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TikTok is now banned in Montana

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Re: TikTok is now banned in Montana

#281
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC the traffic is encrypted, all TCP/IP packets but going to bytedance servers. Without interacting with the app I have no idea what it could be sending but scary to speculate.

please speculate. I just don't understand what it would even have access to. Are you worried about it exploiting iOS bugs? Otherwise it should only have explicit access to what I grant, right? No audio, video, files, photos, contacts, location.

Right, in theory iOS should sandbox it. But all the other functionality that’s exposed is probably getting sent over (think ip address, connection settings, iOS OS fingerprint). My guess is most of that data is just a keep-alive c2 style connection with ByteDance. Heaven forbid the CCP develops some iOS zero days and then has a list of every single iOS device that would be vulnerable to it.

Re: TikTok is now banned in Montana

#282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taiwan lacks nukes and China is rapidly building out it's nuclear umbrella. I believe they absolutely intend to try to use that same nuclear threat to enable their invasion of Taiwan without American intervention.

If China successfully invades Taiwan, using nukes or not, nothing and nobody will be able to stop Japan and South Korea from building their own nukes.

I'm certain both countries could get at least one working nuke within a day if they had to.

Notwithstanding that Japan already "has" plenty of nukes, they just happen to be on American submarines.

Re: TikTok is now banned in Montana

#283
I think TikTok could easily make over $10000 a day from its Montana Audience. Although this law likely violates the 1st amendment, perhaps the best course of action is to either ignore Montana or just cut them a check.

Re: TikTok is now banned in Montana

#284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do states ? (edit - oops, see correction below) There's nothing in this law that would unban TikTok if its ownership were transferred to a US corporation.

Actually - correcting myself. There IS a clause that unbans TikTok on ownership transfer. I didn't read far enough down: > Section 4. Contingent voidness. [This act] is void if tiktok is acquired by or sold to a company that is not incorporated in any other country designated as a foreign adversary in 15 C.F.R. 7.4 at the time tiktok is sold or acquired. If TikTok is transferred to a company not owned by China the ac…

The law would still be on the books. Presumably it would become non-void, and immediately active, if a Chinese company repurchased TikTok from a non-Chinese company. Much like unconstitutional laws prohibiting abortion became immediately active again after the recent Supreme Court ruling.

Re: TikTok is now banned in Montana

#285

I wrote up a quick analysis last night here: https://ioc.exchange/@invisv/110387246627189198 Here are the takeaways: * It'd be easy for Apple and Google to prevent downloads of TikTok for most users, which would also include app updates, as they have a significant amount of knowledge of users' locations and could prevent most users in Montana -- even those using a VPN -- from downloading the app or updating it. * It'…

> side-loading of apps on Android

90%+ users are never going to use apks. If this ban kills the network effect (the R0 of the viral infection), then the last 10% aren't going to last long either.

Re: TikTok is now banned in Montana

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does a hypothetical data collection warrant a ban, while a real illegal data collection associated with illegal voter manipulation and illegal campaign financing, like the Cambridge Analytica—a British company—scandal, doesn’t?

Well, Cambridge Analytica has been disbanded since 2018 so there would be little use in banning it.

[deleted]

Re: TikTok is now banned in Montana

#287
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why are legislators so focused on banning TikTok, rather than regulating whatever it is that TikTok does that they don't like There are two issues with TikTok: privacy and national security. The latter is what this is about. (Related to e.g. our foreign media ownership rules.) The federal legislation is trying to create an extensible system for forcing divestiture based on requirements you describe. This is more ha…

There's also the third issue, which is much more problematic to fix with regulation: short-form video is absolutely killing youth attention span. I know students who will ask another student a question, and then lose focus and zone out within literally 3 seconds and not hear the answer. This was not nearly as prevalent a decade ago.

Then ban all social media altogether.

Re: TikTok is now banned in Montana

#288
post #285

I wrote up a quick analysis last night here: https://ioc.exchange/@invisv/110387246627189198 Here are the takeaways: * It'd be easy for Apple and Google to prevent downloads of TikTok for most users, which would also include app updates, as they have a significant amount of knowledge of users' locations and could prevent most users in Montana -- even those using a VPN -- from downloading the app or updating it. * It'…

> side-loading of apps on Android 90%+ users are never going to use apks. If this ban kills the network effect (the R0 of the viral infection), then the last 10% aren't going to last long either.

but of this keeps trending (more future bans) it will nudge more people to sideload to get around stupid middlemen who get in their way

countries who engage in these bans have conditioned many non-tech people to learn to use vpns and other tools

"sideloading" is the norm on desktop too, btw, and always has been

Re: TikTok is now banned in Montana

#289
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC the traffic is encrypted, all TCP/IP packets but going to bytedance servers. Without interacting with the app I have no idea what it could be sending but scary to speculate.

please speculate. I just don't understand what it would even have access to. Are you worried about it exploiting iOS bugs? Otherwise it should only have explicit access to what I grant, right? No audio, video, files, photos, contacts, location.

> Are you worried about it exploiting iOS bugs?

Yes, or gathering information not blocked.

For example, you don't need iOS permission to get general location information (IP address), or device fingerprint.

Re: TikTok is now banned in Montana

#290
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the Constitution: > Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. There is nothing there that explicitly grants private enterprises the right to store, sell, and manipulate your free speec…

>There is nothing there that explicitly grants private enterprises the right to store, sell, and manipulate your free speech. ... because the Constitution limits the government. It doesn't grant rights to private enterprise or the people (of which private enterprise is a superset.) Note the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, which explicitly state that the rights listed in the Constitution are not exhaustive, and that all s…

Note: Ninth Amendment isn't legally meaningful, just morally meaningful.

The authors believed in natural God-given rights. They didn't want a certain rights being legally enforceable to give moral carte blanche to everything else.

The legal applicability of the Ninth Amendment is similar to that the Preamble.

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