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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

#271

Post by DiogenesKynikos »

93po wrote: post #176
danrocks wrote: post #173

I often wonder what high-level American executives that work at these Chinese companies feel like, specially when news like this comes to life. Do they feel like they're just doing their job? Are they afraid of getting arrested? Do they think that the massive comp packages they get is worth the risk? Lots of cognitive dissonance going on, I would bet.

They're likely very much bought into the CCP and think that their work that furthers the interests of the CCP, including the tracking of potential dissidents to their political party, is fine. You don't see American tech workers batting an eye at tracking data being used to target who was at the Jan 6 protests, and frankly I don't think they'd care if it was also used against Alex Jones if he was there in a journalis…

This story has nothing to do with the CCP.

In the US now, every story that has anything to do with China is reduced to "the CCP."

This is a story about a tech company abusing its access to user data to try to track down which of its employees were talking to journalists. This could be a story about a Chinese company, an American company, or a company from pretty much any country.

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

#273

Post by Cardinal7167 »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #253
colechristensen wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US I’m not really afraid of China. There are some people who should be, but I’m not. I’m annoyed at American companies who bow to their wishes, but I’m also annoyed at American companies who censor to advertisers so nobody says “fuck” on YouTube and my level of annoyance is about the same. Some other places would do good to ban tiktok and people concerned about national secrets and the like sure should, but I’…

If you work for a company that could be punished by China, you should fear them. They can have you fired if your say the wrong thing.

[flagged]

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

#274

Post by depereo »

fzil wrote: post #268
mensetmanusman wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even billionaires like LeBron James are afraid, I doubt there is hope for the little guys.

they are afraid because their yachts are on the line

They're afraid because their future, even larger yachts are on the line.

If they stopped working tomorrow they'd be rich for the rest of their lives. Just not 'even richer'.

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

#275

Post by filoleg »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #266
colechristensen wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the kind of fight I’d like to have though. A good thing to stand up for. I could also probably be fired for things i say on the internet with my real name, but i think it’s worth standing against that kind of thing and not being afraid of it even though it’s entirely possible. (I do on occasion say things which are very much not well thought out, rude, just to trigger good discussion, or because I’ve had too m…

Even billionaires like LeBron James are afraid, I doubt there is hope for the little guys.

Little guys don't have their mansions paid for with the money coming from China. So it makes perfect sense they would be less afraid than LeBron. They have less to lose here, and a way less likely chance to actually lose anything at all due to this.

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

#276

Post by jbigelow76 »

nier wrote: post #248
vanadium1st wrote: post #184

I was really pro open internet. I remember the old internet and feel nostalgia about it that probably won't ever completely fade. I am Ukrainian, and when some years ago my government banned the most popular social network at our country - Russian-made VK, I felt strange about it. I kind of understood some of the security concerns, but didn't feel like they were enough to turn off my open internet fantasies and free-…

It was surprising to me seeing the news with Ukrainian soldiers using TikTok out in the field.

It's value as a morale/propaganda tool might out weigh the security concerns

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

#277

Post by lmm »

SoylentYellow wrote: post #166
lmm wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> There is no requirement under the Chinese National Intelligence Law for intelligence agencies to go through courts for access.

Maybe our translations don't call it a court, but there will be processes. In practice, what does the FISA "court" guarantee that the Chinese intelligence service bureaucracy does not?

> There is no due process for those affected.

Much the same as the US, right? The courts have ruled that people don't have standing to challenge the NSA's large-scale surveillance programmes, the warrants are granted by secret courts, the usual rights of appeal don't extend to those courts.

> That law also compels companies and citizens to actively assist intelligence agencies.

Which is much the same as the National Security Letter system, no?

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

#278

Post by snehk »

SoylentYellow wrote: post #159
HDThoreaun wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The American clones are garbage. The problem with protectionism is it leads to less competition and therefore worse products. If you want apps to stop tracking people just make it illegal for apps to tracks people. Country of origin is irrelelvant.

> Country of origin is irrelelvant. Country of origin is still very relevant. China has National Security Laws that compel companies and citizens to provide access to and actively help their intelligence agencies. The CCP right now can lawfully order TikTok to push a version with a backdoor and then gaslight the US about its existence if found, e.g. oh that was just an innocent software bug. Or to secretly provide us…

You should read up about things like Crypto AG and then you'll notice that country of origin is indeed completely irrelevant.

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

#279

Post by snehk »

SoylentYellow wrote: post #169
crazygringo wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Both things can be true and it doesn't have anything to do with being pro-anything.

The US government has a very long history of simply lying about things when it fits their goals so independently verifiable evidence is what's needed. The German government is still waiting for the promised proof about Huawei backdoors, by the way. This was promised when Trump was president. The US didn't produce any proof whatsoever and leaks even showed that the NSA couldn't find anything even after gaining access to Huawei's systems. The UK also said that the US never produced any evidence for any of the claims.

Now it might still be true that there's things going on but there's a huge difference between saying "We don't have proof but we obviously cannot be sure" and claiming to have proof.

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

#280

Post by philliphaydon »

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #197
h4x0rr wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CCP is part of bytedance and it's more than likely they'll follow government requests. The OP was about journalists, not regular users mind you. Edit: CCP has a committee inside of ByteDance. Also CCP has power over all chinese companies. (Wanted to answer that to the subcomment but there is no answer button)

ByteDance is a private company. It's not part of the CCP, nor is the CCP part of ByteDance.

Doesn't matter. China's laws allow it to compell any Company to hand over any information it requires.

That means ByteDance is effectively beholden to the CCP, and since TikTok is owned by ByteDance, it gives the CCP unfiltered access to all TikTok data.

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