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TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

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Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#111

Post by sergiotapia »

sjg007 wrote: post #21
toyg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody cares because (it is perceived that) there is no political discourse on TikTok yet. It was the same for Twitter and Facebook. Then Trump happened and People With Important Jobs started paying attention to them. There has not been such a catalyst event for TikTok yet. Like with Zoom, there is a vague feeling among the security-paranoid that the Chinese are leveraging it for data-gathering, but as long as they g…

There was plenty of political discourse on TikTok in the last election cycle. Every tiktok meme had a pro Trump anti Biden version.

It 100% depends on what you like. I've been using tiktok forever and a day and all I see is funny stuff that is relevant to me. Very obscure niche things that have 1000 hearts - it's scary good at recommending relevant content.

If you are seeing political content, it's just because you told the algorithm that you enjoy interacting with that type of content.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#112

Post by Steltek »

Karunamon wrote: post #56
voxl wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No thanks, don't need any more authoritarian moves from presidential over reach. Privacy laws for companies making X$ in yearly revenue is much saner approach.

Countries deciding that foreigners can't use their citizen's data willy-nilly is neither authoritarian nor over-reach, and neither is restricting those foreigners from access when they don't comply. For a generally accepted instance, see the EU GDPR.

I think parent was commenting on the "China bans US tech, we should ban TikTok", which is just reflexive poop throwing between two countries. GDPR is totally different: it's a level headed statement of principles for how ALL tech companies should treat user data.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#113

Post by duxup »

dahfizz wrote: post #109
duxup wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't really seem like "tried that" to me.

There was literally an executive order which banned TikTok if the Chinese parent company did not sell the platform[1]. That's a pretty real "tried to ban tiktok". [1] https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13942

To me an executive order doomed to fail in the courts really isn't a real attempt.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#114

Post by ethbr0 »

fernandopj wrote: post #7
blakesterz wrote: post #2

I found the actual report this is based on even more interesting: https://app.urlgeni.us/blog/new-research-across-200-ios-apps... Just a few of the highlights: Magazine apps had the highest number of total network contacts (28), and the highest percentage of third party domain contacts (93%) Social apps, followed by Games apps, made the fewest number of network contacts, 6 and 7 respectively. Apps making the most num…

Revenue streams. These network contacts provide $$$ to those companies. They're low effort, easy revenue for them. Privacy for customers be d*mned. I once met a senior-level dev who worked for a company, they wouldn't have their own app on his phone, due to those invasive practices tracking his behaviour.

I thought the most curious was the ratio of third:first party domains for magazines and news.

It suggests they control very little of their technical, revenue-generating infrastructure.

Which is interesting when the narrative is "The internet is destroying journalism." But another way to phrase it might be "All of these companies drastically underinvested in web/mobile, and continue to do so." (Although the NYT seems to have a higher ratio than most, but I believe they divorced themselves from Google and brought a lot back in-house?)

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#115

Post by new_stranger »

robbedpeter wrote: post #5

It's not unclear at all. It's Chinese data harvesting software. They'll do token public appeasement to avoid negative pressure, but every feature in the app is designed to collect biometrics and behavioral data. China is not a good faith operator. Given the data needed to influence public opinion and voting, they will engage in manipulation favorable to their interests. That alone is sufficient to run tiktok at a los…

tikTok collects data like a great many other companies, unfortunately they aren't just doing it sell more ads.

With a few days of interactions, you can very precisely logically profile a person enough to figure out how to socially engineer them. You also have enough interest and behavioral data to be able setup a blackmail scheme.

It is not hard to imagine how the close integration with the government allows the law enforcement to conduct very skilled operations using the psychological map that can be built about a person.

The CCP is way past knowing if you vote dem/rep or are a 21yr old female.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#116

Post by reilly3000 »

I think there is a case for a mandatory warning label, like on the app store and 5 sec interstitial that says:

“ Warning: this application sends your behavior to a foreign party. It may be stored indefinitely and used for personal retribution, social scoring, and manipulation of your political views. Proceed with caution”.

If that seems extreme, an outright ban of the app is worse. The US and others have had a good history of getting results this way, but it still respects individual and corporate liberties. Thoughts?

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#117

Post by catawar2 »

Etheryte wrote: post #36

One thing that I found very interesting when I looked into what TikTok does: it's scary good at aggregating data about you. I live in a foreign country, my phone's network is behind a VPN to a different foreign country and I gave the app no extra permissions, yet somehow I still got recommended content from the country where I was born. Since it's a small country there's no way that's a coincidence. I'm both intrigue…

I had the exact opposite experience. I also live in a foreign country (The Netherlands) and even after explicitly watching content from my native country I still only got videos in Dutch (should mention that I don't even speak Dutch).

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#118

Post by Steltek »

snehk wrote: post #54
cm2012 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TikTok should be banned in the US. China banned all of our homegrown social networks, its pretty standard international precedent to ban theirs, given the security risks.

China didn't specifically "ban" US social networks because they were US social networks. The companies themselves didn't want to comply with Chinese laws so they cannot operate there. It's the same as Facebook now threatening to leave the EU if they have to comply with EU data protection laws.

China structures things overwhelmingly in favor of its domestic companies to the point of ridiculousness. It's well past simple tariffs when you need joint ventures, a license to operate a website, source code disclosure, key escrow, government censors, Taiwan/Tibet/Hong Kong/Uiyghur tiptoeing, and who knows what else.

A US company operating in China under its own international brand is a sucker who fell for a pretty blatant con.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#119

Post by yibg »

cm2012 wrote: post #24
robbedpeter wrote: post #5

It's not unclear at all. It's Chinese data harvesting software. They'll do token public appeasement to avoid negative pressure, but every feature in the app is designed to collect biometrics and behavioral data. China is not a good faith operator. Given the data needed to influence public opinion and voting, they will engage in manipulation favorable to their interests. That alone is sufficient to run tiktok at a los…

TikTok should be banned in the US. China banned all of our homegrown social networks, its pretty standard international precedent to ban theirs, given the security risks.

I’d rather have a generally applicable law in place. If we think massive data collection shouldn’t be allowed then ban that.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#120

Post by marvel_boy »

kelnos wrote: post #108
cm2012 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TikTok should be banned in the US. China banned all of our homegrown social networks, its pretty standard international precedent to ban theirs, given the security risks.

I think it's too late for that. If we tried to ban TikTok in the US, there'd be a public outcry.

Better late than never.
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