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ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

forbes.com

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Re: ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

#161

Post by nonethewiser »

phpisthebest wrote: post #111
bioemerl wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should do both. This is detracting from the fact that we have an actively hostile actor with a huge platform here in our country, and that needs to be handled as soon as possible. I totally support broad regulation of privacy law. TikTok is a much deeper concern. I don't like seeing a good cause used to distract from another good cause.

I often wonder why the average american should be more concerned about China than the CIA or FBI? the FBI has the power to put me in a cage, China does not... I am confused as why china is a bigger threat to me personally than the FBI?

How about both

Re: ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

#162

Post by nonethewiser »

robswc wrote: post #140

I truly wish Trump would have been able to actually ban TikTok (or at least force a sale). The recent twitter files show that the bond between Government and social media companies is a little too close... but it would be foolish to suggest that the lesser of the two evils here is China. It is actually insane that we let China do whatever they want here while US companies are effectively prevented from gaining a foot…

Yeah it was a shame this was blocked.

Re: ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

#163

Post by crazygringo »

lloydatkinson wrote: post #31

Where are the people now who were saying in previous threads things like "tick tock is safe, there is no way they abuse their users, invade privacy, or log devices on the users local wifi"?

Who was saying that? I feel like I've read a lot of HN threads on TikTok, and don't feel like I've ever seen anyone here say that, or no visible comments that weren't grayed out.

People defending TikTok are generally questioning the risk of this data being weaponized by the CCP and whether it's even much of a weapon and whether that's worth it to ban them over. Not over whether TikTok voluntarily follows some privacy guidelines -- on that it's generally assumed they're either already vacuuming up all they can, or could turn that on at any time.

Re: ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

#164

Post by FormerBandmate »

willio58 wrote: post #113
sschueller wrote: post #69

We need a law to generally make this illegal. Uber did the same thing and Tesla hired PIs to do it.

100% agree. We shouldn't just stop one company from doing this.

At the same time, TikTok is much more likely to follow the laws of China than the US, while Facebook is the reverse. China is an adversary of the US that does things like let fentanyl flow unfettered here and withhold vital data on Covid, if it were Spotify (based out of Sweden) it would be very different

Re: ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

#165

Post by andrepd »

phpisthebest wrote: post #134
bioemerl wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends hugely on who you are and what happens with the politics. CIA and FBI are very big threats to you, which is why you vote regularly to ensure that your rights are represented and those agencies aren't able to abuse their power. China is a much more distant and abstract, but much more serious threat. If the FBI or CIA fucks up, they will put let's say 10% of people in prison for opposition to the state. If Chin…

>>which is why you vote regularly to ensure that your rights are represented and those agencies aren't able to abuse their power That never works out in practice as the administrative state (which includes the FBI and CIA) are soo far removed from representative government they are basically unaccountable at this point, that is with out even getting into the idea that 1 vote in a nation of 350 million plus holds no r…

>possibility of actual assassinations

There are documented examples of FBI killings of dissident citizens (e.g. Fred Hampton). This is not even a "possibility".

Re: ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

#166

Post by SoylentYellow »

lmm wrote: post #133
jmyeet wrote: post #43

Whatever complaints people have about how deep the tendrils of the US government have infiltrated into US companies, there is at least some separation and the rule of law. Yes, the government can get warrants for pen registers, issue NSLs and the like but there's still a process for that. This simply isn't true for the Chinese government and Chinese companies. But the other issue, which is both more palatable and mor…

> Yes, the government can get warrants for pen registers, issue NSLs and the like but there's still a process for that. > This simply isn't true for the Chinese government and Chinese companies. Huh? Do you think the Chinese intelligence services don't have to go through processes and approvals before grabbing user data? It's exactly the same thing - sure it's a secret court that rubber-stamps every request put in fr…

There is no requirement under the Chinese National Intelligence Law for intelligence agencies to go through courts for access. There is no due process for those affected. That law also compels companies and citizens to actively assist intelligence agencies.

Re: ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

#167

Post by space_fountain »

Bud wrote: post #61
ffssffss wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which US companies are tracking journalist locations for the Chinese government? Tesla?

The claim wasn't that they did so for the Chinese government. But Facebook, for example, did so, for its own purposes. This is just as bad. We can't really have journalism being threatened, regardless of whether it's threatened by China, or supposedly-loyal US companies.

Also correct me if I'm wrong. The claim isn't that ByteDance did it for the Chinese government, but that they did it to try to find internal leakers

Re: ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

#168

Post by BrandoElFollito »

bigmattystyles wrote: post #9

Were the journalists foolish enough to install the app (not victim blaming but come on) or does the TikTok app scan for other wifi signatures in the vicinity and that’s how they correlated the locations?

Of course we should blame the victims here. They are supposed to know what to do in a hostile world, if they don't they are not good journalists.

It is like staying that a company that got hacked because it did not put in place basic security gets a free pass because Russians/Chinese/NKs are bad.

If the journalists were targeted by a sophisticated back I would be completely sympathetic. Here they were simply careless.

Re: ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

#169

Post by SoylentYellow »

crazygringo wrote: post #163
lloydatkinson wrote: post #31

Where are the people now who were saying in previous threads things like "tick tock is safe, there is no way they abuse their users, invade privacy, or log devices on the users local wifi"?

Who was saying that? I feel like I've read a lot of HN threads on TikTok, and don't feel like I've ever seen anyone here say that, or no visible comments that weren't grayed out. People defending TikTok are generally questioning the risk of this data being weaponized by the CCP and whether it's even much of a weapon and whether that's worth it to ban them over. Not over whether TikTok voluntarily follows some privacy…

The pro-CCP crowd all over Reddit has been saying it for years. The typical arguments are that there is zero evidence and the US is being anti-competitive and discriminatory.

Re: ByteDance confirmed it used TikTok to monitor journalists’ physical location

#170

Post by Spooky23 »

bioemerl wrote: post #29
zug_zug wrote: post #7

I feel like this is talking out of both sides of the mouth. If the issue is that corporations aren't following data privacy laws, build the privacy into the tool at the software/ecosystem level (e.g make signup without true name / phone number / IMEI a legal requirement, signup without location sharing a legal requirement) then it'll be impossible to track journalists for both Chinese and American companies.

We should do both. This is detracting from the fact that we have an actively hostile actor with a huge platform here in our country, and that needs to be handled as soon as possible. I totally support broad regulation of privacy law. TikTok is a much deeper concern. I don't like seeing a good cause used to distract from another good cause.

This has attention right now because of the stupid political news cycle. The South Dakota governor wants to be Sarah Palin Jr.

The reality is lots of people sell this data. If you shut down tiktok, the Chinese will go buy it or otherwise obtain it from one of them.

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