July 22, 2022
"If a tech company operates in mainland China, the Communist Party can easily gain access to its data."
"One way is through China's Data Security Law, which allows the government to regulate private companies' practices for storing and managing information in China if they collect 'core data' -- a broad term that means anything Beijing sees as a national or security concern....There is a lot the Chinese government might find valuable in the data TikTok collects about American users. According to the company's privacy policy, it collects consumers' real-time location, search history and biometric data (e.g., fingerprints or facial imprints). Such information is invaluable to create identity profiles, which hackers sell to the highest bidder in Chinese black markets to commit identity fraud.... Worse, TikTok requires the use of your device's microphone to collect voiceprints. Without access to TikTok's source code, which only the company possesses, it's hard to know what the app does with the permissions it's given.... If TikTok's access is as expansive as that implies, the Chinese government could use a smartphone as a listening device.... This opens a terrifying gap in our nation's security by giving China the ability to listen to government officials' private conversations...."
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39 comments:
Trump banned Tik Tok in 2020 but Biden dropped the ban in 2021:
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57413227
Insert all the standard globalism-conspiracy-blind derangement comments below.
This warning/concern is not new. TikTok is an opiate that needs regulation...or an outright ban.
According to our President, we are in a climate emergency. China has hundreds of coal-fired power plants. China intentionally released Covid on the U.S. Our President is sick with it. And now this!
The Comander-in-Chief needs to order the USAF to bomb all those coal-fired power plant in China NOW. The future of the Planet is at stake.
“Where’s muh commie videos?”
LOL
Lol. None of that matters! What matters is you felt cute and got 150,324 views swinging your tits in something low cut while lip-syncing to Lana Del Ray.
Fucking boomers amiright!?! It's the current year!
Serious Question
How come no phone company sells a phone with a mechanical on/off switch for the microphone?
You know, a Real on/off switch? It would only add about $2 to the cost of the phone; and i'd bet that you could charge $10 for the feature.. I'd certainly pay $10.
IF/When you wanted the microphone active, you'd just slip the switch up into the On position
You could leave there all the time, if you wanted
IF/When you wanted the microphone dead, you'd just slip the switch down into the Off Position
Of course, IF you sold a phone like this, you'd be drawing attention to the fact, that your other models were constantly spying on their owners.. So, there's that.
But Still; you'd think that there'd be a market for ONE phone to have a switch; but there's none
Why is that? Anyone?
My friend who used to dox terrorists for the government & went back to school for a masters in cybersecurity, says Tik Tok is Chinese Swiss cheese software.
I sometimes wonder how the info gathering thing works when one's only exposure to tiktok is watching them on Althouse or twitter on a laptop?
@RideSpaceMountain: "What matters is you felt cute and got 150,324 views swinging your tits in something low cut while lip-syncing to Lana Del Ray."
Are the likes even real? Tinder does some dirty stuff to get people to stay on the site and spend $$$$$:
https://uxplanet.org/10-dark-tricks-tinder-uses-to-manipulate-you-25822a1e80d2
We are all merely dreaming of reality as we lie in life support tubes in the Matrix.
Tictoc, based on the samples provided by Althouse, is full of basement tier amateurish content by people who should find a new hobby.
If it's a CCP spying operation, they are targeting the same intellectual cohort as the Nigerian Prince email scam.
It's all fun and games until your kids are encouraged to strangle themselves. Black-Out! The new fun for kids.
Yes, TikTok is a diverse platform that showcases a lot of creative talent, along with a boatload of crap. And none of this would be a concern except that it's offered up to you by the same people who offered up a virus to you just a couple of years ago that ended up killing millions and changing the entire global dynamic. The CCP does not offer up things to be nice or fun. Everything they offer up has a purpose. It has to be approved before it goes out. What's the end game on this? This is not Mattel or Hasbro. This is a CCP product. They get your very singular information. Your voice, fingerprint, desires, likes, dislikes. Maybe they're just trying to put together the next generation of great fun and games for the world. Maybe. But I'd tend to look at their track record and take them at their word when they threaten you.
Muh commie videos are not a benign product. Though I do love that video of Kamala's reaction to Joe getting covid.
@Enigma
"Are the likes even real?"
Absolutely. Just as real as twitter's users in fact. Now stop being so enigmatic and open a bumble account already. Wang Peng said I get 20,000 gold for every new sucke...I MEAN new registration.
