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TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

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Re: TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

#101

Post by shuntress »

FooBarWidget wrote: post #96
fr2null wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the key data that TikTok is gathering is anything you can really block on your phone. It doesn't ask for your phone number, it doesn't ask contacts, it doesn't ask for access to your messages. Instead, it looks for trends, it looks at who you are. I (18 years old) have used TikTok for about 2 months, before deleting it because it simply got too addictive. In that time it learned what my favourite games…

There is a solution even to that. That's what the Microsoft sale is all about. That's why Bytedance proposed to sell ALL shares of their US branch. Replace the entire US branch staff with US employees. Vet every line of code. Don't send any data to China. This is the ultimate solution. And yet nobody seems to be interested in this solution. People are still cooking up new reasons to ban Tiktok. Or ignoring the existe…

That does not actually solve the problem.

Yes, maybe I find it a little easier to trust Microsoft than Bytedance. But the problem is not who holds the data that I generate about myself.

The problem is that I have zero (or very little) agency to view or manage this data. That lack of agency is important because this data will have a tangible impact on my life.

Re: TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

#102

Post by kanox »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #92

I'm no fan of TikTok, but in general the US president doesn't get to tell US companies what to buy, and he doesn't get to tell US persons what internet sites they can or cannot visit. (Yes, I realize it does happen e.g. for gambling sites, but it's generally a game of whack-a-mole for the government because there is no Great Firewall of the US.) If ByteDance just told Trump to go to hell, what specific legal and tech…

Google and Apple could arbitrarily agree to remove the app from their stores.

Even if it was still usable via some kind of side-loading it would completely destroy the userbase.

Re: TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

#103

Post by Avamander »

andreilys wrote: post #79
Hokusai wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Suppose Margrethe Vestager called and said TikTok, you are banned unless you let a "very european" company Wouldn't do this make sense for Facebook? I would like to see a European company owning the European side of Facebook. I really like Silicon Valley and their initiative, but again and again American companies have shown that they cannot be trusted with European data (maybe USA data either, but that is an inter…

I really like Silicon Valley and their initiative, but again and again American companies have shown that they cannot be trusted with European data Source? Btw HSBC [1], Unilever [2] and many other European companies have had customer data breaches. I’m sure there would be even more but Europe has almost no top internet consumer companies So I don’t have a lot of trust in European companies to safeguard customer data…

> Source?

The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Invalidated: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-eu-u-s-privacy-shield-...

Re: TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

#104

Post by Avamander »

FooBarWidget wrote: post #73
lovetocode wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the Chinese cyber threat is incredibly real. The United States should be playing hard ball. The US TikTok systems are compromised by Chinese spammers already.

If the threat of Tiktok gathering data is so real, then isn't a much better solution, to pressure Google and Apple into improving their security models? That way, nobody can spy on your phone anymore. Or do you think Tiktok is the only and last threat there will ever exist? But nobody's talking about actual solutions. All this looks more like a witch hunt to me.

¿por que no los dos?

Why not both?

Also please do keep in mind that the lockdown of both Android and iOS has been gradually increasing. If they slapped on all the restrictions all at once, it'd be too much of a shock to developers.

Re: TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

#105

Post by ShamelessC »

nemothekid wrote: post #97
jamisteven wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TikToc is basicaly Vine2.0 and will go down just like Vine and YikYak already did. The reason behind MS wanting to acquire TT we will never know. I have a feeling the national sec. implications arent exactly what we are saying they are.

Neither Vine nor YikYak was doing $3B in profit/year. TikTok is likely here to stay.

Geez, that's impressive. How do they make money? Ads? Selling data? Or do they have a paid offering?

Re: TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

#106

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

chvid wrote: post #8
babesh wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump is signaling that Microsoft is his lackey and Microsoft is signaling in the affirmative. That cloud business from the Defense department sure is lucrative.

Something like that. Plus remember when Zoom was a national security threat? You know with that Chinese guy in charge, the Chinese servers, the censoring on behalf of the CCP ... Funny how that all disappeared when Zoom got in bed with Oracle.

They've signalled pretty significantly that they won't follow the Chinese government's demands, including publicly joining the Hong Kong data pause. I don't mean to fully excuse the initial response (Zoom was always an American company with an American CEO!), but the Oracle partnership isn't the only thing that's changed.

Re: TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

#107

Post by refurb »

Drew_ wrote: post #93
treis wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China has blocked almost every major US internet company. Crying that Tik Tok is being forced into a sale is a bit rich. National Security concerns aside, there's a legitimate argument that the West should be banning every service that comes out of China until they open up their market.

Or we could try to be the country with better morals than China instead of posturing as one.

Protecting your own national security is immoral?!

Re: TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

#108

Post by ShamelessC »

83457 wrote: post #74
vernie wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

I'm guessing they believe it suggests a reason the current administration is pushing for the sale is to have some control over said algorithms and thus what videos are served, possibly to the benefit of the current administration and their interests. "The proposed transaction gained the blessing of senior Trump officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who saw value in an American company getting access…

That's not how I interpreted it. Pretty sure they were referring to the "sophisticated" part as unlikely. Not saying I agree though. No clue how their algorithms work.

Re: TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

#109

Post by ir77 »

FooBarWidget wrote: post #90
ir77 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

anyone with power and wealth in china is dependent on the government, they only have these things because the government allowed them to have and keep it, for now. thus it really doesn't matter how one individual on that side sees things, he sees things the way his side allows him to see. it would be different if people exiled from china and were getting involving once they're in the western world, but to broadcast o…

So you're downplaying the number of people who feel that way. You're also saying that their feelings are not genuine, and only forced upon them. All this does not bode well for world peace. Be careful of what you're wishing for. A democratic China may not be so different in terms of geopolitics as you would think (or they would be different, just not in the way you expect). Try reading what Kishore Mahbubani — ex-Sin…

with democracy and ability to speak your mind without goverment's persecution everyone is playing on the same field.

i'd much rather take democratic china's disdain than dictator's china friendly overtures. you can work towards a long term solution of common understanding under democracy.

Re: TikTok and Microsoft’s Clock

#110

Post by kanox »

Drew_ wrote: post #100
frank2 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US president can probably compel Apple and Google to remove Tiktok from their app stores. Tiktok can appeal that action to the US court system and the US legislature, but those appeals would probably go nowhere. So a technically inclined Android user or a user of a jailbroken iOS device can probably continue to use Tiktok, with effort, but will have much fewer people to interact with using the service.

If the president can't compel Apple/Google to install backdoors, he can't compel them to remove TikTok.

But would Apple and Google actually resist a TikTok ban?

It wouldn't be surprising to see them ban TikTok voluntarily and receive positive press coverage.

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