Why this popular selfie pose could put you at risk
It’s one of the top poses that selfie takers regularly turn to.
Whether you call it the peace gesture, V for victory gesture or scissor gesture, there’s no denying it pops up from time to time on your social media streams.
You’ve probably even seen Delta Goodrem use it during The Voice.
But experts are warning with the advancements in technology, the personal information of an individual could be exposed if opting for the hand gesture.
Zhang Wei, vice-director of the Shanghai Information Security Trade Association, revealed concerns people’s fingerprints could be taken from photographs and used by criminals at a cyber security awareness presentation earlier this month.
The pose is particularly synonymous with China’s youth, with social media apps such as WeChat, Weibo and TikTok awash with young people posing with their index and middle fingers aloft.
Zhang warned those using the pose not to upload pictures with it to social media if the camera is closer than three metres, local media reported.
He says advancements in camera quality would allow criminals to make models of prints and later use them for fingerprint-based identity recognition checks.
Cyber security expert Dr Aim Sinpeng at the University of Sydney told Yahoo News Australia that while she hadn’t heard of such a threat posed in Australia, it was more than feasible.
Dr Sinpeng said concerns, which were reported by Hong Kong publication the South China Morning Post, could also be a “big brother fear” fuelled by unrest between the special administrative region and the mainland over China’s controlling ways.
The warning has sparked concern across China, with Zhang’s address being circulated on Weibo, the nation’s version of Twitter, and viewed 390 million times in the space of 24 hours.
“Advanced technology has brought us convenience but meanwhile has also brought us risk and danger. What can we do now?” one person commented.
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