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FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

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Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#291
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think it's naive. Sure if military personnel or state department use TikTok that can create security risks, but the same is true with any other social media network. The additional data that TikTok tries to gather from the mobile OSs is insignificant compared to what you can get from videos that people take willingly. Russian soldiers use VK, that doesn't stop OSINT researchers tracking them down on there.

Military personnel is not what this is about, it's about the data of all the citizens in the US. It's about manipulating public opinion, sowing divide or a thousand other options.

> It's about manipulating public opinion

Do you think Facebook, Twitter and Reddit should be able to do that?

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're asking for the impossible as 'anyone' is not tiktok. We as individuals don't have access to that data, only tiktok does.. so we as individuals can't prove this to you. Edit: Removed ask to share all personal data, because its bad form.

Pretty sure that European users data has to be hosted in Europe and there are serious limits on the info you can get outside. I know that this is one of the reasons why TikTok has highly invested in Ireland.

There are some provisions for getting data out but they all rely on guaranteeing the same level of protection as GDPR does. This also runs afoul with the CLOUD act since due to that American companies can't store data inside the EU and be compliant.

https://www.imy.se/en/organisations/data-protection/this-app...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#293
I think content platforms recommendation algoriths should be regulated and be open for scientific and mental health review.

I mean here brilliant computer engineers build content platforms that are virally additive to the brain. The platforms track every users movement and decision, yet there is zero regulation! What could possibly go wrong here?

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#294

Of course not. Every government is going to look out for themselves. Following your reasoning, look at China. They have their own playbook for operating within China, and it is quite restrictive. They make it harder for foreign entities to do business within China. From a geopolitical viewpoint this makes complete sense. You don't want your rival to have a backdoor into influencing/manipulating/discovering how people…

What about the Canadians, Australians, or Dutch? Should they require App Stores to ban Facebook for giving data to foreign (US) governments?

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, this ignores that the USA benefits tremendously from trading with other countries, most of all with China. If this mindset was applied universally, the USA (and the world) would be worse off. It also ignores that treating countries as though they are enemies can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It can increase the threat rather than decrease it. Second, it's not necessarily in one's best interest to live in…

> The USA ranks 26th for median wealth Wealth is also a function of age - older people tend to have more - and that ranking is not normalized by such extraneous factors. The US is number 2 by median income, and number 1 for median disposable income, both of which are pretty important, especially to younger people that want cash flow to enjoy life.

Out of curiosity, where did you get these numbers from? I’m not from the US, but what I do read and see on the internet is that people in the US also have a lot of debt (education, medical, and of course credit) I’m surprised that even for median disposable the US is number 1. But then again, maybe it’s a case of the internet being drowned out by a vocal minority?

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#296
Weird, i'd have hoped they'd regulate the entire market, not just tiktok because it is chinese.. a huge missed opportunity, almost some sort of racism over here, even though the word is very strong, i feel like targeting certain kind of people is weird to me, why just TikTok?.. now that i think about it, what other social media is foreign? that's an interesting question

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#297

Of course not. Every government is going to look out for themselves. Following your reasoning, look at China. They have their own playbook for operating within China, and it is quite restrictive. They make it harder for foreign entities to do business within China. From a geopolitical viewpoint this makes complete sense. You don't want your rival to have a backdoor into influencing/manipulating/discovering how people…

Only if the top-dog analogy would have worked in long term. More than often, citizens of wanna-be/wanna-remain top-dog countries find themselves in terrible position as soon as their interests mildly conflicts with those of their nation states and they suddenly become pray to the top-dog itself. One area where you can see this in action is secure communication. When it comes to secure private communications for citizens, suddenly all nation-states, left and right want to excert unlimited control over it and they are united in fight against encryption.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#298
post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Military personnel is not what this is about, it's about the data of all the citizens in the US. It's about manipulating public opinion, sowing divide or a thousand other options.

But shouldn't that concern go the other way? If the Chinese government is dictating content policies of TikTok, that should obviously be a concern, but I have not seen this alleged. Granted collecting say interest data based on viewing figures would be a precursor (I suppose it's likely that TikTok could figure out if a customer leaned left or right politically). But again that's not what the complaint is about. It's…

I mean, TikTok can manipulate public opinion and access to information more easily than that, by simply artificially demoting/promoting certain content — no user data needed.

Eg. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49826155

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#299
post #10

I don't have a horse in this race at all, but the annoying part is that the same rules don't get applied across the board. Everything they're accusing TikTok of - from data harvesting to the government having access to said data - is true for western companies as well and that should be the problem. Not the fact that the data is now in the hands of the Chinese but that the data is being collected at all provided to t…

Maybe you should look up civil-military fusion in China
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