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t0slink t1_jb3z5dc wrote

Reply to comment by Curious_Technician85 in New Bill Could Ban TikTok, Other Foreign Technology Products in US Over Data Collection Concerns by donnygel

TikTok also shares with the NSA. This was the whole point of moving the app to Oracle datacenters with tight access control and connection auditing. Oracle closely cooperates with the NSA. So yes, the NSA effectively has unfettered access to TikTok.

I suspect this is less of a national security issue at this point and more of an attempt to force a sale of TikTok to a US entity, strengthening our position in adtech. Alternatively, this is an attempt to kill TikTok entirely, accomplishing the same strengthening of our own adtech industry.

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hithisishal t1_jb4wymw wrote

I'm thoroughly convinced the Chinese use the TikTok algorithm to amplify stuff like this in the USA:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tik-tok-challenge-slap-a-teacher-school-vandalism/

And there is no way they let them do that in China.

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nicuramar t1_jb571wj wrote

You are convinced based on no real evidence, though, in a field where biases are bound to be widespread. I'd not be so sure.

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hithisishal t1_jb5kkkn wrote

Absolutely. I thought that was obvious by the word "convinced". But there is also no evidence to the contrary.

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nicuramar t1_jb5757k wrote

Well, there is cryptography.... (although that doesn't necessarily apply here.)

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PerfectPercentage69 t1_jb48kcs wrote

No. The goal was to try to move it away from China, or at least appear to. And between China and the NSA, I would rather the NSA snoops through my data. They, at least, don't commit outright genocides.

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t0slink t1_jb49q5y wrote

There is no moral government snooping on users, whether from China or the NSA. This wouldn't have to be a choice if people in this country actually cared to defend their rights in court.

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dotnetdotcom t1_jb4mqc5 wrote

Take it to court. It'll get thrown out because you have no standing. People have tried. The way it is now, nobody has standing, any case brought against them will get thrown out. (To have standing you must have been uniquely harmed or harmed more than other people by the govt.) They would have to use some of their collected data in a court case for someone to bring a 4th amendment case against them, but they dont do that. If the government needs data for a court case, they'll buy it from data brokers to skirt the 4th amendment.

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PerfectPercentage69 t1_jb4a2oa wrote

This is not a question of privacy but a question of foreign power having access to that data. Do you think that a Chinese company would respect any privacy law that the US government passes?

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t0slink t1_jb4alc0 wrote

> Do you think that a Chinese company would respect any privacy law that the US government passes?

By definition, the company would have to follow the law or it would simply be delisted. The US is no stranger to delisting foreign companies for illegal activity.

It is also easy to verify whether these companies are following the law, at least with regards to CCPA or GDPR.

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PerfectPercentage69 t1_jb4b6d3 wrote

Delist from where? Tiktok is not publicly traded. They can ban it if the US thinks they are doing something bad, like being used by a foreign power to get data on its citizens. Hence, the whole purpose of this bill.

Also, just because they might follow the law like GDPR, it doesn't mean that they can't break it at a moments notice if the CCP demands it since they have to by Chinese law.

I get your point, and I agree that we need better privacy laws, but that's a completely different issue from what this bill is trying to do.

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t0slink t1_jb4bcgv wrote

Whether it's publicly traded or not is irrelevant. US businesses can be banned from doing business with TikTok/ByteDance and thus forced to delist the app from app stores.

This is what happened to Huawei and ZTE, and it's why Huawei phones can't use Google Play Services.

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irn t1_jb4b7ph wrote

It’s not just about having data but the ability to prorrogarte the data being shown by their apps. Between Facebook and Twitter, TikTok can be manipulated into echo chambers to divide our country even more than the Russians have in the past.

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Dryandrough t1_jb4eoxk wrote

Yeah, I don't know why you're getting down voted. China is known to commit kidnappings and assassinations of Chinese ethnicity in the United States. I don't doubt they use this data

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