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FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

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Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#671
I am shocked that nobody has mentioned that aside from the privacy and national security concern related to data collection, another major issue is that the chinese can literally program our Youth. They can run psychological programs, influence campaigns.

TikTok is an ominous name. It's literally creating tics in teenagers. TikTok also seems like a psychological weapon, which is a ticking time bomb until the Chinese take over the world (their stated goal)

Tic defined as "an idiosyncratic and habitual feature of a person's behavior." Yesterday, Tucker Carlson (bad man) did a segment on the difference between American TikTok and Chinese Douyin. It's clear that the Chinese are curating the algorithms differently. Douyin content is made to be good for society, whereas TikTok content is degenerate. The algorithm is everything.

China has every incentive to push our young people to be mental cases and TikTok has the potential to do this.

For example, TikTok is likely speeding up the rate at which teen girls experience rapid onset gender dysphoria. A teen may be confused about who they are, they watch one or two videos related to the topic, then they are sent down a rabbit hole of this content.

I am happy to see the FCC of this administration speaking out. TikTok was going to be banned by the last administration but this administration put a stop to that in their effort to roll back all of Trump (bad man) policy.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#672
post #33

Lots of folks here arguing that the focus on TikTok is unfair, given the data collection practices of domestic corps like Facebook. From a privacy point of view, this argument is well-founded, but I think it's tangential to the argument TFA is making, which is: this data collection done by a foreign government and exploited for surveillance or espionage is a national security risk. I get it. We want corps to stop hoo…

Honestly, if some government needs to have my data, and I can't reasonably prevent it, I would be more than happy if that's some government on the other side of the planet without practical means to put me in jail, torture, and influence to do things that can harm me and my friends and family.

Being spied by Russia, no problem. Being spied by China, no big deal either. But being spied by the USA or EU controlled entities can pose a life thread to any EU citizen.

US citizens have it only a bit better, since they are at least protected from the EU, and only their own government has power upon them.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#673
post #368
post #33

Lots of folks here arguing that the focus on TikTok is unfair, given the data collection practices of domestic corps like Facebook. From a privacy point of view, this argument is well-founded, but I think it's tangential to the argument TFA is making, which is: this data collection done by a foreign government and exploited for surveillance or espionage is a national security risk. I get it. We want corps to stop hoo…

> this data collection done by a foreign government and exploited for surveillance or espionage is a national security risk. How were Snowden revelations of USG Bigtech relationship materially different from what's happening here? Maybe it was less transparent? Any "woke" person can see the cognitive dissonance here. It's all fine that you use the geopolitical rivalry argument but not if you try to paint one side of…

The difference is that when we hear about that being done extrajudicially, it's a scandal.

We have a system where due process is required. Sometimes authorities break those laws. But the system and culture is nonetheless there and for a reason.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#674
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“We must not do anything about recent thing that is very bad and unpredictable because of this other thing which is also quite bad but we’ve been learning to manage it for 15 years”

However instead of regulating everyone, banning one player and leaving the opportunity for others (including new players) to continue "bad thing" is not a good solution, is it?

It's better than doing nothing!

If you want to argue for more laws, go ahead. But don't do this whataboutism where you pretend like you care about these issues, and argue against ways of stopping, at least some of the bad things happening.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#675
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok. Put a stop to TikTok and allow US companies to vacuum up our data. China then hacks those companies servers or installs agents within the companies and gets the data anyway. Security threat not avoided. None of these companies should be allowed to store and abuse the sensitive information people divulge when using many of these services.

Is the data the issue? Or is it ongoing interference with the algorithm that pushes content to users that's the real issue? Tweaking what the users see affects those users far more than just selling their data to make money.

Yes, the hoarded data is per se dangerous. It should not exist, as in, it should be very illegal to collect and retain. That goes for non-tech companies that do similar things, like credit card companies.

[EDIT] That is, things like credit card companies selling your purchase history. Obviously they do need to retain some of that information to operate, but they shouldn't be able to sell access to it or use it for any other purpose. Ditto banks, magazines selling subscriber lists, all that crap. Should not be legal.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#676
post #668
post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this data collection done by a foreign government and exploited for surveillance or espionage is a national security risk. How were Snowden revelations of USG Bigtech relationship materially different from what's happening here? Maybe it was less transparent? Any "woke" person can see the cognitive dissonance here. It's all fine that you use the geopolitical rivalry argument but not if you try to paint one side of…

China is not the US. China's kompromat and industrial espionage policies differ from those of the US. It is off base to compare while ignoring intentions and impact, because they're Very different countries.

