... this just in...

Congress is trying to ban TikTok, just in time for the elections.
In a world where Twitter has been run into the ground by a union-busting Billionaire.

It's because the internet informs people. The top-down structure is threatened when people can share information without restrictions.

that's the best part, the xenophobic scaremongering ... "we're not trying to stop young people from learning about politics*, we're pRoTeCtiNg cHiLdReN from FOREIGNERS (and PHONES)"

* (compounding the issue of not being able to win the popular vote in the last twenty years)

Never ignore a real threat.  Neo-Nazis.  Racists.  Right wing extremist conservatives.  Gun fanatics.  Then call themselves patriotic.  Jack Teixeira did more that Trump in leaking biggest national secrets.  Just as bad are so many who knew it and said nothing.  Thousands more dead in Ukraine probably resulted.  Major (most secret) intelligence techniques compromised.

As Jack says, "I don't care."

When it comes to honesty, Frontline is a 'must read' to everyone in the free world.  To appreciate how many in America are among America's enemies.
  The Discord Leaks.

We know Trump shared highly classified documents for an Iran invasion with most anyone in Mara Lago  long after he was no longer president.  And after he was ordered to return them to high security archives.  Instead, he even ordered employees to hide them.

Who really is a greatest threat.  Tik Tok is one.  But many Americans so hate the country as to not recognized greatest threats.  Extremist mindsets that create that threat.  (As if we did not learn from the Mission Accomplished war.)

What was he doing before finally captured?  Reading the Bible.  As if he was righteous.  This Frontline piece is required knowledge.
 

Last edited by tw (4/04/2024 1:17 pm)

I'm working through a  video that looks at the "phones bad" science, and points out things like-- during the "phones era" when teen suicide went up, also, other things like school shootings went up, and then, when schools closed due to COVID, forcing everyone to be stuck at home, on their phones, teen suicide went DOWN. So there's an argument that BEING AT SCHOOL is causing the harm, NOT phones.

It's such a confusion of correlation/causation that it looks like "phones bad" is just a moral panic.

Kids spent a LOT of time on phones in the fifties.
Corded ones, mostly black, and the only one for the whole family, maybe two or more if you had a party line.

Our party-line phone was constantly monitored by two busy-bodies up the road. That was small town living.

So the Tik-Tok legislation is going through. I'm coming around to flint's view of this. If you think about it in terms of surveillance capitalism  working with the surveillance state you can see some poor outcomes on this especially as we creep up on Trump's intended lifetime appointment. Not to pull an old man yelling at the sky but the internet was supposed to be distributed not run by all these monopolies.

I see three possible reasons for the TikTok ban.
1. Ignorance - Congressmen are actually falling for the security threat thing because they are ignorant
2. Corruption - Meta, its numerous subsidiaries, and other traditional media outlets funneled campaign contributions into the coffers of everyone on capital hill, and good old American protectionism is at work.  USA number 1.
3. Fear of the grassroots power of the TikTok platform.  With 170 million Americans using TikTok, and the very real possibility that a powerful message a user might post can take off if it resonates with other viewers and literally be seen by hundreds of millions of Americans has to be terrifying to elected officials.  Messages that resonate automatically rise to the top in TikTok and have an influence that money in the traditional platforms can't buy.  The people can't be allowed to have access to a megaphone if they have something  powerful to say.

So what do we do as voters?  This TikTok ban was bipartisan.  I have always supported my Democratic Virginia representative and senators, but I think they completely blew it on this one.  Do I vote for their rivals in the election in the fall?  I honestly think the Republicans are worse.  But I have to send a message that this was not cool.

glatt wrote:

  This TikTok ban was bipartisan.

It is not a ban.  It is a strong suggestion that Tik Tok find new owners.

For same technical reasons why Huawei has been banned from this country.

Apparently unknown is the problem.  Chinese simply obtained the entire US government payroll.  Matched that to the entire database for Equifax.  Then successfully eliminated all American spies in China.