The CCP is going to clone Ann Althouse via Tik Tok.
A Chinese Althouse!
The app could be stealing your fingerprints
Emphasis on could. Or it might not. But would that generate clicks?
the FBI in USA is different how?
swinging your tits in something low cut while lip-syncing to Lana Del Ray.
Link?
After 2001 and Tron why do people trust any *computer* that talks to them?
This is the real danger. People are now accustomed to thinking of laptops or desktops as security breaches waiting to happen but that thing in their hand is 'just a phone'. I remember getting my first Droid and recognizing that I had in my hand more processing and networking power than the Apple Mac I bought back in 1985.
I sometimes wonder how the info gathering thing works when one's only exposure to tiktok is watching them on Althouse or twitter on a laptop?
I have the same question. I haven't downloaded the app. Does that matter? There are smart people in this comment section who know the answer.
Anyway, I hope those sneaky, red bastards don't snatch Ricky Gourmet and force him to vibe for the state in a slave hipster camp while they hunt up a buyer for his kidneys and what not.
@Bob Boyd
Something low cut at a birthday party is as good as Althouse will allow us to have, you'll have to use your imagination to add the swinging and Lana Del Ray part.
The idea we need to regulate social media is absurd. Just uninstall the stupid app!
China is using the British Opium War strategy to weaken us. TikTok is a small part of that. They learned from that because it worked.
Around 1860, the Brits wanted to open China up to trade and China, under the Emperor, was resistant. The Brits forced, legally and illegally, opium grown in India into China to weaken the population. Of course they also used force but to the Chinese it was the Opium that created the opening that eventually humiliated them.
Fetanyl, social media, control of mass media/academia are all components of the opium strategy. They are the new drugs of choice to weaken our society over time so we don't have the will to fight, much less win. We are slowly becoming physically ( military recruiting), mentally ( reading and math scores) and morally ( the coarseness of our culture now) weaker.
If you think about how far they have come in the last 20 years using that strategy, the next 20 years are very scary indeed.
rwnutjob said...
My friend who used to dox terrorists for the government & went back to school for a masters in cybersecurity, says Tik Tok is Chinese Swiss cheese software.
It doesn't take a whole lot to assemble a bunch of links to video files and play them on you phone. Or to record them.
Security and convenience are mutually exclusive in software by the very nature of the words. Trying to have both is actually difficult.
""If a tech company operates in mainland China, the Communist Party can easily gain access to its data.""
The United States government has access to everything you do on your phone in the US. The only thing that slowed us down overseas was the need for interpreters. Singling out Tik Tok or China is silly.
I know why they pretend differently, but nobody here should pretend.
The US federal government has a recording of every text, picture, phone call, email or anything you have sent across our communication network for at least a decade.
Then you get to decide whether Google or the US federal government is worse since Google has even more information about you stashed away.
Doesn't really matter who is worse because Google and the Feds are working together now as one entity for all intents and purposes.
I'm not worried about the Chinese. No Chicom ever called me a white supremist. I'm worried about the FBI, the DHS, and the leftists in the USA. The FBI was abusing the FISA court to surveil american citizens. Is there any reason to think they're no longer doing it?
Trump should have banned the app via executive order, and then Biden would have to explain why he wanted Chinese spyware on American phones if he reversed the order.
Yet another way Trump disappointed many conservatives...
I (erroneously according to Enigma above) thought Trump had not banned it.
I know there was a lot of talk.
So I went to comments too quickly.
But how can an executive order be issued and then just get tied up in red tape?
POTUS either has the power or not.
Enigma beat me to it. This isn't news. We've known this for several years now, and the previous administration took action to eliminate the vulnerability.
That said, this stuff is stupid: "Worse, TikTok requires the use of your device's microphone to collect voiceprints." I rate this is partly True. Yes, TikTok does require use of your device's microphone. Yes, TikTok does to get voiceprints. And if TikTok did not do this; then all your videos (unless you edited them) would not contain audio of you speaking. The same is true about TikTok's required access to your camera. If you say no, that's fine, but then you can't use TikTok's ability to record video for you to upload. You can upload video created and edited elsewhere, but not from your device. It really is a feature more than a bug (in this case a surveillance bug). If this concerns you (a WSJ reader), then perhaps you shouldn't be using your personal cellphone to create AV content for the web.
