In a world which is becoming increasingly concerned with the
privacy and use of personal data, the rise in mobile applications
("App(s)") which utilise people's
biometrics is somewhat surprising. Take FaceApp, the latest App to,
once again, rise to viral popularity which allows users to utilise
"artificial intelligence algorithms to transform your
photos" so that we may take a disconcerting glimpse into the
possible faces of our future selves. Douglas Adams may have been
right about our inability to telephone ourselves in the past, but
he didn't anticipate our ability to use our phones to come face
to face with a (possible) version of ourselves in the future.
FaceApp, which has found itself under the public spotlight
numerous times (not least for its 'ethnicity filters' which
were quickly removed) since its incorporation in 2017, is not
unique in its use of personal data. This article aims to address
several issues which appear to be at the forefront of the
public's