All that data is easily cross referenced in super computers to make all those people vunerable.  To financial crimes.  To fraud.  To intimidation so as to blackmail those same people 10 and 20 years later.

Notice curiously how new Chinese fighter planes look so much like American ones that were not yet manufactured.

Until one can prove American kids and their identities are protected, then Tik Tok will always be an imminent threat.

Well, apparently kids are finally getting smarter.  Whereas over 40% once shared all details of their intimate life with everyone on the internet.  Today that number is down to 26%.  So only one in four are marks.  That is acceptable?



 

Last edited by tw (4/25/2024 8:51 am)

tw wrote:

Until one can prove American kids and their identities are protected, then Tik Tok will always be an imminent threat.

Imminent threat to what?
 

glatt wrote:

 EVERYONE could get that data, by simply purchasing it from data brokers."

That leaves a fingerprint.  Malicious activity, even that which results in discovering facts a decade or two from now, cannot leave a trail.  To be successful, malicious actors must not be traceable.

Tik Tok is an ideal tool for doing just that.

 

Last edited by tw (4/25/2024 12:48 pm)

Social Media apps are notorious "black boxes" which NOBODY outside the organization knows exactly what they're doing. This is a known thing, with all social media apps. This is a valid concern.

How is TikTok worse/different than Facebook?

"Tik Tok is an ideal tool for doing just that."
In what way, specifically, is TikTok a more "ideal tool" than Facebook?

glatt wrote:

They know who I am and that I like to watch certain videos.  How does that lead to my bank account?

By itself, insufficient.  But if the hanging thread from a sweater is long enough and sufficiently accessed by someone on the train, then one can keep pulling until the entire sweater is simply a pile of rags.

Huawei is a threat for the same reason Tik Tok can be a threat.  Security is only found in being anyonomous.  For the same reason security on Tik Tok only exists when management is not working for malicious sources.

Of course, that raised another relevant question.  Are the Chinese a malicious source?  Another question that should be asked.  Answer is not necessarily obvious.

Last edited by tw (4/25/2024 1:46 pm)

glatt wrote:

Wait.  So Equifax was hacked and so TikTok is bad? Huawei is bad, so TikTok is bad?

I should not have to post what is obvious.  Demonstrated by so many similar examples.  Even professionals cite the threat.  But somehow, denials prove professionals wrong?

Equifax security was only incompetence.  Therefore an easy hack.  Tik Tok security would be massively less when owners control it (for malicious purposes).  Even demonstrated is how malicious purposes can gain access even to your computer - without your knowledge.

 Why is logic so immune?  Apparently "I feel is must be safe so it must be safe" is bogus reasoning.  Explains silly claims that Tik Tok needs no security.  Since everyone personal information is always readily available to Putin.

Apparently you do not even know that encrypted data obviously and no longer provides sufficient security. Why do you not even know that?  But then somehow feel you know Tik Tok must be safe.

All they need do is download today encrypted files from your alma mater to then have access to your secure information in maybe a decade.  Obviously no security exists when top management lacks grasp of technology  (ie Equifax) OR has malicious intent (ie owners of Tik Tok).  Tik Tok is only a tiny example of a much larger threat.

Please stop ignoring this glaring example.  Why is Huawei a threat and Tik Tok is not?  Stop wasting time posting bogus denials.  Contribute facts.   Why is one not a threat when it has more access to individuals and no interest in security. Huawei would have same or less access.  But is a major threat.

Why do professional say something that only speculation denies?  Where are facts?  So many examples already demonstrate this threat.  Next time contribute something useful.  Not a tweet; a denial.  The ten paragraphs are necessary to demonstrate minimal knowledge.  Every 'so called shit' is clearly an example of how security is compromised and why it can have devastating effects.

If not grasped, then stop wasting bandwidth declaring it shit.   Quote the paragraph and state why is it not a threat.  Contribute something other then empty denials. I honestly do not know why you keep posting like an extremists (denials) rather than post (contribute) facts or examples.