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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

#131

Post by mola »

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...

Seems not true. I worked in mobile security. We had massive amounts of data about mobile apps and the suspected behaviour they show (via dynamic analysis, static analysis, code signatures, etc) We saw a huge amount of Ad SDKs showing all kinds of malicious behaviour. Facebook etc were the worse, TikTok was not particularly exceptional. One of the biggest problem for an anti malware product in that space is that most "legitimate" software looked indistinguishable from spywares. And if we were to mark these as malware then our product won't be usable.

These apps are hoovering crazy amount of information. They should be banned, universally. No matter which country they originate at. Giving politicians this kind of power over the population in a democratic society is a huge national security risk. No less than a foreign power having these capabilities.

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

#132

Post by shusaku »

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…

Agreed, these complaints about hypocrisy are nonsensical. If a serial killer locks his door at night for fear of being murdered, he’s not a hypocrite. On the contrary, his evil deeds have made him wise to the dangers of the night.

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

#133

Post by Ekaros »

janekm wrote: post #74
gambiting wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>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...

Personally I feel this is as much a failing of of mobile OSs as anything else. As long as we have an environment where ad networks think it's desirable to collect this kind of information it's going to get collected, whether by TikTok or ad networks. Apple at least attempt to limit what data is accessible by apps, Google is less incentivized to do so. It's not much help to "ban TikTok" while the ad networks run wild.…

Maybe the governments should force mobile OS to provide absolute zero information about anything to apps. If the apps can't get anything they can't leak anything.

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

#134

Post by tuxie_ »

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…

Do you understand that your own government has even more power over you than a foreign one? It's in your best interest that no government collects this kind of data about you.

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

#135

Post by peoplefromibiza »

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…

> so I want USA to do whatever it needs to be the top player

I would argue that admitting that the only way to convince Chinese apps to not track American users is to ban them (mostly because it's eating their own dog food with TikTok that's nowadays much more popular than America's own spying apps) doesn't sound much top dog, more like small dog barking at the big one.

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

#136

Post by cowtools »

blackoil wrote: post #123

In another few years if continue to see such polarisation, the Internet will be much more fragmented. Not just China vs the World. It will be China, Russia, India, USA and to some extent Europe, African and South American nations.

I think you underestimate the ability of users to punch holes in the firewalls.

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

#137

Post by Grimburger »

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…

> I want USA to do whatever it needs to be the top player

Good for you, but try imagine hearing this from a Chinese national.

"Whatever it needs" to do...

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

#139

Post by daptaq »

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…

I am probably being naive, but I'd like to see the banning of TikTok as a precedence case for the banning of other abusive networks in the future, whatever country they may operate from.

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

#140

Post by CamperBob2 »

germandiago wrote: post #129
klodolph wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really do not accept that, I want to have friends from wherever, go with whoever and do business with whom I deem appropriate without asking permission to anyone. The reason that systems of economic sanctions exist is to provide alternatives to war. Europe learned some very rough lessons in the 20th century and earlier, leading up to the formation of the EU and before that the formation of the UN. These instituti…

> The reason that systems of economic sanctions exist is to provide alternatives to war I am not talking about this. I am talking about the fact that it is an oligarchy who chooses whether we go to war or not. I do not think most spanish think that Spain should be involved in a war that is at the other side of Europe where either of those country did anything to us. This is what I mean. These wars respond to oligarch…

Your beef is with Vladimir Putin, not some nameless "oligarchy." As was pointed out to you, Europe has learned some hard lessons about the consequences of appeasement. The mistakes made in the 1930s must not be repeated with Russia today.

If you find this truth to be offensive, tragic, or overly inconvenient, well... so do all who live to see such times, as the guy with the long gray beard said.

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