A warning for social media.

[Alex]

Every so often some app comes out that does something people find neat that gets everyone doing it. The previous one I remember was showing you what you'd look like if you were female. Currently, there is one converting your photo into a hand-drawn picture. As with previous apps, it looks like this one just data mines you, and sends your personal details to some office in Russia. Maybe this information is just used for statistics (first off, how many idiots will download this app would be my guess), maybe it is sold to people who can use the information gained to try and hack your passwords, might even just be to target ads at you. I really don't know. What I do know is if they are collecting information from people, they are going to want it for some reason. It costs money to collect and store this stuff.

I just want to point out that if you get something like this which does something for free, the chances are there is a catch. It takes time and effort to sit down and write a program. It can be months of work. If it doesn't cost you anything to buy it, there is a good chance the company involved is looking at recouping its costs in some other way.

Not that I consider The Mail to be a publication I hold in high regard for truth and integrity, but here is an article on it: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10802211/NewProfilePic-Warning-issued-viral-app-hoover-data-sends-Moscow.html?ito=facebook_share_article-bottom

[LilCerberus]

Saw this on one of my Civil War reenactors' pages.....
Funny how the Russians can't produce a decent tank, but they have the world's most dedicated hackers.....

[indianasmith]

Snopes says the Daily Mail accusation is bogus . . . and that the app is not really based in Russia.

[RCMerchant]

You can do the same thing on sites like Lunapic- and you don't have to give your name or email address.
I can turn any photo into a drawing or painting style.
It's not very good art...but what do you expect from a robot?