Achilles- While I agree with you that Google and the Feds have way too much info about us, the solution to that exists. It is legislative and regulatory change. Of course that is difficult to accomplish and requires about two more election cycles, but it can be done. It also requires a long overdue bureaucracy cleansing, also difficult but can be done with will and an electoral mandate.
The China privacy challenge is different. There is no solution beyond decoupling and/or war. The data they are gathering is basically a form of social targeting data and manipulation that serves as battleground prep.
We are at war with China. Sadly, the only people who realize that are the Chinese leadership. Nothing else matters until we decouple from China. At some point in the future we will find that every major social issue now; BLM, trans rights,, politicized education, immigration, global climate change, etc. has been funded by China in a cynical effort to distract and weaken us.
If China is not solved, the fact that the FBI has all of your photos will mean nothing.
Nearly 60 percent of U.S. users—and 51 percent of the company's core demographic of 18 to 24 year olds—want TikTok removed from app stores. Young adults comprise the largest age group on TikTok—42 percent as of April. Americans of all ages supported the removal at a slightly higher rate. Only 28 percent oppose the removal, and 21 percent are unsure. Just a plurality of Democrats support banning the app.
After 2001 and Tron why do people trust any *computer* that talks to them?
I was a little worried about Siri, but she/it's kind of dumb. I have earbuds with microphones when I am out riding my bike, and this was a recent ride:
Me (wanting to change playlists): "Hey Siri. . . "
nothing
Me: "Hey SIRI!!"
nothing
Me: "God DAMN it, Siri!!!!!"
nothing
Few minutes later, the gears slip causing much pain in my lower back. . .
Me: "Mother$&#@er!"
Siri: "Yes?"
Anyway, I figured TikTok was just spyware anyway and never installed it. Kinda like back when Napster came out and I was like "So, you want me to install software that allows anyone in the world access to my hard drive. . . . ."
"I have the same question. I haven't downloaded the app. Does that matter? There are smart people in this comment section who know the answer."
The thing about computer security is that it's like chess. Suppose you are going to play a game of chess for one million dollars. You're not that good at chess, so you hire a grandmaster to help you. So you'll win, right? Right. Unless the other guy's grandmaster is better than yours. Then you'll lose.
This meme remains evergreen. Again. Still.
The CCP does not offer up things to be nice or fun. Everything they offer up has a purpose. It has to be approved before it goes out.
Of course. This goes back to Bill Clinton and Loral. Back before the LA Times was owned by China.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) created a special panel headed by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) to look into charges that Clinton approved the technology transfer in response to hefty campaign contributions from aerospace executives. The Senate is planning a parallel investigation.
Oh well, that war was lost.
Jefferson's Revenge said...
Achilles- While I agree with you that Google and the Feds have way too much info about us, the solution to that exists. It is legislative and regulatory change. Of course that is difficult to accomplish and requires about two more election cycles, but it can be done. It also requires a long overdue bureaucracy cleansing, also difficult but can be done with will and an electoral mandate.
It will be interesting to see if they relinquish power after they get destroyed in the midterms.
My guess is they will not.
The China privacy challenge is different. There is no solution beyond decoupling and/or war. The data they are gathering is basically a form of social targeting data and manipulation that serves as battleground prep.
We are at war with China. Sadly, the only people who realize that are the Chinese leadership. Nothing else matters until we decouple from China. At some point in the future we will find that every major social issue now; BLM, trans rights,, politicized education, immigration, global climate change, etc. has been funded by China in a cynical effort to distract and weaken us.
The American people agree we are at war, it is our corporate oligarchs that are attached to China.
If you put a 100 million dollar bounty on Xi's head for releasing COVID on the world you would get support from almost all Trump supporters, independents and a majority of democrats.
But we have a President that just sold our Strategic Oil Reserve to the Chinese for personal profit.
If China is not solved, the fact that the FBI has all of your photos will mean nothing.
This is 100% backwards. The traitorous corrupt Regime in DC is the only lifeline China has. Any actual US President would have put the screws to China by now. What we have is essentially a Chinese Agent in the white house.
China's digital surveillance is very thorough. That China is also thoroughly corrupt is probably the saving grace.
And yes, Tik-Tok is used by the CCP for data mining.
"But Still; you'd think that there'd be a market for ONE phone to have a switch; but there's none
Why is that? Anyone?"
Because they're all made in China.
Maybe this explains the paucity of reader response to youer tik tok highlights...
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