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Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

businessinsider.com

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Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#341

Post by billfruit »

jjcon wrote: post #335
fqye wrote: post #258

If the US forced ByteDance to sell Tiktok, the US would lose its last bit of moral high ground in China, the spirit of free market and rule by law. If you are worried about data leakage to China, you set rules and law and enforce them. That is what China is doing. They asked Apple and other cloud service provider to store data in China. The US could setup clear rules and regulations about where to put data of US user…

> would lose its last bit of moral high ground in China I mean it is no different than the EU requiring US companies to host data in EU data centers. China has banned so many US companies - why is it unfair to retaliate? The use of economic power shouldn’t only be acceptable when done by corporations. Governments with a backbone should use it too (like the EU has done when appropriate)

Banning something unless they/it has provabley broken US laws, merely out of spite and retaliatory motives isn't something that is acceptable in a democracy like the US.

Also it appears the 'national security' threat of tik-tok seem way overhyped, it is like a country speaking of Instagram as a national security threat.

Neither apple not Google has found TikTok problematic enough to pull it from their app stores.

Such claims of threat to 'national security', needs to be viewed with a certain skepticism, as these seems to get easily accepted by US lawmakers without sufficient, dispassionate analysis.

Also in general banning apps/services should not be the purview of the government under any reason. Why should the government dictate which apps an individual can use on their own phones/computers?

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#342

Post by grazhero99 »

ponker wrote: post #336
grazhero99 wrote: post #321

I think this would probably one of the better outcomes for this situation, outside of somehow convincing every teenager in the world to stop using garbage spyware apps (good luck with that). Microsoft and the US government are at least more of a "devil you know" than China I'd say. Obviously far from ideal, but cutting off the CCP's direct access to the personal data and impressionable minds of millions of young peop…

Also of all the big tech companies Microsoft is probably the worst at psychological warfare to hack into people’s brains and change their behaviors. As annoying as Microsoft Office is, it’s not trying to manipulate your political beliefs or get you to buy some shoes you don’t need.

Well, I can think of at least a couple examples where Microsoft or a subsidiary tries to do stuff like that. The big difference I think is that they almost always fail at it, due to how out of touch the higher ups are with how people actually think. Everyone pretty much knows that Microsoft is not, nor will they ever be, your friend.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#343

Post by captn3m0 »

tboughen wrote: post #242
freehunter wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every major cloud vendor has zones outside the US. Just because you’re hosted on Azure doesn’t mean you’re hosted in the US or that US law applies to you.

My understanding of the 2018 CLOUD act is that a US headquartered cloud vendor must hand over subpoenaed customer data even if the datacentre is outside the USA. https://www.dlapiper.com/en/us/insights/publications/2018/04...

TIL. This is crazy

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#344

Post by jjcon »

billfruit wrote: post #341
jjcon wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> would lose its last bit of moral high ground in China I mean it is no different than the EU requiring US companies to host data in EU data centers. China has banned so many US companies - why is it unfair to retaliate? The use of economic power shouldn’t only be acceptable when done by corporations. Governments with a backbone should use it too (like the EU has done when appropriate)

Banning something unless they/it has provabley broken US laws, merely out of spite and retaliatory motives isn't something that is acceptable in a democracy like the US. Also it appears the 'national security' threat of tik-tok seem way overhyped, it is like a country speaking of Instagram as a national security threat. Neither apple not Google has found TikTok problematic enough to pull it from their app stores. Suc…

> Banning something unless they/it has provabley broken US laws, merely out of spite and retaliatory motives isn't something that is acceptable in a democracy like the US.

Why?

Stuff like this has happened all the time in plenty of democratic countries across the world. Not sure I see the issue (like my EU example). It’s just a state wielding economic power as opposed to a corporation.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#345

Post by khuey »

mullingitover wrote: post #324
khuey wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government of China doesn't have a First Amendment right to free speech in the United States.

It's a huge relief that ByteDance is not the government of China. What level of foreign ownership makes a company purely foreign controlled? If funds controlled by Chinese nationals bought stakes in Facebook/Twitter/Alphabet, wouldn't that put them in the same category? What portion of ByteDance would have to be owned by non-Chinese people before it would be in the clear?

The premise of why a Chinese company(ies) should be singled out in this way is that China is a totalitarian state where people and corporations are subject to the absolute will of the Communist Party so "ByteDance is not the government of China" isn't going to convince anyone who believes this action is justified.

