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TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

arstechnica.com

11–20 of 204 posts

Re: TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

#11

"Three people with knowledge of briefings between Apple and developers also said the Cupertino, California-based company would be wary of taking strong action, despite a clear violation of its stated rules, if CAID has the support of China’s tech giants as well as its government agencies." That's chilling. I tend to have a good opinion of Apple regarding privacy protection, even though I'm not an Apple user, but if e…

There's about 85.3 billion reasons a year for them to not stand up to the CCP and in the end Apple's interest in privacy is mostly a tool to differentiate its offerings from the competition so they can sell people stuff.

Re: TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

#12
I will repost a comment I made about Apple and China in another post like 1.5 years ago:

"Apple are beholden to China. Sure, China is a huge market for them but I think the bigger issue is manufacturing: if they piss China off they won’t have anything to sell, anywhere! I’m sure Apple execs know this and I hope they’re quickly planning to reduce, if not remove this dependency."

Re: TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

#13
post #10
post #4

Get. Out. of. china. Or be ruled by the authoritarianism of the CCP

Have you missed the last decade where companies from all around the globe do this exact thing all the time because gathering your information is their business? Google and Facebook get caught doing it constantly. Just this week a lawsuit against Google was given the green light for gathering data when they were not supposed to. And isn't Facebook currently trying to illegally merge WhatsApp and Facebook data? Didn't…

While I'm not a fan of the data gathering done by Google and Facebook, the magnitude of tracking done by China are far, far greater.

Re: TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

#14

So, what is CAID? How does it work? Is it a composite fingerprint based on how the device works, or an alternate ID that Apple isn't restricting yet? Would be nice to get some details about what exactly TikTok plans to do beyond "they found a way to get around it". Or is that information just not available yet? I can't find anything online detailing what the attack is.

I don't think there are any details on the implementation out yet.

Judging by this article https://www.sohu.com/a/415394669_344262 (in Chinese) the company behind CAID is https://www.reyun.com/. Pretty hard to find info on them and their product in englisch though. The only quick result I got was this: https://bloomgamer.com/2020/10/reyun-data-completed-its-c-ro...

Re: TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

#15
post #8
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop. Buying. Stuff. Made. In. China. Or does it not apply when it inconvenience you?

> Stop. Buying. Stuff. Made. In. China. This isn't possible to follow on the individual level, even if you wanted to. Those 'Made in America' labels on product boxes aren't even accurate either, the parts can be built in China but assembled here, and still have that american label attached.

Yeah, trying to avoid buying things with any components or work, or even most of the components from China is basically impossible.

Still, it is sometimes possible to find alternatives that put proportionally more work and production into products outside China. I try to buy these things when I can, even when inevitably the materials or components come from China. Better than all the dollars going there, I figure...

Re: TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

#16
post #8
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop. Buying. Stuff. Made. In. China. Or does it not apply when it inconvenience you?

> Stop. Buying. Stuff. Made. In. China. This isn't possible to follow on the individual level, even if you wanted to. Those 'Made in America' labels on product boxes aren't even accurate either, the parts can be built in China but assembled here, and still have that american label attached.

Not sure why purism is implied in the answer here. If anything, sentiments like these are akin to "reducing your carbon footprint" by taking more "environmentally conscious measures". Same language, same sentiment. While no one can reduce their carbon footprint to 0 for an extended period of time, the act of _trying_ to can prove real results when performed en masse.

Re: TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

#17
post #13
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you missed the last decade where companies from all around the globe do this exact thing all the time because gathering your information is their business? Google and Facebook get caught doing it constantly. Just this week a lawsuit against Google was given the green light for gathering data when they were not supposed to. And isn't Facebook currently trying to illegally merge WhatsApp and Facebook data? Didn't…

While I'm not a fan of the data gathering done by Google and Facebook, the magnitude of tracking done by China are far, far greater.

That's according to "I know China evil" or is this based on anything? We know that China was playing catch-up when Snowden leaked his stuff so they might have caught up. Can you link the corresponding leaks? I'd love to read some of the Chinese ones because the most recent big things I could find were Snowden leaks.

Re: TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

#19
It's additionally concerning that the US has little exposure to China-sourced data. This imbalance where the CCP knows far more about the average American than the US knows about the average Chinese person is deeply concerning. The more that is known, the larger the training data set, the more people can be influenced in ways that suit an openly hostile[0] government.

[0] https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20-02832-El...

Re: TikTok wants to keep tracking iPhone users with state-backed workaround

#20

So basically TikTok is saying "please take us off the app store" except the hard way. Apple still hasn't budged on Epic trying to get rid of their cut on all Fortnite Fun-Buxxx sales through iOS, what makes TikTok think announcing they are going to blatantly violate the spirit, and possibly the letter, of Apple's no-tracking rules isn't gonna result in their app getting pulled? I guess maybe they're hoping for a deci…

Well, having serious support in China (including from the CCCP) is one way. Epic wouldn’t matter here since China is an extremely important market for Apple.

ccccp
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