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Ask HN: Is tiktok reading and uploading user contact as it is doing in China?

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Re: Ask HN: Is tiktok reading and uploading user contact as it is doing in China?

#11

Post by Calamity »

slezyr wrote: post #10
Calamity wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, in the west we are lucky (in some sense) that our tech is big enough that it is able to band together and stand up against unreasonable demands from the government. In China, I can't imagine Huawei/Tencent/etc refusing to help the government break into someone's phone or create a backdoor into an "encrypted" chat.

> Indeed, in the west we are lucky (in some sense) that our tech is big enough that it is able to band together and stand up against unreasonable demands from the government. I assume microsoft isn't big enough, because it was stripping encryption from Skype and making it centralized.

As far as I know, Skype is E2EE..

Re: Ask HN: Is tiktok reading and uploading user contact as it is doing in China?

#12

Post by Riverheart »

throwaway857384 wrote: post #8
Calamity wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, in the west we are lucky (in some sense) that our tech is big enough that it is able to band together and stand up against unreasonable demands from the government. In China, I can't imagine Huawei/Tencent/etc refusing to help the government break into someone's phone or create a backdoor into an "encrypted" chat.

Don't western governments ask for the data, then tell the company they can't say anything to their customers or anyone else... Basically, the same thing, but with a different description.

Sure, Governments can. The difference is companies can fight it in court. And win.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/12/how-tech-companies-can...

Re: Ask HN: Is tiktok reading and uploading user contact as it is doing in China?

#13

Post by yuanchenxi95 »

Toutiao(another product of Bytedance - the owner of Tiktok) has announced a clarification of the statement: https://ibb.co/RHH8JT5. Toutiao disagree entirely with the statement that the contact information is not part of the users' privacy.

Re: Ask HN: Is tiktok reading and uploading user contact as it is doing in China?

#14

Post by stevenicr »

Another question in regards to tiktok (and other android apps) - I got an email saying that a kid I help mentor had given tiktok access to their gmail account (something like that).

Does this mean that a default install asks permission to access and read your gmail, and that would mean they could harvest all of your contacts, and emails sent / recvd, maybe calendar stuff too?

Re: Ask HN: Is tiktok reading and uploading user contact as it is doing in China?

#15

Post by catacombs »

koboll wrote: post #3

Why anyone would trust an app from China with any of their data is beyond me. The firewalls between business and government that we take for granted in the West simply don't exist there, and the PRC leverages the widespread ignorance of this to its advantage.

> Why anyone would trust an app from China with any of their data is beyond me.

I agree. But tell that to the hundreds of thousands of teenagers who use the app as a major social media network. They don't care. It's all about the followers, likes and, for some, endorsement deals.

Re: Ask HN: Is tiktok reading and uploading user contact as it is doing in China?

#16

Post by catacombs »

Calamity wrote: post #9
throwaway857384 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being a devil's advocate here, but why would anyone trust an American company with there data? I get China is the bad guy and all that, but American companies are basically doing the same thing, they just have different ways of describing the process.

Like I just commented, because American companies aren't slaves to a government "master". As much as we sometimes like to hate on Google/FB and other big tech, their size allows them to act as a balance of power against an overly-invasive government. For example, WhatsApp (and Messenger) being E2EE by default(with confidence through audits) is completely counter to what a government seeking full public surveillance w…

> American companies aren't slaves to a government "master"

They are slaves to their shareholders.

Re: Ask HN: Is tiktok reading and uploading user contact as it is doing in China?

#17

Post by DeonPenny »

diggan wrote: post #7
koboll wrote: post #3

Why anyone would trust an app from China with any of their data is beyond me. The firewalls between business and government that we take for granted in the West simply don't exist there, and the PRC leverages the widespread ignorance of this to its advantage.

> Why anyone would trust an app from China with any of their data is beyond me. I don't think this is exclusive to China. Why would anyone trust any app from anywhere with any of their data is beyond me. Simply assume that anything you put in any app/website to be public and you'll feel a lot better. Facebook is as likely to share all their data with their government as Tiktok is, simply the cost of doing business an…

Cause FB is having public fights about privacy in the public eye

Re: Ask HN: Is tiktok reading and uploading user contact as it is doing in China?

#18

Post by Calamity »

catacombs wrote: post #16
Calamity wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like I just commented, because American companies aren't slaves to a government "master". As much as we sometimes like to hate on Google/FB and other big tech, their size allows them to act as a balance of power against an overly-invasive government. For example, WhatsApp (and Messenger) being E2EE by default(with confidence through audits) is completely counter to what a government seeking full public surveillance w…

> American companies aren't slaves to a government "master" They are slaves to their shareholders.

I think there is a good chapter from "Business Adventures" where it talks about and describes some typical annual shareholder meetings - from the book, it seemed essentially to be lip service by the company. Your average shareholder doesn't have a say. It would be more precise to say "large controlling interests" and by extension "board of directors"
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