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My Concerns about the TikTok Divestiture Bill as a Software Developer

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Re: My Concerns about the TikTok Divestiture Bill as a Software Developer

#31

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

woooooo wrote: post #20
stale2002 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is the US chinaphobic or something? Well, china makes many threats to invade our allies, like Taiwan. (Officially declared or not. We give them weapons) China is quite literally on a list of military enemies. Yes, it is reasonably to be fearful of countries that are likely going to go to war with your allies. Just like it is reasonable for the government of ukraine to be afraid of the invading russian army. Our col…

Technically, the US official position on Taiwan is that they are not even independent, let alone an ally. Of course it would be silly to sell them Aegis missile systems if we really believed that. But that's our official position.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-05/us-upgrad...

> US Upgrades Taiwan Weapons Package With Newer Patriot Missiles

Not an ally though.

Re: My Concerns about the TikTok Divestiture Bill as a Software Developer

#32

Post by woooooo »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #31
woooooo wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically, the US official position on Taiwan is that they are not even independent, let alone an ally. Of course it would be silly to sell them Aegis missile systems if we really believed that. But that's our official position.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-05/us-upgrad... > US Upgrades Taiwan Weapons Package With Newer Patriot Missiles Not an ally though.

Correct. Not even officially recognized as a country, it came out of the Nixon talks.

Yes, it's silly.

Re: My Concerns about the TikTok Divestiture Bill as a Software Developer

#34

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

woooooo wrote: post #32
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-05/us-upgrad... > US Upgrades Taiwan Weapons Package With Newer Patriot Missiles Not an ally though.

Correct. Not even officially recognized as a country, it came out of the Nixon talks. Yes, it's silly.

They can be both an ally and not officially recognized as a country due to complicated political and diplomatic reasons.

Re: My Concerns about the TikTok Divestiture Bill as a Software Developer

#35

Post by woooooo »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #34
woooooo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct. Not even officially recognized as a country, it came out of the Nixon talks. Yes, it's silly.

They can be both an ally and not officially recognized as a country due to complicated political and diplomatic reasons.

Not without sprinkling the word "unofficially" in front of various nouns, including the key noun "ally".

Re: My Concerns about the TikTok Divestiture Bill as a Software Developer

#36

Post by yetanother12345 »

libpcap wrote: post #13

This is good for leveling the playing field. If Facebook, X, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, etc. are banned/blocked in the PRC, the US should reciprocally return the favor.

> is good for ...

... creating a massive pressure for sideloading and alternative/non-official app-stores. Don't for a minute think that those millions of people who currently enjoy that platform will suddently want to stop. Necessity is the mother of invention.

(No, personally I don't use TikTok, YouTube or any other cat video sites. I'm not in that demographic)

Re: My Concerns about the TikTok Divestiture Bill as a Software Developer

#37

Post by stale2002 »

woooooo wrote: post #35
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can be both an ally and not officially recognized as a country due to complicated political and diplomatic reasons.

Not without sprinkling the word "unofficially" in front of various nouns, including the key noun "ally".

In the context of my comment, any group that receives significant military funding or support from the US counts as an Ally.

The dictionary definition is irrelevant to my point, because I wasn't using your definition of the word ally.

So my original point stands.

Re: My Concerns about the TikTok Divestiture Bill as a Software Developer

#38

Post by eureka-belief »

woooooo wrote: post #5

> House House Resolution 7521, dubbed the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” passed the U.S. House Of Representatives on a bipartisan 352-65 vote today. 352-65, that's what our congress thinks of free speech. Who's next after we set the precedent?

This has nothing to do with free speech. It’s about a foreign hostile government having access and influence over a social network that gathers data on US citizens. You don’t think the CIA leveraged the US based tech companies’ data and influence to exert power? It’s not racist if you assume that China is just following the same playbook that our intelligence services are.

Re: My Concerns about the TikTok Divestiture Bill as a Software Developer

#39

Post by roncesvalles »

dotBen wrote: post #23

It's impossible to debate TikTok while people still are not on the same page about the fundamentals which makes this an unusual company that's not comparable to other social networks: 1) TikTok is indirectly owned and therefore controlled by Chinese Communist party. 2) Given the footprint and influence that TikTok has in the US, the platform has the ability to editorially control what people see and therefore influen…

>1) TikTok is indirectly owned and therefore controlled by Chinese Communist party.

Patently false. It's owned by a few Chinese nationals and a few foreign nationals, in roughly a 50-50 ratio.

>2) Given the footprint and influence that TikTok has in the US, the platform has the ability to editorially control what people see and therefore influence perceptions of things such as elections and other hot button issues.

Like CNN, Fox News, NYT, WaPo, BBC, Al Jazeera, Russia Today, South China Morning Post?

>3) The widespread installation of an app indirectly controlled by the CCP creates fundamental risk. Eg a number of popular TikTok influencers were actually members of the armed forces who were recording videos in their residences on military properties. Gps and potentially camera access provides information such as troop movements and troop readiness to a potential adversary. At a wider scale, there are similar risks with mass location information of members of the public.

That's an OPSEC discipline issue. Active duty personnel shouldn't be posting videos of themselves on any social media app.

>The reality is that US companies are not leaned on by the US government for this kind of information about foreign users.

Snowden, Assange, the NSA, Five Eyes and various other very real things would like to have a word with you.

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