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FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

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Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#111

Post by daenz »

pm90 wrote: post #63
daenz wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Help me understand your perspective: are you American or no? I have a hard time understanding why an American wouldn't see FAANG as the lesser of two evils here.

They’re all nefarious. Your data should not be in the hands of any data broker or Government without explicit consent. But if you wanna beat the drum of Jingoism, here is a counter argument: the Chinese Government has little interest in the activities of most domestic US citizens. Its the US Federal Government that cares if American citizens are feeling too rebellious.

>Chinese Government has little interest in the activities of most domestic US citizens.

Including influencing public perception of domestic and international events? You may as well say the Chinese government doesn't care about world politics.

Also it's not "Jingoist" to assume that a foreign government (with whom we've had friction) has less of our interests in mind than our own government.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#112

Post by DocTomoe »

daenz wrote: post #40
jsiaajdsdaa wrote: post #2

However putting this data in the hands of FAANG is no problem at all, and totally can't end up in any nefarious hands.

Help me understand your perspective: are you American or no? I have a hard time understanding why an American wouldn't see FAANG as the lesser of two evils here.

Not an American, but if I was:

FAANG has a data sharing mandate with the US government. My own government spying on me is more dangerous than some foreign government spying on me, because it is unlikely I wake up looking into the barrel of a Chinese exfiltration team at three in the night. Getting woken at gunpoint by the local village idiot/Sheriff because they don't like my surfing pattern is a lot more likely.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#113

Post by simmerup »

moonchrome wrote: post #54

The thing people are missing when they say "naturally foreign government collecting data is a security risk" - is that by US openly admitting this - they are signaling to all other countries allowing US tech companies to operate there that they should be firewalling because it is a security risk. World is > US and China, Europe, SA, Africa, the rest of Asia - this is a clear cut message "you need to have your social…

I honestly think that should be done anyway. For example, if Britain blocked Facebook for not being consumer friendly what would we really lose? Facebook would be recreated over night. The profits would be kept in country. And in addition, we might have a slightly better barrier against the American culture seeping into the country.

Sure, we could lose some app integrations but if the internet was more segregated API standards would be developed to mitigate this.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#115

Post by david_allison »

gambiting wrote: post #61
snehk wrote: post #10

I don't have a horse in this race at all, but the annoying part is that the same rules don't get applied across the board. Everything they're accusing TikTok of - from data harvesting to the government having access to said data - is true for western companies as well and that should be the problem. Not the fact that the data is now in the hands of the Chinese but that the data is being collected at all provided to t…

>>Everything they're accusing TikTok of - from data harvesting to the government having access to said data - is true for western companies as well and that should be the problem The thing is, yes Facebook and Google's data collection is horrendous, but TikTok it literally on another level. Quite a good explanation here: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/fxgi06/comment/fmuk...

Do you have a better source? I don't buy the comment at all, and the whitepaper[0] is of very low quality.

[0] https://penetrum.com/tiktok/Penetrum_TikTok_Security_Analysi...

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#116

Post by hnlmorg »

moomoo11 wrote: post #42

Of course not. Every government is going to look out for themselves. Following your reasoning, look at China. They have their own playbook for operating within China, and it is quite restrictive. They make it harder for foreign entities to do business within China. From a geopolitical viewpoint this makes complete sense. You don't want your rival to have a backdoor into influencing/manipulating/discovering how people…

Well in that case I hope you don't moan when the EU places heavy restrictions on the data harvesting that American companies do.

I get the paranoia around China, I honestly do. I'm not at all unsupportive of the Chinese regime either. But this "one rule for us another for them" principle really needs to stop.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#117

Post by peoplefromibiza »

_8j50 wrote: post #58
snehk wrote: post #10

I don't have a horse in this race at all, but the annoying part is that the same rules don't get applied across the board. Everything they're accusing TikTok of - from data harvesting to the government having access to said data - is true for western companies as well and that should be the problem. Not the fact that the data is now in the hands of the Chinese but that the data is being collected at all provided to t…

American companies working against national security will be held accountable. A Chinese companh working against american national security will be celebrated at home instead.

on the other hand American companies spying users are more dangerous for Americans than Chinese companies.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#118

Post by cowtools »

plugger wrote: post #59
daenz wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Help me understand your perspective: are you American or no? I have a hard time understanding why an American wouldn't see FAANG as the lesser of two evils here.

Conversely, if you're an American in America who doesn't travel abroad what is the threat TikTok poses when compared to the FAANGs? Given the cozy relationship between the US and FAANGs I think it's possible to argue that unfettered government access to FAANG data is more of a threat (to the average US citizen) when compared to the Chinese government having access to your user data via TikTok. But I'm not set on any…

It is not a threat to individual safety. It is a threat to the security of the nation at large.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#119

Post by Cederfjard »

epolanski wrote: post #67
jpk wrote: post #33

Lots of folks here arguing that the focus on TikTok is unfair, given the data collection practices of domestic corps like Facebook. From a privacy point of view, this argument is well-founded, but I think it's tangential to the argument TFA is making, which is: this data collection done by a foreign government and exploited for surveillance or espionage is a national security risk. I get it. We want corps to stop hoo…

[flagged]

This comment doesn't seem to understand what the parent was saying or engage with their argument at all?

1. No it's not fine that American companies are threats to privacy and so on, and it should be dealt with.

2. However TikTok is a special case in that in addition to the above, it presents a national security risk (to the Americans), so it's reasonable to treat it differently and with more urgency.

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