Re:Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action
by geogra4 on Saturday August 01, 2020 @07:44AM
(#24019705)
Right? That's what so unbelievable about this whole argument! Conceivably this is a tech forum where everyone posting should at least be familiar with that. Tiktok doesn't have any secret hacking rights to your system!
Re:Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action
by mdorazio on Saturday August 01, 2020 @10:34AM
(#24020718)
> TikTok poses exactly the same risk as any other app on the App/Play stores.
No, it does not. See the research here [1]. TikTok is a data collection engine disguised as a social media tool.
Re:Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action
by nmfisher on Saturday August 01, 2020 @12:09PM
(#24021523)
That was too ambiguous on my part - to clarify, I meant TikTok has exactly the same potential for risk.
TikTok isn’t doing anything that Facebook and Twitter are doing, or may do in future.
If there’s a technical security risk that we should be worried about, then I am equally worried about every single other non-Chinese company exploiting it.
If this were nation-agnostic, generic data protection laws, no one would bat an eyelid. Couching in terms of hand-wavy national security is just so implausible and blatantly self serving.
TikTok poses exactly the same risk as any other app on the App/Play stores. They go through exactly the same static code review and signing process - conducted by two American companies. Any security risk can be addressed at that point in the pipeline.
Assuming the concern is about “data security” (vs OS level security), I see literally zero difference between a state actor having access to my data, and a third party advertiser. If it’s insecure, it’s insecure - it doesn’t matter who the potential attacker is.
This is a horrible, horrible decision that has nothing to do with security, and everything to do with a horrible president desperately clawing for anything he can to get re-elected.