These days, the internet is once again divided over the security aspect. This time, it is a Russian app named ‘FaceApp’. The app can do many things, including making one artificially look older online. After the initial excitement, some people began questioning the app’s End User License Agreement (EULA). Oh, and all this happened in 2017, too; when the app was first launched.

So why the brouhaha? The EULA allows the app publisher to store photos from your device on its servers and the company retains rights to use them in perpetuity. That year also saw the début of another such app: Meitu, which asked for all the above mentioned accesses, plus also wanted access to GPS and wi-fi data. Phone maker OnePlus found itself in a similar situation, when it was caught collecting data. All smartphones share some data with the manufacturer.

The Washington Post’s Geoffrey A Fowler spoke with FaceApp CEO Yaroslav Goncharov about the concerns. He clarified that while the company is Russian, the data is not shared with the government and the company uses Amazon’s servers, which is US-based.

So what has changed since 2017? For starters, Russia is now a cyber-bogeyman, thanks to cases of e-meddling, some including the current US President, being traced back to it. However, when it comes to sharing, FaceApp may be the least harmless culprit.

The biggest culprit when it comes to facial recognition may be Facebook. It does almost all that FaceApp does, but it has a much bigger base and it has also pushed a VPN that actively tracks your usage and it has been fined for it. There is also another entity which is more popular, and has gotten away with a lot more and is mostly famous for cringy content. Yes, it is TikTok. 

The app has settled with US authorities over concerns about under-13 users of the app. But the real shocker was, according to Vox, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the UK’s largest charity group, found that 25 per cent of children had connected with a stranger on TikTok, and one in 20 children were asked to strip during live streams. The company has since then taken steps to address this issue, including launching an app specifically for young users, where users won’t be able to share videos, comment on content, or message with other users.

All these things show how intrusive being online has become. So, does this mean we should shun the internet? No, there are a lot of ways to keep oneself safe and anonymous online. 

We need to just keep one thing in mind: your data is now a commodity of enormous value. Think very, very carefully before handing it over to someone.