No post body was provided.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#677
post #14

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Carr_(lawyer) Lawyer that opposed net neutrality and now voicing his disapproval of apps built by the China. Sounds like he's making a play to become a career politician using his version of what 'ok authoritarianism' is. I'd like to see someone actually prove a security risk rather than hypothetically posing it. I.e. show me 1000 tiktok downloaded videos run through a program wi…

> I'd like to see someone actually prove a security risk rather than hypothetically posing it.

A security risk is by nature hypothetical. If the risk comes to fruition, it's no longer a risk, it's an event or an incident or whatever.

I think it's right to say such data harvesting posses a security risk. I don't necessarily think the nationality of the corporation collecting it makes a huge difference though. If the concern is state level abuse of the harvested data, sure, it's much easier for any given state to access data when the data is stored by an entity that has strong state influence, but given the patterns of hiring at large scale data collectors, it can't be too hard to get state operatives into positions where they have large scale discrectionary access to data.

Also, I'm not really convinced that the FCC is expected to consider national security concerns, or if they have significant regulatory oversight of the app store market either?

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#678
post #611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US Navy ensures that global shipping routes stay open and safe, the US economy provides the globe with advanced technological research and products, and the US's natural resources allow for it to export tons of commodities including food and energy. During pax americana, we've seen massive increases in quality of life around the world. Do you think the world is going to be more stable as the US retreats and other…

I think the world will be more stable when there are few major players around with not a single one having complete control / dominance. This will insure competition and cooperation between our "masters" and will keep them on their toes.

> I think the world will be more stable when there are few major players around with not a single one having complete control / dominance.

Until one thinks they can get an edge over another one by jumping them:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_wars

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Military_history_by_c...

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Military_history_by_p...

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

> EUropean here. This is like the pot calling the kettle black. Europe raped the rest of the world for nearly 500 years: the British Raj, the Belgian Congo, the Opium wars, the race for Africa, Apartheid are but a few examples. Europe created modern chatel slavery. Europe started the WWI and WWII. Europe birthed Nazism and Communism. Many of the problems we currently face are the result of European meddling: from the…

The difference is that Europe stopped doing most of this a century ago, and US didn’t.

Re: FCC: TikTok is unacceptable security risk and should be removed from app stores

#680

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you forgetting that the US has been actively involved in non-stop wars around the world for the last 20 years? And before these wars started, it was doing "special operations" in eastern Europe, parts of Asia and Africa? And in Latin America it never really stoped its coups, military dictatorships and the such, especially in central America. And then of course there was the "cold" war and all the crimes in South…

Look at the hundred years before that. Everyone was fighting, all the time, not just one country with roughly one skirmish (by historical standards) at any single point.

You are all missing the point.

War is a constant.

It was in the past.

It is a constant today.

And it will be in the future.

All nations are, at heart, "evil" in this regard. Essentially, nations are just scaled up street gangs with more destructive weapons.

The only proven method of keeping these street gangs from getting too far out of hand, of keeping all our war at the level of low intensity conflict, is MAD. Nations behave only at the barrel of a gun. To argue that America is "evil" is as irrelevant as it is to argue that America is "good".

For instance, I know that all nations can be said to be "evil" at root, and "good" at root. Here's the thing though, do you think it matters to me if China is "evil" and "good"? Of course not, they're just a different street gang. The US has a responsibility to humanity to keep them in line. Should it matter to China that the US street gang is "evil" and "good"? No. They have a responsibility to humanity to keep the US in line.

In the age of weapons of mass destruction, only mutually assured destruction has ensured these street gangs don't come into conflict. Relying on sunshine and rainbows and unicorns that crap out skittles is nonsense. This is not a children's game of "good guys-bad guys". There are no good guys or bad guys. Only nations, (street gangs), pursuing interests. They are kept in line only at the barrel of a gun. Take that gun away and they will run rampant.

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