Can we literally just fix the fucking climate and stop spam callers.
One of these is far more important than the other
Spam callers killed my family.
A family of spam callers killed me.
It could happen to any of us
Equally important but not with the same degree of urgency.
So these two provisions caught my eye; under the draft agreement, executive branch agencies (the article gives the example of the DOJ or DOD) would have the ability to (among other things)
Examine TikTok’s U.S. facilities, records, equipment and servers with minimal or no notice,
In some circumstances, require ByteDance to temporarily stop TikTok from functioning in the United States.
In the case of the former, would that include user data? Given the general US gov approach to digital privacy I assume so, and granting yourself the power to do the things you’re afraid China is doing seems appropriately ironic for us.
As far as the latter, I wonder how broadly “some circumstances” is defined. If the language is broad enough, that would open the door to de facto censorship if a certain trend or info around a certain event is spreading on the site right as the government magically decides it needs to pause TikTok due to, “uh, terrorism or something, don’t worry about it.”
I’m also curious how durable this agreement would be. How hard would it be for the next administration to decide to pitch a fit and renegotiate or throw out the deal pending a new, even harsher agreement?
It would seem to me that this is pretty nakedly an assertion of power over an entity based outside the US, and not an agreement meant to protect US citizens in any meaningful way. I think any defense of this agreement as a way to protect privacy or mental health or whatever won’t be able to honestly reconcile with the fact that these exact same concerns exist with domestic social media companies
So basically, the US government doesn’t actually mind all the creepy data harvesting; it just minds not getting a spot at the trough. Typical.
I mean, it’s not just because it’s outside the US. It’s because ByteDance is legally required to collect and hand over data to the Chinese government. And it’s well beyond what any other social media app does plus unnecessary for the functionality of the app. This is not about xenophobia. This is legit about trying to stop the Chinese government from spying on US citizens who are too ignorant to realize what that app is. They just care about stupid videos.
But even if you grant the two premises there, that TikTok’s data collection is beyond that of other apps, and that said data is given to the PRC to access, this draft agreement’s solution to those problems is “let us access that collected data instead of them”. It implements measures that would affect future changes to TOS and policies, but I don’t see anything about scaling back what’s collected now. From what I can tell, this is just trying to replace who’s steering the ship. If the solution that “stops the Chinese government from spying on US citizens” just changes the government that’s doing the spying, I don’t see how that helps said US citizens in any way. The CPC isn’t the one who can put me on a no-fly list on a whim.
That’s my fundamental issue with this, as well as the relevant proposed legislation; it’s not a good-faith attempt to protect US citizens.
I’m pretty sure access to records doesn’t mean business data. It’s more likely business records. The US government wouldn’t be able to efficiently go through that data anyway. Big Data doesn’t work that way.
It’s like saying you’re going to copy YouTube videos as they’re uploaded.
And it’s well beyond what any other social media app does plus unnecessary for the functionality of the app.
I’ll need to rewatch this to remember the specifics, but this privacy YouTuber named Rob Braxman did a comparison of the permissions and terms from Tik Tok and other social media apps, and Tik Tok came out quite favourably: https://youtu.be/VIakTNOhNSE
Chinese government spying or interference in the algorithm is probably real, but it’s still a far superior product at the end of the day, which tells you something about how bad the competition is. To compare Tik Tok to Instagram reels is completely absurd.
I love that you’re just cool with an oppositional government spying because you like the pretty videos. Please, tell me more intelligent things.
And please, where did I mention Reels? And what makes it a far superior product behind marketing? What can TikTok do that any other can’t?
Great response. Definitely I want to continue the discussion.
Because GitHub has load balances that direct traffic occasionally through a server hosted under Chinese jurisdiction.
Where the hell did you get that from? Do you have a source for that?
The US government as I work for them. The IP in question is blocked for that reason.
Edit: Slack was also intermittent a few years back due to the same kind of situation. China owns a decent amount of internet infrastructure. It’s fine for normal traffic as TLS and the like, but the US government doesn’t risk it on their administrative or development networks.
and granting yourself the power to do the things you’re afraid China is doing seems appropriately ironic for us.
I’m so glad to hear some of you are self aware.
If you don’t post subversive messages, they won’t be taken down. Get with the program.
DO NOT BE SUBVERSIVE, FELLOW CITIZEN
It’s like them saying “listen, we love authoritarian governance. Wanna have some of this TikTok bussy?” And then flaunts it’s ass while winking and throwing kisses. Republicans be all sweaty, losening their ties, licking their lips…
This will destroy what we love about TikTok. The ability to get silenced news stories out that the established press either refuse to report on, or serve to hide or water down the narrative. The train derailment, the Alabama waterfront brawl, news on terrible legislative happenings, the ability to coordinate flashmob style protests.
They do this, we will NEED a replacement. I refuse to go back to navigating this political landscape blindly.
i can’t tell if this is a joke or not.
Not. If you TikTok you know
It could be a Chinabot. At a certain point on Lemmy I realized that there are quite a few bots or bot-like users here that will just fire-and-forget some statement that’s (1) psychologically persuasive (2) vaguely plausible if you don’t scrutinize it, and (3) in support of some point of view that a state actor wants people to have. Then, they’ll never respond again.
Maybe I’m being cynical and this person will be open to a back and forth with some kind of justification or something, but my money’s against it. The “destroy what we love about Tiktok” was the giveaway for me. Again I could be wrong, but that’s generally not how real human people phrase things.
I’m guessing people aren’t interacting with you because your tone makes it clear you aren’t looking for a conversation. Not everyone that disagrees with you is a bot. You’re type of “debating” is draining, don’t be a dick in how you ask and maybe people will be more open to explaining their position. Not everything is a fight.
Yeah, I think you’re right in this instance. I looked back at my comments here and I was definitely a dick.
IDK, I’ve become sort of embittered talking with people on lemmy.world. I think my comment history overall can speak for itself in terms of whether I’m looking for a conversation or an argument most of the time… but I’ve also had many interactions where it’s very clear the other people are simply not operating on a level of “let’s talk about it because we’re both interested in the truth.” I’ve noticed that over time I’ve tended more and more towards jumping to the conclusion that the person I’m talking to is not operating in good faith.
That’s not to excuse this instance. You’re honestly 100% right, and even my “polite” initial message in this case is basically looking for a fight, which isn’t helpful whether I’m right or wrong. IDK, maybe the answer is for me to go to some community where I won’t need to feel this cynicism at people I’m talking to right out of the gate. I don’t think me being embittered when talking to anyone is good for anything, no.
TikTok is and always has been hot garbage, so I can see why kids would enjoy it.
Ha. TikTok is heavily censored by the Chinese government. It also is a mass data collection beyond any other social media app, well beyond anything that serves the company. Its essentially spying on you. ByteDance is effectively also owned by the Chinese Government. It’s not a privately owned app.
There is a replacement. You’re probably on most of them. It just won’t be short form video.
Genuinely. The chinese government uses algorithms and active moderation to make sure their tiktok is not nearly as wild as ours.
