Russia-based face-changing application “FaceApp” took social media by storm last summer, as people used its filter to find out how they’d look like when they get old. Now, the app is back again with a gender-swapping function that transforms photos of faces into a different gender, and the filter has gone viral.
FaceApp may be a fun tool, but such facial recognition apps raise security concerns, and they could pose a threat to your privacy. Late last year, the FBI even issued a warning about the app, which enjoys access to millions of photos, calling FaceApp and some other apps developed in Russia a “potential counterintelligence threat.” To dispel doubts, FaceApp has clarified that photos will be deleted after editing.
“Photos remain in the cloud for 24 to 48 hours after you have last edited them,” the company claims, adding that it only uses third-party cloud providers to process its photos — such as Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Liberty Times 照片︰自由時報記者簡榮豐
(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)
來自俄國的臉孔轉換應用程式「FaceApp」去年夏天席捲各大社群媒體,使用者紛紛透過它的變老濾鏡,查看自己變老的模樣。現在,這個程式又回來啦。不過這次是推出性別轉換功能,將臉部照片轉換成不同的性別,變性濾鏡近日推出後一夕爆紅。
雖然「FaceApp」很有趣,但是此類臉部辨識應用程式仍引發安全疑慮,還有可能對你的隱私造成威脅!去年底,美國聯邦調查局就針對掌握數百萬張臉部照片的「FaceApp」提出警告,說這類由俄國開發的程式具有「潛在情資威脅」。為了消除疑慮,該公司澄清說照片在編輯後將被刪除。
Photo courtesy of a netizen. 照片: 網友提供
該公司並宣稱︰「照片被編輯後,只會停留在雲端伺服器二十四至四十八小時。」還強調,只使用第三方雲端供應商來處理照片—像是Google Cloud Platform和Amazon Web Services。
(台北時報張聖恩〉
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110