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TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act

macrumors.com

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Re: TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act

#11

Post by lnanek2 »

annoyingnoob wrote: post #5

Too little, too late. Already forced the family to uninstall it and its gone forever. Wish the kids could understand that its spyware with access to a lot of toxic social media.

Seems feasible it was a spam check. All my sensitive data is over in a separate work apps launcher anyway.

Personally, I find lots of useful content on TikTok. There's a divorce lawyer I've actually called in person. There's a nurse who gives coronavirus tips. There's a Chinese teacher. There's an idol who did a funny hand wash dance without showing a lot of skin and who does funny things with her cats. There's a fitness guy who always has a new way to do push ups or whatever. There's a chiro with back pain tips, etc.. One coworker does dances with her daughter - so maybe it helps parent-child bonding.

Re: TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act

#12

Post by geoah »

jeffbee wrote: post #10

This is just an overblown yellow-peril panic, right? How does any app paste? By "accessing the user clipboards". How does the chrome omnibox do "text you copied"? By "accessing the user clipboards".

Yeah it seems like it. Chrome and a lot of other apps show an insane amount of these popups on IOS14 to either actually check your clipboard or just to toggle "paste" buttons.

Re: TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act

#13

Post by wycy »

Calvin02 wrote: post #9

This is so ridiculous. Google Maps accesses the clipboard. Try it out: copy an address and open maps. So do Facebook and Instagram, I’m sure. The level of paranoia in the Valley is astounding.

Google Maps has a clear use case for accessing the clipboard. If Tok Tok only accessed the clipboard on launch to check for a Tik Tok URL, that might be one thing, but there's no clear reason Tik Tok would need access to the clipboard literally every 3 keystrokes.

Re: TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act

#14

Post by freeone3000 »

jeffbee wrote: post #10

This is just an overblown yellow-peril panic, right? How does any app paste? By "accessing the user clipboards". How does the chrome omnibox do "text you copied"? By "accessing the user clipboards".

Normal apps wait until the user attempts to perform a paste action to access the clipboard, instead of accessing the clipboard every two seconds.

Re: TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act

#15

Post by warent »

Calvin02 wrote: post #9

This is so ridiculous. Google Maps accesses the clipboard. Try it out: copy an address and open maps. So do Facebook and Instagram, I’m sure. The level of paranoia in the Valley is astounding.

My clipboard frequently holds sensitive or even compromising information. If it isn't providing direct access to my finances, it might be something that could be used to blackmail me.

No, these random apps are not my spouse. They should not get access to sensitive info without explicit permission.

Re: TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act

#16

Post by vmception »

annoyingnoob wrote: post #5

Too little, too late. Already forced the family to uninstall it and its gone forever. Wish the kids could understand that its spyware with access to a lot of toxic social media.

> and its gone forever

is it though?

do you honestly believe that?

Re: TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act

#17

Post by annoyingnoob »

Shank wrote: post #8
annoyingnoob wrote: post #5

Too little, too late. Already forced the family to uninstall it and its gone forever. Wish the kids could understand that its spyware with access to a lot of toxic social media.

> Already forced the family to uninstall it and its gone forever. Honestly you’d be better off educating them and telling them it’s a good idea than forcing them to jettison an app they probably love. Tons of apps do this (as discovered in iOS 14) and I highly suggest not doing a crusade against one when a lot more do it. See: https://youtu.be/pRSWdtoUAjo

Fair enough, we don't have any of the known spyware - TikTok was the only one. I was already questioning the value of TikTok before it became well known that its spyware. I won't tell you about the week of crying because someone was calling my 8 year old a 'viscogirl' after seeing something on Tiktok about it. It really looks like toxic garbage to me.

Re: TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act

#18

Post by jeffbee »

freeone3000 wrote: post #14
jeffbee wrote: post #10

This is just an overblown yellow-peril panic, right? How does any app paste? By "accessing the user clipboards". How does the chrome omnibox do "text you copied"? By "accessing the user clipboards".

Normal apps wait until the user attempts to perform a paste action to access the clipboard, instead of accessing the clipboard every two seconds.

Malice or just stupidity? I can imagine a dozen different reasons a program might access the clipboard in a loop, all of which reduce to "we are bad programmers".

Re: TikTok app to stop accessing user clipboards after being caught in the act

#20

Post by hombre_fatal »

freeone3000 wrote: post #14
jeffbee wrote: post #10

This is just an overblown yellow-peril panic, right? How does any app paste? By "accessing the user clipboards". How does the chrome omnibox do "text you copied"? By "accessing the user clipboards".

Normal apps wait until the user attempts to perform a paste action to access the clipboard, instead of accessing the clipboard every two seconds.

TikTok reading it every couple seconds is definitely excessive. And frankly our tools fail us by not at least revealing that it's taking place -- new clipboard notification aside, as shown in TFA. How do I know how common vs weird this behavior actually is?

I'd only refine your post to say that it's common for apps to read the clipboard without you pasting. Right click Chrome's omnibar and it will show "Paste and go to ", my bittorrent client and RSS clients prepopulate the new torrent/feed form if I have a URL in my clipboard.

Is the tiny convenience worth the ability to snoop? I don't think so. Or rather, I would like to decide that for myself.

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