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TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

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Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#71

People who use TikTok don’t care so if they’re cool with it that’s on them right? Nobody is forcing them to use it.

> if they’re cool with it that’s on them right? If their nonchalance impacts my security, no, it’s on me as well.

I don’t like TikTok so I don’t use it. How does it impact my security when nobody I know or associate with uses it?

It’s like drugs. I’m pro drug legalization but I’m not interested in using them just because it’s legal.

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#72
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this collection different from, say, Meta? I believe they collect all the same information via Instagram. And before someone says Meta is an American company, not controlled by an adversary, let me recall that it’s controlled by Zuckerberg who spent $419 million to influence US election administration in a seemingly partisan way (“democracy hacking” as another commenter said). Meta may not be YOUR adversary, but t…

> Is this collection different from, say, Meta? I believe they collect all the same information via Instagram. Who's doing the collecting often matters much more than what is actually collected. The important context here is we seem to be transitioning away from the era of kumbaya free market globalism into an era of tenser geopolitical rivalries and more conflict.

> Who's doing the collecting often matters much more than what is actually collected.

Unless something is actually done - then the actor and its properties are of utmost priority in discussion.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31852384

Why didn't the Italian government just ban data collection in this form? They want to promote EU / local companies to collect this data rather than international companies.

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#73
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but Google is on our, well "my" side. I would expect an "adversary" nationstate, like China, to respond with similar alarm.

China has, they’ve banned most Western social media.

not quite true, most Western social media companies withdraw from China market in order not be subject to govt request for information

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The legal environment is wildly different. Google doesn’t have an internal board of government officials controlling it. All large software companies in China do. Google doesn’t operate in China for this reason. Apple divested their cloud operations to the Guizhou government for this reason. In the US is it normal and routine for corporations to dispute government demands. In China, If you don’t play ball with the pa…

>> In the US is it normal and routine for corporations to dispute government demands. But we already know that's just somescreen and the U.S gov/NSA gets the data. Poor Snowden ruined his life for almost nothing.

The difference is that there is a non-zero amount of friction in the US.

We also know that many companies in the US say “no” and have the legal ability to do it. For example, when the FBI asked Apple to unlock a phone for them, they said no, and they never did.

In China, your company doesn’t say “no” because the CCP members forcibly installed on your company’s board always vote “yes”.

And in fact, the CCP holds the iCloud keys for all Chinese iCloud users. (As well as the entire data center)

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#76
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was a politically untenable situation to ban data collecting software applications as the courts overruled the federal decision. >After Trump proposed to ban TikTok in the U.S on July 31, 2020, security researchers expressed their concern about limitations of freedom. In one article, PCMag quoted Jennifer Granick of the American Civil Liberties Union Surveillance and Cybersecurity Counsel who said that "banning an…

And today we hear: FCC Commissioner Calls for Apple and Google to Ban TikTok Over 'Surreptitious' Data Practices https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31921200

Unfortunately regulating tech companies is politically untenable since he was nominated by the previous administration. They will replace him with someone who will toe the line.

> Commissioner Carr was nominated to the FCC by President Trump and confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate.

https://www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/brendan-carr

> His term runs from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Carr_(lawyer)

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#77
post #20

A security researcher wrote an article while back and it was shocking to see how much data TikTok was collecting: - biometrics - what words are mentioned in the video, popularity - surrounding wifi, location data - your contacts (presumably to cross link to social media platforms) I just can't believe that a powerful country like America is letting a not-so-friendly military/civilian complex infiltrate it for somewha…

TikTok is a spectacular example of both human- and democracy-hacking. It's like an authoritarian regime saw facebook in 2012 and said, "hold my beverage of choice."

[deleted]

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#78
post #24
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

would you not make the same argument for google?

Yes, but Google is on our, well "my" side. I would expect an "adversary" nationstate, like China, to respond with similar alarm.

Google is on nobody’s “side” but their own. They’re an amoral bureaucracy trying to make money. Nothing more or less.

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#79

A security researcher wrote an article while back and it was shocking to see how much data TikTok was collecting: - biometrics - what words are mentioned in the video, popularity - surrounding wifi, location data - your contacts (presumably to cross link to social media platforms) I just can't believe that a powerful country like America is letting a not-so-friendly military/civilian complex infiltrate it for somewha…

It's TikTok. Funny jokes and dance videos. And they're collecting no more than American IT companies are doing.

"I just can't believe that a powerful country like America is letting a not-so-friendly military/civilian complex infiltrate it for somewhat unknown purpose."

Are you for real? The one country that fits the description of not-so-friendly military-complex is the U.S. itself.

A more pressing problem and question is that despite everything we learned from the CIA and NSA leaks, American companies and their software is inside every country, government, business and IT infrastructure, and is collecting vast amounts of sensitive data still to this day.

All while people like you are drawing attention to TikTok.

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#80

A security researcher wrote an article while back and it was shocking to see how much data TikTok was collecting: - biometrics - what words are mentioned in the video, popularity - surrounding wifi, location data - your contacts (presumably to cross link to social media platforms) I just can't believe that a powerful country like America is letting a not-so-friendly military/civilian complex infiltrate it for somewha…

It's TikTok. Funny jokes and dance videos. And they're collecting no more than American IT companies are doing. "I just can't believe that a powerful country like America is letting a not-so-friendly military/civilian complex infiltrate it for somewhat unknown purpose." Are you for real? The one country that fits the description of not-so-friendly military-complex is the U.S. itself. A more pressing problem and quest…

Exactly. Plus the product is free. What do you expect? Oh no im gonna get targeted for ads on another site because of tiktok. What an uproar!
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