ALERT SUMMARY
As reported by the Time magazine, TikTok, the popular video sharing social media platform, has made a change to it’s US privacy policy. The policy change now allows the company to collect any type of biometric data from us on it's platform and would include something they call “faceprints” and “voiceprints”. The purpose for collecting this new type of biometric data is unknown. This kind of personal data collection is causing concern amongst the experts who say the impact to a user’s security and privacy might be at risk.
TikTok’s privacy policy now includes a new section on the “information we collect automatically” called “Image and Audio Information” allowing itself to access and use physical and behavioral characteristics from a user’s account. TikTok has not disclosed what they plan to do with this data, whether they will seek user permission first nor did they even define “faceprints” and “voiceprints” yet.
TikTok is very popular with 689 million active users worldwide with 100 million in the US alone. Security researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are concerned that biometrics, especially facial and voice are personal and permanently identify you. Biometrics can be used to secure access to your TikTok account, like Apple’s facial recognition, but could also be used to track people for surveillance or other more intrusive intents that could rob us of our digital identity.
The TikTok privacy policy specifies that not only can they use any of your content as a whole, but that they can also analyze it further to identify all the parts of your content, too, such as objects and scenery in pictures, your image and body parts, your friends and family as well as every spoken word then TikTok will then categorize you based on their demographic classifications and others. TikTok calls this new collection of information as non-personally-identifying operations when in fact it is inherently identifying. It identifies you, your connections, your voice, your location, and every word you said. All this information combined with other information can make you an open book. TikTok’s policy even provisions other partners can use your information collection to share with any business, government or institution.
TikTok was found guilty of privacy violations and will pay $92 million to settle a class action lawsuit in Illinois. Although some states have enacted their own biometric privacy laws, federal law isn't defined well enough yet.
New users signing up and consenting to TikTok need to be aware of this kind of data collection especially teachers and parents as the implications to younger users may have more long-term impact.
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