Social media feeds have been filling up in recent days with images from people using the latest FaceApp.
The app is the latest trend using technology that can make you look older or younger, by uploading a picture and adding wrinkles or other modifications.
Questions have been raised about where the information you provide ends up, with some pointing to the Russian software development company behind it.
Dave Morgan of Morgan Privacy Consulting says like social media sites and other apps, it is about collecting information from users for marketing purposes.
He says you provide your personal information to FaceApp, in exchange for that service. They then use that information for marketing to generate revenue.
“Nobody gets anything for free when they use one of these apps.”
When you grant an app or a social media site access to your information—as listed in FaceApp’s terms of service, for example—you are providing them a “perpetual, irrevocable” licence to use that information and image.
Whether it’s FaceApp or another program, he says apps generally operate on the same premise.
Morgan says as for the Russian connection, apps can be created by anyone, anywhere. Sometimes they’re created by big companies, and sometimes they’re a couple of people operating out of their basement, who happen to stumble upon the next ‘hot app.’
Dave Morgan spoke with VOCM’s Linda Swain. Listen below: