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

blog.malwarebytes.com

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

#81

Post by snehk »

gambiting wrote: post #61
snehk wrote: post #10

I don't have a horse in this race at all, but the annoying part is that the same rules don't get applied across the board. Everything they're accusing TikTok of - from data harvesting to the government having access to said data - is true for western companies as well and that should be the problem. Not the fact that the data is now in the hands of the Chinese but that the data is being collected at all provided to t…

>>Everything they're accusing TikTok of - from data harvesting to the government having access to said data - is true for western companies as well and that should be the problem The thing is, yes Facebook and Google's data collection is horrendous, but TikTok it literally on another level. Quite a good explanation here: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/fxgi06/comment/fmuk...

We have newer leaks about data collections that seem genuine but that particular post you've linked to has been debunked. He even promoted a subreddit where he was unable to provide proof for _any_ of his claims. Nothing ever happened. Some things just didn't make any sense like the app making regular http requests. Google doesn't allow that and they haven't allowed it for years. It's literally impossible for that to be the case, for example.

https://www.reddit.com/r/tiktok_reversing/comments/i8gig3/be...

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

#83

Post by soganess »

gambiting wrote: post #61
snehk wrote: post #10

I don't have a horse in this race at all, but the annoying part is that the same rules don't get applied across the board. Everything they're accusing TikTok of - from data harvesting to the government having access to said data - is true for western companies as well and that should be the problem. Not the fact that the data is now in the hands of the Chinese but that the data is being collected at all provided to t…

>>Everything they're accusing TikTok of - from data harvesting to the government having access to said data - is true for western companies as well and that should be the problem The thing is, yes Facebook and Google's data collection is horrendous, but TikTok it literally on another level. Quite a good explanation here: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/fxgi06/comment/fmuk...

From the link:

*

- Phone hardware (cpu type, number of course, hardware ids, screen dimensions, dpi, memory usage, disk space, etc)

- Other apps you have installed (I've even seen some I've deleted show up in their analytics payload - maybe using as cached value?)

- Everything network-related (ip, local ip, router mac, your mac, wifi access point name)

- Whether or not you're rooted/jailbroken

- Some variants of the app had GPS pinging enabled at the time, roughly once every 30 seconds - this is enabled by default if you ever location-tag a post IIRC

- They set up a local proxy server on your device for "transcoding media", but that can be abused very easily as it has zero authentication

The scariest part of all of this is that much of the logging they're doing is remotely configurable, and unless you reverse every single one of their...

*

Not trying to be flippant, but that list just sounds like google play services to me. In fact, I assumed play services collects way more data.

Also, tiktok surely must be collecting some engagement / interaction analytics... That list doesn't seem complete or legitimate.

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

#85

Post by moomoo11 »

germandiago wrote: post #62
moomoo11 wrote: post #42

Of course not. Every government is going to look out for themselves. Following your reasoning, look at China. They have their own playbook for operating within China, and it is quite restrictive. They make it harder for foreign entities to do business within China. From a geopolitical viewpoint this makes complete sense. You don't want your rival to have a backdoor into influencing/manipulating/discovering how people…

Which takes me at why we have to be rivals (we people in countries), because government are rivals and monopolize trading and resources for themselves? It is very stupid that we passively accept those rules and let them drag us like that into things of this nature. I am really (I am european) pissed off by the fact that someone decided we needed a war with Ukraine when we do not have anything for/against Russia or Uk…

I mean I get your sentiment on one hand. On the other hand, I have people in my family who knew what life is like under European (British) imperialism and being considered sub-human.

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

#86

Post by XorNot »

germandiago wrote: post #62
moomoo11 wrote: post #42

Of course not. Every government is going to look out for themselves. Following your reasoning, look at China. They have their own playbook for operating within China, and it is quite restrictive. They make it harder for foreign entities to do business within China. From a geopolitical viewpoint this makes complete sense. You don't want your rival to have a backdoor into influencing/manipulating/discovering how people…

Which takes me at why we have to be rivals (we people in countries), because government are rivals and monopolize trading and resources for themselves? It is very stupid that we passively accept those rules and let them drag us like that into things of this nature. I am really (I am european) pissed off by the fact that someone decided we needed a war with Ukraine when we do not have anything for/against Russia or Uk…

> I really do not accept that, I want to have friends from wherever, go with whoever and do business with whom I deem appropriate without asking permission to anyone.

Ask yourself what Ukranian citizens would answer to that question.

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

#87

Post by fsflover »

plugger wrote: post #59
daenz wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Help me understand your perspective: are you American or no? I have a hard time understanding why an American wouldn't see FAANG as the lesser of two evils here.

Conversely, if you're an American in America who doesn't travel abroad what is the threat TikTok poses when compared to the FAANGs? Given the cozy relationship between the US and FAANGs I think it's possible to argue that unfettered government access to FAANG data is more of a threat (to the average US citizen) when compared to the Chinese government having access to your user data via TikTok. But I'm not set on any…

>if you're an American in America who doesn't travel abroad what is the threat TikTok poses when compared to the FAANGs?

They could intentionally influence the public opinion about anything, e.g., elections.

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

#88

Post by snehk »

montag wrote: post #56
snehk wrote: post #10

I don't have a horse in this race at all, but the annoying part is that the same rules don't get applied across the board. Everything they're accusing TikTok of - from data harvesting to the government having access to said data - is true for western companies as well and that should be the problem. Not the fact that the data is now in the hands of the Chinese but that the data is being collected at all provided to t…

"I don't have a horse in this race, but (impassioned rant about what the horses should do, which ones should win or lose, and why...)" As consumers, we do have a horse in the race. I would cheer for the horse with fewer regulations, but that's just me...

I meant that as in "I don't use their apps" and it doesn't affect me whether they're available on the app stores or not.

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

#89

Post by unityByFreedom »

paulv wrote: post #80
liversage wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the article the TikTok spokesperson explains this: “It’s not logging what you’re typing. It’s an anti-fraud measure that checks the rhythm of the way people are typing to ensure it’s not a bot or some other malicious activity.”

That...seems completely reasonable to me.

Your typing cadence may be another bit of identifying personal info. Not to mention they could be lying or "not know" what their tech is really doing. Wouldn't be the first time.

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

#90

Post by jmfayard »

jpk wrote: 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…

The US government is a foreign government for 96% of the people, not to mention that its own citizens don't control it much.
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