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

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

#221

Post by doubleg72 »

xwolfi wrote: post #173
switchbak wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no security professional, but I am familiar with the ultra crap security standards of many institutions. It's really just removing a drop from the ocean of potential risks, but doesn't seem that outlandish given the nature of TikTok and where it comes from.

"where it comes from" makes it sound like Xi Jinping commandeered an app where teenagers dance as a trojan horse to befall capitalism... Your fridge was maybe made there too, are you scared a secret radio chip could activate to render your food communist ?

My fridge doesn't send recordings back to a server in China. Nor was it produced there.

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

#222

Post by UncleMeat »

mikrotikker wrote: post #171
jeanofthedead wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. Just don't give apps all of the permissions. TikTok doesn't have access to my camera, photo library, microphone, local network, location, etc. It's not that hard.

How sure are you that it doesn't?

Because the operating system controls that and you can tell the operating system to deny these features.

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

#223

Post by UncleMeat »

flappyeagle wrote: post #93
tarotuser wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you're trying to get at. Looking narrowly at Tiktok, it doesn't really capture any more than what Google/Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Linkedin all would. And regulators and orgs are OK with those systems hoovering up all the data they can. But when Tiktok showed up, it's the "China Restaurant Syndrome" all over again, with breathless scares about the evil Chinese stealing our data! Yes, China is a com…

I would be more sympathetic to this line of argument if the CCP weren't currently banning every single US-based social network. Reciprocation is the only sensible response. This shouldn't be about race, or even data. It should be about trade policy.

"The Chinese Government is bad."

"We should enact policy similar to what the Chinese Government does."

Not sure if I agree.

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

#224

Post by lumb63 »

UncleMeat wrote: post #222
mikrotikker wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How sure are you that it doesn't?

Because the operating system controls that and you can tell the operating system to deny these features.

But how do you know the OS is being honest? Or the hardware?

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

#225

Post by anthonypasq »

Quillbert182 wrote: post #69
rchaud wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A proposal to stop the purchase of property by nameless numbered entities ("123 LLC") would have my full support. It's not like foreign buyers put down "China Inc" on the purchase forms.

It seems to me like it might be a good idea to require citizenship to create an LLC.

so immigrants shouldnt be able to open restaurants? seems like a great plan...

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

#226

Post by throwaway29812 »

snapcaster wrote: post #62
throwaway29812 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citing the very real and horrible history of ethnic discrimination to dismiss valid criticism of an authoritarian state is odd. It's also exactly what the CCP does. https://twitter.com/nathanlawkc/status/1464891227694850049 https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/stopasianhate-chinese-dias...

Is it possible to say anything positive or even neutral about China without a comment like this? Do you respond to every mention of the US with links of all the war crimes? Can you address the content of the comment you're responding to? Can you demonstrate that TikTok causes more harm than MSG?

> Do you respond to every mention of the US with links of all the war crimes?

If the private companies in question was complicit and potentially had a role in these crimes, yes I would. But to highlight your false equivalency, private industry in the US doesn't obey the US government, despite what the bizarre TwitterFiles PR campaign by right wing operatives is trying to tell you.

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

#227

Post by throwaway29812 »

tarotuser wrote: post #60
throwaway29812 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citing the very real and horrible history of ethnic discrimination to dismiss valid criticism of an authoritarian state is odd. It's also exactly what the CCP does. https://twitter.com/nathanlawkc/status/1464891227694850049 https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/stopasianhate-chinese-dias...

I'm not sure what you're trying to get at. Looking narrowly at Tiktok, it doesn't really capture any more than what Google/Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Linkedin all would. And regulators and orgs are OK with those systems hoovering up all the data they can. But when Tiktok showed up, it's the "China Restaurant Syndrome" all over again, with breathless scares about the evil Chinese stealing our data! Yes, China is a com…

> it doesn't really capture any more than what Google/Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Linkedin all would

Yes it does. A lot more.

> https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jul/19/tiktok-ha...

> What’s different about the way TikTok collects data?

> TikTok’s data collection methods include the ability to collect user contact lists, access calendars, scan hard drives including external ones and geolocate devices on an hourly basis.

> “When the app is in use, it has significantly more permissions than it really needs,” said Robert Potter, co-CEO of Internet 2.0 and one of the editors of the report.

> “It grants those permissions by default. When a user doesn’t give it permission … [TikTok] persistently asks.

> “If you tell Facebook you don’t want to share something, it won’t ask you again. TikTok is much more aggressive.”

> “The application can and will run successfully without any of this data being gathered. This leads us to believe that the only reason this information has been gathered is for data harvesting,” it concluded.

And that's besides the point. All social media gathers data, it matters what they do with it. TikTok by law cannot refuse a data request from the CCP, a government that has used digital tracking to locate and imprison people.

TikTok's CTO even quit over the fact that when he tried to stop TikTok from leaking data back to the CCP, he couldn't: https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/15/tiktoks-chief-security-off...

If none of this matters to you, fine. If you trust an authoritarian government more than a democratic one, ok. Just don't pretend all actors in this play are the same.

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

#228

Post by throwaway29812 »

pessimizer wrote: post #77
tarotuser wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you're trying to get at. Looking narrowly at Tiktok, it doesn't really capture any more than what Google/Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Linkedin all would. And regulators and orgs are OK with those systems hoovering up all the data they can. But when Tiktok showed up, it's the "China Restaurant Syndrome" all over again, with breathless scares about the evil Chinese stealing our data! Yes, China is a com…

He's trying to suggest that you are a Chinese agent who should be imprisoned. This is based on your "odd" opinions and your way of making arguments "exactly like the CCP does."

I personally would care if my own rhetoric matched that of a government committing human rights atrocities against civilian populations on a scale not seen since WW2, but that's me. And your attempts to put words in my mouth about "Chinese agents" is showing your paranoia, and has nothing to do with me.

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

#229

Post by snapcaster »

throwaway29812 wrote: post #226
snapcaster wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible to say anything positive or even neutral about China without a comment like this? Do you respond to every mention of the US with links of all the war crimes? Can you address the content of the comment you're responding to? Can you demonstrate that TikTok causes more harm than MSG?

> Do you respond to every mention of the US with links of all the war crimes? If the private companies in question was complicit and potentially had a role in these crimes, yes I would. But to highlight your false equivalency, private industry in the US doesn't obey the US government, despite what the bizarre TwitterFiles PR campaign by right wing operatives is trying to tell you.

So what did TikTok do specifically?

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

#230

Post by snapcaster »

kerpotgh wrote: post #203
snapcaster wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should you get a say in what applications americans decide to use?

Because that’s why we still have a society. You can’t put the ability to launch nuclear missiles in a freely distributed app so consider this a less exaggerated version of that restriction.

Come on man, can you not make absurd false equivalencies? Do you _really_ believe TikTok is comparable to an app launching NUCLEAR WEAPONS?! get a grip
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