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TikTok Owner Had 'Backdoor' for CCP Access to US Data, Lawsuit Alleges

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Re: TikTok Owner Had 'Backdoor' for CCP Access to US Data, Lawsuit Alleges

#4
Oh dear. I won't be surprised to see this being true since TikTok is just a worse version of Facebook/Instagram who has already admitted and shown evidence of them violating the privacy of its users [0] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5], and its defenders are just running out of excuses faster than a running tap at this point.

Before anyone says 'All social media companies do this', If large social networks like Facebook have been fined in the billions of dollars for such repeated privacy violations, then given the size of TikTok, you might as well agree that for TikTok to continue to operate in the US, it must to pay a multi-billion dollar fine for such repeat offenses and abuses of its user's privacy simply on the grounds of the size of the many users on the platform.

[0] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-...

[1] https://www.scmagazine.com/news/privacy/uk-tiktok-16m-fine-c...

[2] https://fortune.com/2022/12/22/tiktok-data-privacy-blunder-c...

[3] https://futurism.com/tiktok-spy-locations-specific-americans

[4] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65126056

[5] https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/05/08/tiktok-lgbtq/

Re: TikTok Owner Had 'Backdoor' for CCP Access to US Data, Lawsuit Alleges

#5
post #3

I'm starting to become fatigued by all this TikTok news. Either ban the app or don't. Causing anxiety over TikTok without any action is the worst of both worlds.

It's an interesting problem to solve though.

For one thing, there are lots of US investors who will lose money. Should they be made whole?

Re: TikTok Owner Had 'Backdoor' for CCP Access to US Data, Lawsuit Alleges

#6
post #3

I'm starting to become fatigued by all this TikTok news. Either ban the app or don't. Causing anxiety over TikTok without any action is the worst of both worlds.

It's an interesting problem to solve though. For one thing, there are lots of US investors who will lose money. Should they be made whole?

They should not. They should have known the risk in advance.

Re: TikTok Owner Had 'Backdoor' for CCP Access to US Data, Lawsuit Alleges

#7
I would be extremely surprised if a state-actor like China couldn’t access most US company data at will. If you can invest several billions and have thousands of people working to create a breach, no company is safe, not even AWS or Microsoft.

In this case, that’s even way easier, the company is Chinese, the CCP can have this access lawfully, is this something unexpected?

I’m much more concerned by the laziness of most western governments in understanding if this was a threat or not.

Re: TikTok Owner Had 'Backdoor' for CCP Access to US Data, Lawsuit Alleges

#8
post #3

I'm starting to become fatigued by all this TikTok news. Either ban the app or don't. Causing anxiety over TikTok without any action is the worst of both worlds.

So rather than exposing the cost/benefits of an app, you just want the government to make a decision about what methods of communication are available to everyone? And instead of making a thorough case why a particular method has to be banned for good reasons tangential to the content, you want them to make that choice and announce it?

I think banning very invasive social media until it minimizes tracking is a reasonable option, but that's something that should be done by passing laws and public debate.

Re: TikTok Owner Had 'Backdoor' for CCP Access to US Data, Lawsuit Alleges

#10
This seems sloppy. If I were to build an app that was popular in say Cuba or something I wouldn't leave myself technical gateways to access the data and manipulate things directly. That would leave a clear paper trail and open me up to some innocent engineer stumbling across what's happening.

Rather I would embed trusted people into the company at low to mid-level positions of power, like software engineers, content moderators, etc. where they could quietly use their influence on shape things in ways that are favorable to my goals. I would do this with every company I could get them hired at not just the one making my app.

If I really had a need to exert undue influence I would use a side-channel to communicate instructions to people at the company (potentially even the leadership) and rely on them to carry out the orders. Remoting in and changing things myself seems silly.

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