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UT-Austin blocks access to TikTok on campus Wi-Fi networks

texastribune.org

181–190 of 250 posts

Re: UT-Austin blocks access to TikTok on campus Wi-Fi networks

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a panic when it's clear as day this app is used for surveillance purposes

So is Google Search, but few are calling for banning that.

Oh you're right.. Fuck it, I may as well just install a camera in my bathroom and live stream it. /s

Re: UT-Austin blocks access to TikTok on campus Wi-Fi networks

#184

> In a statement, a representative from TikTok said they are disappointed by the news. > "We're disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok," spokesperson Jamal Brown wrote. Regardless of you stance on Texas and Texans and politics, the above is a pretty funny…

That's pretty easy to do; to characterize nationalist censorship in terms of trivialities. I could literally use being "built for advertisers to push products and services through ads and influencers" to ban television, newspapers, and every social network.

Football's very rules seem to be designed for ad breaks.

Re: UT-Austin blocks access to TikTok on campus Wi-Fi networks

#185

High schoolers are used to having VPNs for school, time for college students to do that too. Especially since on-campus students have to live with managed WiFi in dorms too. It's unfortunate to see this political censorship affect grown adults who can make their own decisions - but just happen to be at a state university.

You can say "Use a VPN"... However on multiple VPN providers, Tiktok blocks those endpoints. Instead of the Tiktok feed, you get a rude 403 error for any page. Tiktok really REALLY wants to know your real IP address. (edit: this comment pertains to the web page through a browser, not the Tiktok app. I did not test the app+vpn.)

Never had a problem using TikTok (the app) behind Mullvad.

Re: UT-Austin blocks access to TikTok on campus Wi-Fi networks

#186

High schoolers are used to having VPNs for school, time for college students to do that too. Especially since on-campus students have to live with managed WiFi in dorms too. It's unfortunate to see this political censorship affect grown adults who can make their own decisions - but just happen to be at a state university.

Or they can just toggle the wifi on their phone. When I was in school, wifi wasn't provided and you were prohibited from bringing your own AP. And there were plenty of applications being firewalled.

Yep, which is increasingly my go-to. No I'm not gonna log into a free wifi that takes 10 seconds to load the portal and is probably less reliable and more restricted than my LTE.

Re: UT-Austin blocks access to TikTok on campus Wi-Fi networks

#187
post #5

I don't care about this kind of stuff as much as a lot of people do. Hopefully they also start blocking China from buying up USA farmland and housing.

Governor Abbott is supporting that bill at the moment https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-banning-texas-land-purch... Yet, Aramco (Saudi Arabia) purchased the largest oil refinery in the US under his watch. https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/01/investing/saudi-arabia-buys...

It’s a not a contradiction.

Oil infrastructure does not do the same thing that land/housing does.

The USA does not have the same relationship with Saudi Arabia as it does with China (+ NK, Rus, Iran).

Re: UT-Austin blocks access to TikTok on campus Wi-Fi networks

#188
post #32

High schoolers are used to having VPNs for school, time for college students to do that too. Especially since on-campus students have to live with managed WiFi in dorms too. It's unfortunate to see this political censorship affect grown adults who can make their own decisions - but just happen to be at a state university.

Of note on this point, eduroam service standards require that VPN access be permitted [1, page 32], in part, because VPNs are often part of university infrastructure. Technically, the service definition only requires this for roaming visitors, but it would seem unusual to make a distinction in service on that point. [1]: https://eduroam.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/GN3-12-192_ed...

That's interesting. Yeah, most common use for school VPN is reading e-books.

Re: UT-Austin blocks access to TikTok on campus Wi-Fi networks

#189
post #73

A good, albeit somewhat impotent, move. The companies wont yank it from the app stores in the US for fear of reprisal, but that is the better next step.

On what grounds would Apple/Google remove it from their app stores? Did they remove Facebook after it was fined $5bn by the FTC for privacy breaches?

TikTok's client had some pretty bad vulnerabilities like not using TLS in the past, but maybe those are patched by now.

Re: UT-Austin blocks access to TikTok on campus Wi-Fi networks

#190
post #7

The new satanic panic.

Why should the US allow the CCP to have free rein over user's data when the CCP bans US Tech companies from operating in China for the same reason?

I don't want to follow the line of thinking that the US govt should enact similar policies to the CCP.
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