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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

#431

Post by trasz3 »

bagacrap wrote: post #426
trasz3 wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should also shut down all the US-based media in Europe then, for the exact same reason.

If you haven't noticed, Europe has passed laws making it nearly impossible for American (and only American) tech companies to operate there. I would probably be less inclined to want TikTok banned if China were in the midst of saving my entire continent from an unhinged, marauding neighbor.

Not true, American companies like Google are still the de facto monopolies in Europe.

You might also check out how China is draining Russian economy - instead of focusing on making an appearance of doing so. But yeah, this is one aspect where I do agree. I’m really happy to see USA being the good guys again.

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

#432

Post by wikfwikf »

bagacrap wrote: post #426
trasz3 wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should also shut down all the US-based media in Europe then, for the exact same reason.

If you haven't noticed, Europe has passed laws making it nearly impossible for American (and only American) tech companies to operate there. I would probably be less inclined to want TikTok banned if China were in the midst of saving my entire continent from an unhinged, marauding neighbor.

A Chinese company operates in the US, obeys local laws while doing the same sketchy things that home-grown companies do all the time and it's a 'national security issue'.

US companies operating in the EU are expected to follow local laws and ... this is unfair because the US is pursuing its own narrow internal interests in Ukraine, like it always does, and Europeans are supposed to be grateful?

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

#433

Post by somenameforme »

thefounder wrote: post #362
roenxi wrote: post #357

One of the more unexpected parts of the Twitter files (part 7, in fact) is it reveals some well developed linkages between the US intelligence services and media companies. If the US is blurring the corporate-government boundaries, the Chinese are certainly much more aggressive in their activities. And all these agencies run extra-legal kidnapping operations. I'm rare in that although I don't like it corporate spying…

After wikileaks/Snowden this is just not news anymore. I really fail to see what's new. What am I missing?

The Snowden leaks were about the government secretly spying on people. These leaks include many topics, but a common theme is the government secretly pressuring companies to censor/punish users for saying anything that they did not approve of. And that approval was erratic, frequently targeting one of the first casualties of authoritarianism - humor. The leaks also tie in with this thread since as the the FBI also "requested" location tracking information on people as well, of course with no warrants or any sort of due process or oversight whatsoever. I look forward to one day reading the 'FBI files' to see how that information was then completely responsibly used.

Another revelation comes from your question itself. If you rely on mainstream media outlets to inform you, you'd either have no idea these 'leaks' exist, or a distorted view of what they contained. The NYTimes ran no less than 4 articles on 8 journalists being temporarily suspended on Twitter, promoting international regulations, laws, and even sanctions over it. But the entirety of these leaks, and the massive amount of content and information contained within? Well that's just not newsworthy contrasted against 8 journalists not being able to post on Twitter!

The media's independence and integrity has decline substantially since Snowden, with seemingly no bottom in sight.

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

#434

Post by tzs »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #409
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do you propose we "ban" it from the United States? Sanction it. > some in government may want to do the same for Twitter Difficult to do this with an American, or even allied, country.

The result of this will be millions of American teen girls learning how to "sideload" apps onto their device. Of course, a significant percentage of them will end up sideloading malware onto their device at the same time. The funny aspect to me is that the senators pushing to "ban TikTok" are the same senators pushing for an "open App Store" bill. But I don't see how you can have it both ways. Sure you can sanction T…

> The funny aspect to me is that the senators pushing to "ban TikTok" are the same senators pushing for an "open App Store" bill.

There's also a lot of overlap between the politicians who want to ban TikTok over concerns that user data might go to China and politicians who block proposed data privacy laws that would stop US companies from selling similar data (or worse, such as ISPs selling browsing data) to data brokers.

Ban TikTok and anyone in China can get similar data on US citizens by just buying it from US data brokers.

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

#435

Post by mannerheim »

concordDance wrote: post #372
manholio wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean, your govt is banning enough of the shit with some real questionable reasons I love advocates of democracy and freedom of speech always taking up the time, in the middle of a brutal war no less, to show us the righteous path. Well guess what: war is the absolute worst enemy of democracy, there can be no polite debate and pluralism while the enemy is blowing your children up. A country defending from a aggres…

This attitude leads to generals sabotaging the Christmas Truce and way more deaths than necessary. Very very few wars are against invaders who want to kill everybody.

What's the threshold on how many people invaders will kill, deport, and subject to second-class citizenship before that attitude becomes appropriate?

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

#436

Post by kneebonian »

tomComb wrote: post #388
jibe wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Trump's attempt to shut it down. Believe it or not, Trump’s policy was more nuanced than what are getting now. They were in the process of forcing a sale of the company to a US owner.

I think you mean that you saw Trump's solution as more effective. It wasn't more nuanced. Trump's solution involved a one off payoff for a supporter (Oracle), whereas the current admin is at least trying to develop a policy framework and solve the problem with less corruption and arbitrary use of power. The latter is much more work but - to bring it back to the issue - is more nuanced.

I can't think of a faster way to kill the app or any app than to sell it to Oracle.

Seriously give it to Oracle and 20 minutes. When you have to spend 3 minutes waiting for the next TikTok to load people will find alternatives real quick.

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

#437

Post by z3c0 »

sergiotapia wrote: post #394

We should ban this app from the United States. What dirt will China have on our politicians 30 years from now?

Hopefully enough for us to oust them out of the public sphere. I would be more concerned about the massive mesh of information delivery they have developed straight into many Americans' brains.

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

#438

Post by troyvit »

dragonwriter wrote: post #427
troyvit wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saudi Arabia killed an American journalist, dismembered him, and dissolved him in a vat of acid and yet we're still on our knees with their robe over our heads because yeah we need our economic relationship. The same will go with China.

> Saudi Arabia killed an American journalist, dismembered him, and dissolved him in a vat of acid and yet we're still on our knees with their robe over our heads because yeah we need our economic relationship. Not that it should matter, but in the interest of accuracy he was a Saudi journalist who wrote for (among others) an American media company, not an American journalist. Unless they broke out the bone saws for s…

Ouch thank you.

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

#439

Post by tzs »

deschutes wrote: post #417
TechBro8615 wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The result of this will be millions of American teen girls learning how to "sideload" apps onto their device. Of course, a significant percentage of them will end up sideloading malware onto their device at the same time. The funny aspect to me is that the senators pushing to "ban TikTok" are the same senators pushing for an "open App Store" bill. But I don't see how you can have it both ways. Sure you can sanction T…

Making it impossible for them to operate a business in the US ought to be more than sufficient.

How so? That would make it so that the cost per US user is negative since TikTok would not be getting revenue related to US users but would have hosting costs for them.

But if TikTok really is as useful to the Chinese government to be the threat that the politicians trying to ban it make it out to be, surely the Chinese government would be willing to eat those costs to keep it going here.

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

#440

Post by mensetmanusman »

hef19898 wrote: post #328
mensetmanusman wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

All those rich celebrities are not afraid of China per se, or any other rich totalitarian regime (the World Cup in Qatar comes to mind), they are just too corrupt to care about anything else then their huge pay checks. The same for companies so. Makes sense, if you think about it. because it is just peak capitalism, unchecked by anything else then the need for money (the best approximation for power the west has).

Fear of not being a billionaire is still like most irrational fear, but it is still fear per se.
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