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TikTok’s Poison Pill

calnewport.com

71–80 of 430 posts

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#71
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, as an European it almost feels nice to diversify, so US agencies&companies don't know everything about me..

In this situation the diversification means also the CCP will know everything about you.

But the CCP is not our government, and at least it can mean that your government knows less about you.

In the old East Germany, it wasn't a problem that the CIA knew everything about you. It was that the Stasi did.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#72

An a non-American the level of anti-TikTok sentiment seems really weird, it really does just seem like sinophobia - especially given there's no proof that TikTok is actually being used by the Chinese, whereas Snowden etc. has shown us that the USA already does stuff like this. I'm not really sure what the People's Liberation Army will do with all my cat videos anyway...

> An a non-American the level of anti-TikTok sentiment seems really weird

China, via a state sponsored outlet, just threatened to shoot the speaker of the house's plane if it went to Taiwan and you find USA's stance on TikTok, an extension of the CCP, "really weird"?

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#73
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> [...] how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users And also a policy that forbids UX addictive-by-design patterns to induce bad habits.

How exactly would you word or enforce such a policy? What is a "bad habit"? Is fun or happiness addictive? Why might the puritan nanny state approach work better here than with alcohol, drugs, or abortion?

You hire the same kinds of people that these companies hire to design their products to be addictive and then you draft legislation banning the things that they say are addictive.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#74
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this situation the diversification means also the CCP will know everything about you.

But the CCP is not our government, and at least it can mean that your government knows less about you. In the old East Germany, it wasn't a problem that the CIA knew everything about you. It was that the Stasi did.

> But the CCP is not our government,

But there are Chinese dissidents and Tibet independentists in your country which are at risk, so it's OK if China spies on those because "they are not your government"?

https://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/13/opinions/j-michael-cole-o...

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

> Maybe we didn't punish contrary opinions quite as badly as China / Russia Understatement of the year. We also currently don’t outlaw homosexuality or religion or engage in genocide and we elect our leaders democratically among other things.

You should probably check your facts. All but the first one is false. They have engaged in genocide: see Native Americans; trail of tears. The USA is a republic, not a democracy.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#76
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How exactly would you word or enforce such a policy? What is a "bad habit"? Is fun or happiness addictive? Why might the puritan nanny state approach work better here than with alcohol, drugs, or abortion?

You hire the same kinds of people that these companies hire to design their products to be addictive and then you draft legislation banning the things that they say are addictive.

A better solution would be to teach how to get out of addiction and treat it more effectively vs banning. Banning only makes the addiction features more taboo and thus even more addictive. See prohibition, 1920-1930.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#77
post #5

There is lots of talk going around TikTok, especially now geopolitics has been added to this kind of discussion due to ongoing tensions between two giants. Instead of banning or removing the TikTok app, how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users? That would be a better solution, IMHO. Let users download…

>how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users Because the U.S. has access to and therefore benefits from the data that these companies collect. The exception on that list is TikTok - the U.S. can't access that data, but their rival can. That's why they're keen on banning it.

Respectfully...

Does anyone really think the NSA are not able to access Tiktok? Or that Chinese equivalent orgs are not able to access Facebook etc? Really?

This whole thing is just the cultural side of people pushing a new cold war for self serving purposes (increase my budget, grant me more powers, buy my newspaper etc).

I'm not saying China is great, I'm just saying this seems very much like a made up issue to me.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#78
post #5

There is lots of talk going around TikTok, especially now geopolitics has been added to this kind of discussion due to ongoing tensions between two giants. Instead of banning or removing the TikTok app, how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users? That would be a better solution, IMHO. Let users download…

> how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users? That would be a better solution, IMHO.

Something that frankly won't happen since that would put those companies out of business. Not to mention actual collusion between US gov and some of those corporations (all of them depending on the subject: from military to political data mining). Collectively they have more influence than the US government,so even assuming that the politicians would correctly try to protect the citizens from what are de facto surveillance machines it would be a big stretch. Again, that would actually go against their interests, so let's not hold our breaths on this.

Hate to dig up old skeletons, but if most of the tech consumers (not even all the knowledgeable and principled individuals, let alone the mass of users) stood by Snowden & Assange, what kind of chance do we stand now? Some of the criticisms of Snowden(undermining US influence thus helping China) let's say was "half-tolerable", but with TikTok (which is de facto China's spying & "hypnotizing" tool in the west) we have no excuse of tolerating that here. People brushed it off when Trump said it, but he was right.You need to clean house with external players(Tiktok) before you move on towards harder, "more legitimate" opponents(FB,etc), which were dying anyways.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe we didn't punish contrary opinions quite as badly as China / Russia Understatement of the year. We also currently don’t outlaw homosexuality or religion or engage in genocide and we elect our leaders democratically among other things.

You should probably check your facts. All but the first one is false. They have engaged in genocide: see Native Americans; trail of tears. The USA is a republic, not a democracy.

I believe he means currently, not ever in its history.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#80
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should probably check your facts. All but the first one is false. They have engaged in genocide: see Native Americans; trail of tears. The USA is a republic, not a democracy.

I believe he means currently, not ever in its history.

Then why even bother having the conversation? No one is free of guilt here, which was my point.
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