Privacy By Design

Privacy Preservation and Secure API Model in Faceoff

1. Overview:

Faceoff is designed to preserve data privacy and confidentiality by offering companies only an API for video analysis — without offering any cloud storage or video handling infrastructure. This design ensures that customer videos never leave their own secure environments. Faceoff does not store, view, or access any video data. Instead, Faceoff only monitors API usage metrics (number of videos processed) without seeing or saving the content.

2. Architecture and Workflow:
  • Faceoff provides a lightweight, secure REST API or SDK that companies can deploy inside their own cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP, private cloud, etc.).
  • Companies upload and process videos entirely within their own cloud.
  • The API endpoint internally analyzes the video and returns trust scores and model outputs locally.
  • Faceoff’s central server is only notified of the API call metadata — no video, no frames, no features are ever transmitted.
3. Technical Mechanisms Ensuring Privacy:

a) Data Localization:

  • The video remains inside the company's environment.
  • The Faceoff API container/module executes locally.
  • No upload of video to external servers (no external cloud interaction beyond API usage count).

b) Minimal API Communication:

  • Faceoff API only sends usage logs like:
    • Timestamp
    • API endpoint hit
    • Status (Success/Failure/Error)
    • Metadata (Company ID, number of videos processed)
  • No video payload, no video metadata (like filename, user data, camera info, etc.) are sent outside.

c) Stateless Processing:

  • Each video input is processed on-the-fly.
  • After processing, the video content is immediately discarded in memory — no persistent storage.

d) API Key and Authentication:

  • Companies are issued unique API keys for authentication.
  • The API key helps bind usage tracking to a specific company without needing to access the actual data.

e) Auditability and Transparency:

  • Companies can audit Faceoff’s deployment locally.
  • Faceoff will publish a transparent technical whitepaper describing what data is (and is not) transmitted or saved.
4. Tracking Video Count Without Accessing Data:
  • Every API call is counted.
  • The API endpoint receives an internal trigger whenever a video is processed.
  • Faceoff counts:
    • Number of API requests (videos analyzed)
    • Associated API key
    • Timestamp
  • No transmission of actual video frames, audio, or biometric information.
  • Faceoff maintains only statistical records of usage — never user content.
5. Why This Approach Is Highly Privacy-Preserving:
Aspect Traditional Cloud-Based Systems Faceoff API-Based Private Deployment
Data Residency Videos are transmitted to and stored on third-party cloud infrastructure, often outside organizational control. Videos remain within the organization’s secure environment; no external transmission or storage.
Privacy Risk High risk due to centralized storage and third-party access, increasing vulnerability to breaches and misuse. Ultra-low risk: Faceoff does not receive or access video data; full control remains with the data owner.
Compliance Complexity Data movement across jurisdictions can raise compliance challenges (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA). Simplified compliance as data never leaves the organization's infrastructure or regional boundaries.
Trust Model Requires trust in third-party cloud provider’s security, policies, and access controls. Trustless by design: Faceoff operates entirely within the client’s infrastructure; zero data visibility.
Data Ownership Cloud providers may store and potentially access user data, raising concerns around ownership and consent. Complete data ownership and custody retained by the client organization at all times.
Latency and Performance Dependent on internet speed and remote processing; may experience network bottlenecks. Local processing ensures faster response times, reduced latency, and high availability.
Deployment Flexibility Tied to provider’s infrastructure and policies; limited customizability. Highly modular — deployable on any cloud, hybrid, or on-premise setup under full client control.
System Auditing Limited transparency into backend operations; difficult to fully audit data flow. Full auditability — organizations can inspect and validate API behavior locally.
Scalability Scales with provider cost; often incurs increasing fees with usage. Scales with organization’s own infrastructure; predictable cost and usage metrics.
Usage Tracking Full visibility by provider, including data content, user behavior, and volume. Only aggregate usage statistics (e.g., number of API calls) are shared with Faceoff — no data content is tracked.
6. Compliance Readiness:

Because Faceoff never accesses user data, it naturally aligns with:

  • GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
  • HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
  • ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security Management)
  • CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)

Thus, companies using Faceoff can certify privacy compliance easily.