No one had to convince me that turning your face into data was a bad idea. I don’t care if it makes unlocking my phone easier or turns me into a cute little emoji thing. Tech companies can’t have my face. Period.
However, clearly many of you feel differently. One of this year’s hottest viral sensations was FaceApp, an app that took an image of the user’s face and intelligently painted a frighteningly accurate portrait of what you’ll look like decades from now. Better get used to those wrinkles.
With so many people volunteering all this free facial recognition data to analyze, to a Russian app no less, many were concerned about the potential privacy concerns FaceApp raised. FaceApp itself responded this summer, citing its commitment to security and saying these fears were mostly unfounded.
Still, that didn’t stop American lawmakers like Senator Chuck Schumer, already fearful of Russian online intervention in American affairs, from looking further into the matter. Now Schumer has released the FBI’s FaceApp findings.
A warning to share with your family & friends:
This year when millions were downloading #FaceApp, I asked the FBI if the app was safe.
Well, the FBI just responded.
And they told me any app or product developed in Russia like FaceApp is a potential counterintelligence threat. pic.twitter.com/ioMzpp2Xi5
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 2, 2019
The brief response mostly reiterates earlier fears. By collecting so much user data, FaceApp could potentially be a valuable piece of Russia’s ongoing sophisticated cyber warfare initiatives. The FBI considers it a “potential counterintelligence threat.” That’s not a confirmation of anything, but of course the FBI is going to err on the side of caution (historically to the point of gross overreaction).
Regardless of FaceApp’s origins though, facial recognition technology is something we need to really take seriously if we don’t want to wind up in an even bigger surveillance state. While everyone from China to Amazon to New York schools fall in love with invasive face-scanning, Portland is proposing a ban on the technology. I say we should all put a bird on it and be more like Portland.
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