Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 114 posts

Re: Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app

#11

Post by devy »

mrbonner wrote: post #5
lskopwol wrote: post #3

What makes Grindr special in this regard ? I’m sure there are other dating or social apps out there that also could be foreign owned and used for espionage....???

They could use the info collected from users who happening to have state secrets (def-cons, state employees, etc...). The bottom line is that the Chinese could use this fact to blackmail those users to cough up what they know in exchange for forceful "coming out of a closet" announcement.

The first line of the article reads:

  ... Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd is 
  seeking to sell Grindr LLC, the popular gay dating app it has 
  owned since 2016.
So what's the point here? The Chinese gaming company has already owned it for over 2 years and have access to the data already.

Re: Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app

#13

Post by duskwuff »

lskopwol wrote: post #3

What makes Grindr special in this regard ? I’m sure there are other dating or social apps out there that also could be foreign owned and used for espionage....???

Grindr is specifically targeted at the male homosexual and MSM audience. The information that users share about themselves on Grindr is much more likely to be sensitive than a traditional dating site.

Re: Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app

#14

Post by CharlesColeman »

lskopwol wrote: post #3

What makes Grindr special in this regard ? I’m sure there are other dating or social apps out there that also could be foreign owned and used for espionage....???

> What makes Grindr special in this regard ? I’m sure there are other dating or social apps out there that also could be foreign owned and used for espionage....???

select opm.name, opm.address

from opm_security_clearance_files opm

join grindr_users grinder

where grinder.phone_number = opm.phone_number

and opm.clearance in ('SECRET', 'TOP SECRET', 'SCI');

If any of those people are in the closet, they could be susceptible to blackmail.

Re: Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app

#15

Post by Macross8299 »

CharlesColeman wrote: post #14
lskopwol wrote: post #3

What makes Grindr special in this regard ? I’m sure there are other dating or social apps out there that also could be foreign owned and used for espionage....???

> What makes Grindr special in this regard ? I’m sure there are other dating or social apps out there that also could be foreign owned and used for espionage....??? select opm.name, opm.address from opm_security_clearance_files opm join grindr_users grinder where grinder.phone_number = opm.phone_number and opm.clearance in ('SECRET', 'TOP SECRET', 'SCI'); If any of those people are in the closet, they could be suscep…

+1

Simple explanation that likely explains the security panel's reasoning behind their statements.

Also explains why a phone number as an identity token is a horrible idea.

Re: Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app

#16

Post by CharlesColeman »

codedokode wrote: post #12

The proper solution would be not to collect personal data, especially if it is not necessary for functioning of the app, rather than worry about who is going to buy the company.

> The proper solution would be not to collect personal data, especially if it is not necessary for functioning of the app, rather than worry about who is going to buy the company.

How would that work? Even if the app doesn't collect data now, it could always be modified to collect data later. The problem isn't so much the data they collect, but the users they have.

Avoiding the collection of personal data only mitigates against actors who can only access data passively, like in data breach events. It doesn't mitigate against actors who can initiate active collection of data.

Re: Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app

#17

Post by make3 »

I wonder if the same owner as Tinder and OkCupid will buy this, becoming a dating (and casual sex, and etc.) superpower.

I always thought funny how OkCupid pushes ads like "You're tired of the dirty flesh market of Tinder? We hear you! Come use OkCupid!" and they have the same owner as Tinder

Re: Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app

#18

Post by jdsully »

dharmab wrote: post #8
jdsully wrote: post #4

I thought Cfius could only block deals. I’ve never heard of them forcing a sale and the article doesn’t really speak to this odd situation.

From TFA: >The development represents a rare, high-profile example of CFIUS undoing an acquisition that has already been completed. Kunlun took over Grindr through two separate deals between 2016 and 2018 without submitting the acquisition for CFIUS review, according to the sources, making it vulnerable to such an intervention.

They must have added that later (or I failed at reading comprehension). Anyways thanks!

Re: Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app

#19

Post by killjoywashere »

Nice to see someone taking the Chinese foothold in SV seriously. I've also heard people who go to work for Chinese companies are then blacklisted from US Government defense- and intel-related work for 1 year. Can anyone confirm?

Re: Told U.S. security at risk, Chinese firm seeks to sell Grindr dating app

#20

Post by yorwba »

CharlesColeman wrote: post #14
lskopwol wrote: post #3

What makes Grindr special in this regard ? I’m sure there are other dating or social apps out there that also could be foreign owned and used for espionage....???

> What makes Grindr special in this regard ? I’m sure there are other dating or social apps out there that also could be foreign owned and used for espionage....??? select opm.name, opm.address from opm_security_clearance_files opm join grindr_users grinder where grinder.phone_number = opm.phone_number and opm.clearance in ('SECRET', 'TOP SECRET', 'SCI'); If any of those people are in the closet, they could be suscep…

Replace grindr by some_other_site where some_other_site.orientation != 'straight' or some_other_site.fetish in (...) and it works out to the same result, no?
Post reply on HN