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The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

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Re: The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

#351

Post by OnlyMortal »

darkteflon wrote: post #12

Utterly ridiculous to allow TikTok to continue to operate in the current geopolitical climate. China is a surveillance autocracy and has been engaged in adversarial conduct against the West for years - including extensive psyops. Shut it down, yesterday. Build a local clone so that people can get their fix or whatever. China sure as shit doesn’t allow its citizens to cough up their personal information for algorithmi…

As a counter point, the US actively tries to hack UK security networks.

Source: My job was to prevent that.

I’ve no doubt we do the same to the US.

Re: The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

#352

Post by hellfish »

pjc50 wrote: post #56
darkteflon wrote: post #12

Utterly ridiculous to allow TikTok to continue to operate in the current geopolitical climate. China is a surveillance autocracy and has been engaged in adversarial conduct against the West for years - including extensive psyops. Shut it down, yesterday. Build a local clone so that people can get their fix or whatever. China sure as shit doesn’t allow its citizens to cough up their personal information for algorithmi…

sigh can we not have targeted-by-nationality bans and instead have .. rules? If Tiktok the app is performing surveillance, ban surveillance by apps . All of them. Or make it technically impossible to escape its little sandbox, and let people have their entertainment.

> If Tiktok the app is performing surveillance, ban surveillance by apps. All of them.

No way in hell this will happen, just saying

Re: The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

#353

Post by trekz »

notpushkin wrote: post #241
josefresco wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> nobody wants to switch There's no reason to switch now. Ban TikTok and people will switch.

Both TikTok and Instagram are banned in Russia, and yet people use still them. You're underestimating the “network effect”. (Is there a proper name for that?)

Maybe Streisand Effect?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

Re: The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

#354

Post by whateveracct »

mc32 wrote: post #43
dd36 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is not better or worse than an autocracy?

Their post is exactly the kind of non-blatant thing that would be used to undermine US interests on TikTok.

Any thread criticizing China on HN is full of logical fallacy, whataboutism, and other similar bad faith arguments that gum up the discussion.

Contrarianism runs rampant on HN and is easily weaponized by bad actors.

Re: The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

#355

Post by imbnwa »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #283
xwolfi wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And God knows China is collecting all that important juicy information on teenagers' love for the latest fad ... Man the FBI acts like tik tok is used in jet planes and nuclear power plants...

There are at least three worrisome things that data can be used for: 1. Shaping and manipulating minds. Eg, show healthy, educational, intellectual content to Chinese users, and unhealthy, addictive, emotional, short-attention-span-inducing content in US and foreign markets (already happening [1]). 2. Train AI for analyzing and further manipulating foreign publics, or for providing strategic insight into political an…

>1. Shaping and manipulating minds. Eg, show healthy, educational, intellectual content to Chinese users, and unhealthy, addictive, emotional, short-attention-span-inducing content in US and foreign markets (already happening [1]).

You mean China has regulations on how youths interact with the internet and the US prefers an on-going social experiment lead by sheer engagement numbers that will continue with or without TikTok?

Re: The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

#356

Post by imbnwa »

pessimizer wrote: post #328
kube-system wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Espionage is covert by definition, and is already illegal. Spies break foreign laws as a part of their job description, and yet, they still exist.

This is a great argument for expelling all Chinese people, people of Chinese descent, people who have said anything nice about China, and people who have never said anything nice about China but I think are hindering our competitiveness against them.

Can someone downvoting explain how this is not an implication or were people thinking this parent wasn't criticizing grandparent?

Re: The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

#357

Post by imbnwa »

solardev wrote: post #155
CyanBird wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just stop moving the goalposts while discussing and people might take you more seriously

Err, pretty sure that was the entire premise of my post -- that you wouldn't be able to tell when they're not complying unless you audit and sign all their code before distribution.

This seems like an argument no Chinese software on American devices, what makes the difference?

Re: The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

#358

Post by kube-system »

imbnwa wrote: post #356
pessimizer wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great argument for expelling all Chinese people, people of Chinese descent, people who have said anything nice about China, and people who have never said anything nice about China but I think are hindering our competitiveness against them.

Can someone downvoting explain how this is not an implication or were people thinking this parent wasn't criticizing grandparent?

It is a nonsequitur that the existence of spies necessitates widespread banning of people by national origin. We did this during WWII and it was clearly a misguided mistake.

Re: The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

#359

Post by plushpuffin »

rodiger wrote: post #265
teh64 wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the FBI seems able to tell, or else why are they alleging it poses a national security concern?

I think it's more of a "China has been known to conduct mass espionage/monitoring of its citizens and abroad. Given that known fact, TikTok poses a concern." Don't think there's hard proof they are doing nefarious things via TikTok.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/10/20/tik...

> A China-based team at TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, planned to use the TikTok app to monitor the personal location of some specific American citizens, according to materials reviewed by Forbes.

Re: The FBI alleges TikTok poses national security concerns

#360

Post by TMWNN »

howmayiannoyyou wrote: post #97

Briefest of case studies: Anyone whose watched the rapid growth of antisemitic propaganda and disinformation since the 2016 election may note 4chan/pol/ took the lead in dissemination of stereotypes and tropes intended to influence user thinking. Because there was widespread distrust of other media sources, and b/c /pol/ appealed to younger audiences, and b/c /pol/ developed a reputation for aggregating breaking news…

>b/c /pol/ developed a reputation for aggregating breaking news (often untrue but thrilling)

On New Year's Eve 2015 I saw mention of the Cologne mass attacks on women by refugees *as they were occurring* on, yes, 4chan/pol/, and checked /r/worldnews and /r/europe to find out more. I didn't see anything and—naively, I soon realized—assumed that it was another /pol/ "it's happening" dank maymayism.

(Cue "/pol/ was right" couplet)

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