Ahmed Hassan - Cairo
Over the past few days, social networking pages have been filled with images of old age through the application of "Face Up", amid controversy that may not have been achieved by another application. There are those who spoke about his threat to privacy and personal security. Others spoke of his prohibition, but he gained additional momentum in Egypt, Where some used to remind detainees in Egyptian prisons, who have already appeared old age without the need for the application of default.
The application - which dates back to 2017 and developed by Russian company "Wireless Lab" - puts the features of aging on personal images through filtering the face through the so-called "filter age" and received a large interaction of users and celebrities, and used human rights platforms to identify the issues of detainees in Egypt Who suffer from poor prison conditions that painted aging features on everyone.
The application did not deliver constant fears and criticism from the moment it first appeared. Questions about security and privacy were raised using information about targets that might be political or commercial at the very least.
Back in the Google Play Store, more than 100 million people around the world took the application, while Forbes magazine reported that the application was ranked first in 121 countries, according to download data from Apple's IOS application store.
With this application, the Russian company can use the user information for any purpose at any time, according to Forbes' terms of use.
Aging reality
With the widespread spread of the application, Yasser Barhami, deputy head of the Salafist da'wa in Egypt, said that the application of "Faysbab" is haraam because it is forbidden, because it is an imitation of the creation of God, not a reflection of the light or shadow created by God.
Barhami said in response to a question about the legality of the application "is a manipulation of the creation called by the scientific prediction," which this opinion provoked a cynical reaction by activists and pioneers of social networking sites.
Apart from the religious debate, the application has raised sympathy with a number of Egyptian political thinkers who have experienced the suffering of early aging since the military coup in the summer of 2013 due to poor conditions in prisons.
The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jihad al-Haddad, and the prominent Salafist leader Hazem Abu-Ismail, were among the leaders of the social networking sites, before and after the arrest. Pointing out that aging appeared without the need for application.
According to data from international human rights organizations, the Egyptian government has always denied the existence of political detainees, stressing that the prisons have only accused persons in cases Criminal, and that they take human rights with them.
The difference between the two images is not the application |
Deep counterfeiting
Shadi Sharif, a software and artificial intelligence expert in Egypt, says the application is not new, but it has recently spread because of the 60-year challenge, which challenges the person to publish his "modified in practice" image 60 years later.
"These challenges are likely not to be spontaneous," he told Al Jazeera.net, "but they work on them to collect information that uses artificial intelligence applications later on.
One of the most important strengths of the Vis-August - according to the software expert - the adoption of artificial intelligence algorithms that develop themselves without human intervention, pointing out that the application to achieve this degree of precision requires training on millions of images, the basic idea of these algorithms is a simulated method Thinking of the human mind.
"The development of the application took only 8 months, and it is considered a short period to collect millions of images in a legitimate way."
But the most suspicious question - in the Egyptian expert's view - is "why does the application require permission to access all the images and videos of users?" However, "while a user-defined photo permit can only be required without the need to obtain a permit Full access to all images that a user may not want to share with the app. "
He pointed out that the user agreement for the application contains suspicious terms such as "We may integrate your information with other information to become new information does not belong to you and then we can publish."
"This confirms concerns about using this application to develop new artificial intelligence algorithms called deep counterfeiting that can produce fake images and videos but look real."
Warnings and responses
Warnings of experts on the application's application to images and private information The leader of US Senate Democrats Chuck Schumer has asked the FBI to verify the application on the grounds that it could pose a threat to national security and the privacy of millions of Americans after it was found that the origin of the application In Russia.
In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Ray and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joe Simmons, Schumer said the application required "full and irreversible access to user images and personal data," potentially "endangering the national security and privacy of millions of American citizens."
The Democratic National Committee also sent a warning to the party's candidates in the 2020 presidential election to use the application, while the head of security affairs at the committee urged Bob Lord, presidential election campaigners to the party's candidates to immediately delete the application.
BIG: Share if you used #FaceApp: |
On the other hand, the owner of the application responded to fears of privacy infringement by saying that it does not transfer any other images from the user's phone to the cloud, but only uses the image chosen by the user.
In a statement, it confirmed that all images from its servers were deleted within 48 hours from the date of download, stressing the lack of participation or sale of any data used with third parties.