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TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

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221–230 of 342 posts

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#221

A security researcher wrote an article while back and it was shocking to see how much data TikTok was collecting: - biometrics - what words are mentioned in the video, popularity - surrounding wifi, location data - your contacts (presumably to cross link to social media platforms) I just can't believe that a powerful country like America is letting a not-so-friendly military/civilian complex infiltrate it for somewha…

I recently saw that TikTok is moving all US traffic to Oracle servers [0] as to mitigate any potential claims of the app being a threat. Would appreciate anyone expanding on the implications.

[0]: https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/17/tiktok-oracle-us-traffic-c...

My view of TikTok isn't so much that it's purpose is to be used as an threat; but rather a way to create an (insanely) lucrative e-commerce market in the same what it's being used in China. [1]

[1]: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/China-tech/Move-over-Alibab...

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#222

A security researcher wrote an article while back and it was shocking to see how much data TikTok was collecting: - biometrics - what words are mentioned in the video, popularity - surrounding wifi, location data - your contacts (presumably to cross link to social media platforms) I just can't believe that a powerful country like America is letting a not-so-friendly military/civilian complex infiltrate it for somewha…

> I just can't believe that a powerful country like America is letting a not-so-friendly military/civilian complex infiltrate it for somewhat unknown purpose.

You mean the same country that also just overturned Roe v Wade AND Miranda rights ?

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#223

It's also worth to remember: "Facebook Inc. has been paying hundreds of outside contractors to transcribe clips of audio from users of its services" "Social network says it paused human review of conversations" So again my question is wtf is so big fuss about tiktok. We already knew about PRISM and that all the data goes to the government. It also goes to 3rd party contractors, advertisers and who knows who else... h…

Organisation A being bad does not invalidate criticism of Organisation B. It's my understanding that Tiktok is particularly appealing to younger people, specifically girls, which is of great concern to me despite not being a parent.

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China uses data from private industry to target and imprison undesirable ethnic and religious minorities at an unthinkable scale. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/09/china-big-data-program-t... "China bad" is a casual way of dismissing these crimes, which I find to be quite repulsive.

TikTok doesn't operate in China. All TikTok data is stored either in the USA or Singapore. There's a Dublin data center underway. Douyin is the original TikTok. It operates exclusively in China and all it's data is in China.

> All TikTok data is stored either in the USA or Singapore

And is still sent back to China.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-...

Where data is stored does not matter at all if it's still being accessed by undeclared third parties.

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if someone like elon musk or peter theil did something like this, they gave $419 million to a bunch of red states all while aggressively promoting trump, would you still claim it's "not damning"? This is an example of an extremely wealthy person influencing an election, plain and simple. It's odd to me that we're all just supposed to be ok with it.

Are there stories of red counties applying for the money and not getting it? Or perhaps it was only marketed towards Dems? What’s the argument as to what happened here?

From zucks own form 990 IRS filing. CTCL awarded all larger grants – on both an absolute and per capita basis to deeply Democratic urban areas.

E.g.

https://capitalresearch.org/article/shining-a-light-on-zuck-...

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple unlock drama was over "all writs act" where FBI compelled Apple to write new software to access user hardware versus using alleged (non)existing capabilities. FBI ended up using third party solutions, but after US gov decided to simply cirvumvent user layer via CLOUD act to simply legistate that manufactures have to make such remote access capabilities available, aka adopting PRC requirements. Seems to me, func…

I'm not defending the CLOUD act, but it is definitely a substantively different type of a situation than having your company completely nationalized as it was with GCBD.

GCBD didn't nationalize Apple in PRC, it's data soverignty requirement same way TikTok was coerced/pressured to moved US data to Oracle US servers. Legal minutiae matterse less and less when outcomes consistently comparable. In terms of differing market environment, TikTok/Bytedance was one Trump EO away from being force sold to US companies (actual nationalization), which is more aggregious than PRC joint venture scheme that's at least upfront about requirements foreign companies operating in PRC. Apple didn't have to take GCBD deal, they wanted cloud business in PRC to keep selling iproducts. Meanwhile TikTok is bending backwards to follow US laws and still subject to various shenanigans according to changing admin whims. Functionally, it's not substantively different, US have alleged "better" laws, but also better lawfare to circumvent said laws.

IMO this is just reality of mediating "strategic" foreign companies operating domestically, especially from "adversarial" countries. Set legal compliance onerously high and hope they leave. Western platforms left PRC because they couldn't stomach the filtering requriements that every PRC company has to shoulder. And when they finally adopted improve moderation due to requirements/pressure in their host country, they tried to get back into the PRC market. Meanwhile TikTok is sticking around US because Douyin survived burdens of PRC regulatory environment so what's another difficult market. Both markets are difficult, TikTok just better at playing ball in such enviroments. FB/Google can't even control their own employees from sabotaging their return to PRC.

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At very least Twitter and Apple have a decent track record of declining to provide data without justification. It seems pretty safe to assume the Chinese government wouldn't have to ask at all to get any of this information.

If that's the standard we have on hackernews it's not that hard to imagine why the vast majority of people simply don't care who trades their data.

That's not "the standard", it's just worth mentioning that at least some companies have a proper legal team that seems to work on behalf of its users. Twitter's actually been behind a number of legal precedents on the right to be anonymous online.

I also don't speak for HN, clearly, since this post is full up on people who see no difference between "almost definitely has given full access to the government 24/7/365" and "Complies with reasonable court orders".

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe we should just support and adopt open source alternatives, so that the rest of the world doesn't get stuck into pointless geopolitical disputes?

> Or maybe we should just support and adopt open source alternatives... That's a fantasy that makes the perfect into an enemy of the good.

People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

Re: TikTok updated privacy policy to collect faceprints and voiceprints (2021)

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's TikTok. Funny jokes and dance videos. And they're collecting no more than American IT companies are doing. "I just can't believe that a powerful country like America is letting a not-so-friendly military/civilian complex infiltrate it for somewhat unknown purpose." Are you for real? The one country that fits the description of not-so-friendly military-complex is the U.S. itself. A more pressing problem and quest…

"Yes but what about the US Government?" is not an actual response to concerns about Tiktok, it's a lazy attempt at deflection and distraction. And the US Government doesn't use private sector data to round up and imprison their citizens in concentration camps. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/14/huawei-surve...

I don't answer to concerns about TikTok because I don't think there are any, and so I instead point to the ever-present elephant in the IT security discussion room.

And as for the US Government and concentration camp, maybe they don't use private sector data for that, but they sure do it based on ethnicity and origins, such as Japanese Americans in concentration camps during WW2, and South American children and their immigrant parents literally put in cages just a couple of years ago.

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