Free computer analysis of your beauty. What’s the catch?

I'm a 8.12 out of 10. I traded away rights to my face to learn that.

Symmetry suggests great beauty. This is why Nefertiti is regarded as the most beautiful woman who has ever lived, and why James Franco is perfect the way he is.

A new website called Anaface offers to analyze the symmetry of your face and rate your beauty. From the site’s press release:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder–and the computer–according to new facial beauty analysis software that makes it possible for people to automatically calculate their looks. The facial beauty analysis application, dubbed Anaface, evaluates the beauty of a human face and automatically scores its appearance.

Anaface, which stands for “analyze face,” allows users to upload a facial photo and receive a specific numeric ranking of their beauty. “Anaface computes a facial beauty score based on the geometry of a person’s face, and it is based on substantial scientific research and statistical analysis,” said Bryan Cooley, CEO of Atama Group LLC, which created the application.

via New Anaface Facial Beauty Analysis Software Calculates Looks Instantly.

It’s super easy. You click the Terms & Condition button, upload a photo, place facial points as directed, and it spits out your score.

I scored a 8.12 out of 10. “Compared to my eye width, my innerocular distance is nearly ideal.” But my nose is too wide, my face is too narrow, and my mouth is too wide for my nose. I’m comforted by the fact that Angelina Jolie scored just an 8.4 and was also faulted for her nose-mouth ratio.

If you do this and score low, check out this New York Times article on why symmetry is not the be all, end all on determining beauty. If you do this and score high and you’re a guy, e-mail me.

But if you do this, what are you giving up? In your hurry to find out how good-looking you are, you probably skipped a close reading of those terms & conditions.

In the press release that accompanied the site’s May launch, the founder admits this is basically a tool to make people self-conscious so they’ll seek out plastic surgery:

The average person can use the software to pinpoint their most attractive features and work on those that need improving. “If you know what features of your face detract from your facial beauty, you can make corrections,” Cooley explained. “Or you can accentuate certain features through cosmetics, different types of glasses, and in the more extreme case plastic surgery. This can have a direct impact on your love life, job performance, promotions and interviews.”

From a business perspective, advertising agencies could use Anaface to select models that would have the greatest subconscious appeal to consumers. Or a plastic surgeon could use a facial beauty analysis from Anaface to immediately show potential patients how their looks could be enhanced by changing the shape of their eyes, nose or ears.

via New Anaface Facial Beauty Analysis Software Calculates Looks Instantly.

What’s that little bit about advertising agencies and selecting models? The press release doesn’t really expound on that, but the “Statement of Terms and Conditions of Use” to which I had to agree to before uploading my image made me wonder if someone might use these images for other purposes. The Statement is really long, but here’s a relevant excerpt:

This Statement of Terms and Conditions of Use (”Statement”) governs our relationship with users and others who interact with FaceFigure. By using or accessing FaceFigure, you agree to these Terms and Conditions.

1. Privacy

Your privacy is very important to us. We designed our Privacy Policy to make important disclosures to you about how we collect and use the information you post on FaceFigure. We encourage you to read the Privacy Policy, and to use the information it contains to help make informed decisions.

2. Sharing Your Content and Information

You own all of the content and information you post on FaceFigure, and you can control how we share your content through your privacy and application settings. In order for us to use certain types of content and provide you with FaceFigure, you agree to the following:

a. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (”IP content”), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with FaceFigure (”IP License”). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account (except to the extent your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it).

b. When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).

c. We always appreciate your feedback or other suggestions about FaceFigure, but you understand that we may use them without any obligation to compensate you for them (just as you have no obligation to offer them).

Interestingly, there’s no creating of an account. There’s no privacy and application settings. You just upload your photo, get your analysis, and go away. There’s no option to take down your photo once it’s been analyzed. So apparently, I have granted a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to this site to use my photo.

I’m glad my face is just an 8 out of 10. I doubt they’ll want to use it.