Neon, the app that pays you to share your audio recordings with an AI system, says that it will return despite its recent massive security breach. The app shot up the App Store ratings after promising to pay users hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year for allowing their audio conversations to be used to train AI chatbots … The Neon app Neon made headlines last week when it became the second most popular social app in the App Store. It also became the 6th most popular app overall. It claims to only record your side of the call unless both parties are using the app, but it’s not entirely clear how true this is. When you make a call through the Neon app, it’s recorded. If you’re the only Neon user on the call, we’ll only record your side. If both people are using Neon, we’ll record both sides—as long as at least one person starts the call in the app. Don’t worry, our technology automatically filters out names, numbers, and other personal details. One cybersecurity expert and privacy attorney suggested that the company may in fact record both sides of the call and then remove the other party’s words from the final transcript. The massive security breach As if the app weren’t already a privacy nightmare, it was quickly found to have a truly incredible security vulnerability. Neon has gone offline, at least for now, after a security flaw allowed anyone to access the phone numbers, call recordings, and transcripts of any other user, TechCrunch can now report […] To make matters worse, TechCrunch also revealed that, based on the transcripts and call recordings it accessed, some users were trying to game the app and maximize their payouts by secretly recording real-world conversations of people who didn’t know they were being recorded. The company responded by taking the app offline, while leaving it in the App Store for download. Neon promises/threatens to return CNET reports Neon saying it will return soon. Alex Kiam, the founder of Neon, emailed app users on Tuesday to inform them that their payments are still in place, despite the app going dark […] He promised Neon would be back “soon” and apologized. He did not respond to a request for further comment. Lawyers have warned that it isn’t clear whether the app complies with the law in those states where two-party consent is required for audio recordings. Users could find themselves both criminally and civilly liable. “Imagine a user in California records a call with a friend, also in California, without telling them. That user has just violated California’s penal code,” said David Hoppe, founder and managing partner of Gamma Law. “They could face criminal charges and, equally scary, be sued civilly by the person they recorded.” Just don’t. Highlighted accessories Photo by Ingo Schulz on Unsplash