If Facebook/Twitter/Alphabet were to be acquired by Chinese interests that would almost certainly be blocked by CFIUS just like the potential Broadcom/Qualcomm acquisition was a couple years ago.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#346

Post by xster »

ac29 wrote: post #307
xster wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> US would lose its last bit of moral high ground in China, the spirit of free market and rule by law. No it won't change a thing. And to be fair, forcing a sell (which is just forcing it to exit all stakes in the US market) is a far cleaner move than trying to end the company globally like it's doing for Huawei. > This act is pure bullying and imperialism. This is nothing compared to overthrowing Iran's democratic g…

> helping the despot build 23 nuclear power plants Iran has one nuclear power plant, and it opened in 2011. It was built mostly by the Russians. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushehr_Nuclear_Power_Plant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Iran

This is the first sentence

    By 2012, Iran had roughly 400 power plant units
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_program_of_Iran

The Shah approved plans to construct up to 23 nuclear power stations by 2000.[24] In March 1974, the Shah envisioned a time when the world's oil supply would run out, and declared, "Petroleum is a noble material, much too valuable to burn ... We envision producing, as soon as possible, 23,000 megawatts of electricity using nuclear plants."[25]

Advertisement from the 1970s by American nuclear-energy companies, using Iran's nuclear program as a marketing ploy US and European companies scrambled to do business in Iran.[26] Bushehr, the first plant, would supply energy to the city of Shiraz. In 1975, the Erlangen/Frankfurt firm Kraftwerk Union AG, a joint venture of Siemens AG and AEG, signed a contract worth $4 to $6 billion to build the pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant. Construction of the two 1,196 MWe, and was to have been completed in 1981.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#347

Post by est31 »

quicklime wrote: post #72

Does Trump have the power to just order a company to be broken up like this? I get that there’s a national security angle to this, but I imagine there would be outrage if he unilaterally decided to break up Facebook, for example.

Trump is not acting totally unilaterally here. The intelligence community is critical of TikTok as well as multiple republican senators.

In fact, it's even possible that the government is involved in this purchase in some form, by either using their good standing as big MS customers (how many federal employees run Windows+Ms Office computers?), or by offering money directly, something that is purported to have happened when Microsoft purchased Skype a few years ago. Getting rid of E2EE for Skype, which Microsoft eventually did, was a big request of the US intelligence community.

Ultimately it'd be a good resolution to the issue. No more spying by China and American teenagers can safely continue using the app.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#348

Post by [deleted] »

jjcon wrote: post #344
billfruit wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banning something unless they/it has provabley broken US laws, merely out of spite and retaliatory motives isn't something that is acceptable in a democracy like the US. Also it appears the 'national security' threat of tik-tok seem way overhyped, it is like a country speaking of Instagram as a national security threat. Neither apple not Google has found TikTok problematic enough to pull it from their app stores. Suc…

> Banning something unless they/it has provabley broken US laws, merely out of spite and retaliatory motives isn't something that is acceptable in a democracy like the US. Why? Stuff like this has happened all the time in plenty of democratic countries across the world. Not sure I see the issue (like my EU example). It’s just a state wielding economic power as opposed to a corporation.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#349

Post by Leary »

jjcon wrote: post #344
billfruit wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banning something unless they/it has provabley broken US laws, merely out of spite and retaliatory motives isn't something that is acceptable in a democracy like the US. Also it appears the 'national security' threat of tik-tok seem way overhyped, it is like a country speaking of Instagram as a national security threat. Neither apple not Google has found TikTok problematic enough to pull it from their app stores. Suc…

> Banning something unless they/it has provabley broken US laws, merely out of spite and retaliatory motives isn't something that is acceptable in a democracy like the US. Why? Stuff like this has happened all the time in plenty of democratic countries across the world. Not sure I see the issue (like my EU example). It’s just a state wielding economic power as opposed to a corporation.

EU requires data to be based in the EU. So a US equivalent would be to require data to be based in the US, not banning whatever tickles its fancy.

Consistent rule of law allows economic actors to make proper planning and decisions. If the US wants to ban Chinese apps, it should pass a law saying that.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#350

Post by smnrchrds »

notatoad wrote: post #331
torbital wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A company occasionally working together with the US government is very different than China's state-run companies.

you're right. for me personally, i think it's much worse. the odds that chinese goverment data collection ever affects me is minimal. as a canadian citizen who sometimes visits the US and routinely uses services provided by american companies, the odds that US government data collection affects me in some way is pretty high.

Indeed the US data collection can have a much deeper and more immediate negative effect on Canadians' lives.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4461315/will-your-cannabis-credit...

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