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U.S. Senator Raises Questions About Security and Privacy of Face ID

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Just a day after Apple unveiled its new flagship iPhone X equipped with a facial recognition system, United States Senator Al Franken (D-MN), who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, sent a letter [PDF] to Apple CEO Tim Cook with some questions on the privacy and the security of the Face ID feature.

Face ID is designed to take a 3D face scan that determines the structure of a person's face and transforms it into a mathematical model for device authentication and unlocking purposes. Apple has said that Face ID is protected by the same Secure Enclave that keeps Touch ID data safe, and that all processing takes place on the device itself with no data uploaded to the cloud. Furthermore, Apple says Face ID can't be fooled by a photo or a mask.

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In his letter, Franken raises concerns about how Apple plans to use facial recognition data in the future, the diversity of its training, how Apple will respond to law enforcement requests for Face ID data or the Face ID system, and if it might be fooled by a photo or a mask.
Since the announcement, however, reporters, advocates, and iPhone users have raised concerns about how Face ID could impact Americans' fundamental right to privacy, speculated on the ways in which Apple could use faceprint data in the future, and questioned the quality and security of the technology.

For example, it has previously been reported that many facial recognition systems have a higher rate of error when tested for accuracy in identifying people of color, which may be explained by variety of factors, including a lack of diversity in the faces that were used to train a system. Furthermore, some have expressed concern that the system could be fooled, and thus the device unlocked, by a photo or a mask of the owner of the device.
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Franken asks Cook to respond to a series of 10 questions, many of which have already been addressed by Apple. Among the questions:

- Can Apple extract Face ID data from a device, will Apple ever store Face ID data remotely, and can Apple confirm that it has no plans to use faceprint data for purposes other than Face ID?

- Where did the one billion images that were used to train Face ID come from, and what steps did the company take to ensure the system was trained on a diverse set of faces?

- Does Face ID perpetually search for a face, and does Apple locally retain the raw photos of faces used to unlock the device? Will Apple retain the faceprints of individuals other than the owner of the device?

- What safeguard has Apple implemented to prevent the unlocking of the iPhone X when someone other than the owner holds the device up to the owners face? How does it distinguish a user's face from a photo or mask?

- How will Apple respond to law enforcement requests to access Apple's faceprint data or the Face ID system itself?

Back when Touch ID was first announced as a new feature in the iPhone 5s, Franken sent Cook a similar letter asking for clarification on how the Touch ID feature works.

Franken asks Tim Cook to respond to all of his Face ID questions by October 13, 2017. Apple is not obligated to respond as this is not a subpoena, but the company will likely cooperate with the request for information.

Article Link: U.S. Senator Raises Questions About Security and Privacy of Face ID
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/13/us-senator-questions-face-id-privacy-security/
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Reactions: SlowX, Ntombi, logicstudiouser and 4 others
Every time Franken has to question security on everything Apple does. Every time. He's a great guy but seems to waste his energy on this each time.

Franken questioned the security of:

Apple Pay
Touch ID
Siri
iOS 4
Location Services
 
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Reactions: j3T, aforty, TimSHB and 17 others
I like Al Franken. I kind of know the answers to these questions being an Apple fan, but I think it's important to make sure the answers to these questions are as widely known as possible. It's a win for everybody too. Apple ends up looking like privacy advocates and important questions are answered before the next FBI case.
 
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Reactions: jef82, Agit21, j3T and 63 others
Apple's stance on how it uses customer information is absolutely crystal clear...It has no plans nor does it have the ability to access your information on the device. Google on the other hand - They are in the business of selling your personal information to marketers.
 
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Reactions: jef82, MR.Raul, TimSHB and 31 others
cmChimera said:
I like Al Franken. I kind of know the answers to these questions being an Apple fan, but I think it's important to make sure the answers to these questions are as widely known as possible. It's a win for everybody too. Apple ends up looking like privacy advocates and important questions are answered before the next FBI case.
Click to expand...

But it looks bad that the government is questioning the security of their products. Even if in the end they prove to be secure, there's still a negative light brought on by the questioning. More people hear about the government questioning the security of the product than people hear the answer at the end.
 
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Reactions: jef82, nintenmav, juanjohnjean and 12 others
I like Senator Franken, but Apple has already addressed essentially everything in his list. Some of his questions make it clear he didn't read one iota of the release information about FaceID...

There's a big difference between expecting him to do tons of research before raising a concern and expecting him to at least be aware of the most basic basics which were presented AS the service was announced.

We don't need to be "crying wolf" right now when there are plenty of REAL wolves out there to deal with.
 
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Reactions: nintenmav, TimSHB, i75.bjc and 25 others
I figured Apple may be doing something fishy as well with face ID. Is all of that processor speed helping with their probable spyware? I don't believe Apple stats either such as 1 in 1 million can't be hacked. It only takes a few people to hack it and Face ID would be over. We will see soon once this device gets released.

Apple has given people more reason to hack them as well. Any company against them could use this as a advantage. A hacked Face ID would completely blow up in Apple's face and change the world's perception of them. I don't want to lose my privacy.
 
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