing system they use.
possible combinations in approved 71 new varia- It's this group that ultimate-
all. There are also wheel- tions of emoji for couples of ly weighs in on whether
chairs, prosthetic arms color. Apple and Google we get a sad pile of poop
and legs, as well as a new unveiled their designs to complement the smil-
guide dog and an ear with Wednesday to coincide ing one, or whether sliced
a hearing aid. with World Emoji Day . bagel deserves an emoji
And then there's the sloth, Anyone can propose an alongside bread and crois-
the flamingo, the skunk, emoji. But for it to make it to sant.
the orangutan, as well as a phones and computers, it Apple's new emoji will be
This image provided by Apple shows new emoji's released by new yawning emoji. has to be approved by Uni- available in a few months
Apple. Google, meanwhile, will of- code. The nonprofit group, with a free software up-
Associated Press fer 71 versions of couples mostly made up of people date for the iPhone, iPad,
with different skin tones from large tech companies Mac and Apple Watch.
By MICHELLE CHAPMAN ing out dozens of new emoji once the additions are like Apple, Google and Google said its emoji will
Associated Press that include cute critters, of completed. Google is also Facebook, translates emoji be released with Android Q
Apple and Google are roll- course, but also expand adding an emoji for the into one standard, so that a later this year.q