FCC Commissioner Calls for Apple and Google to Ban TikTok Over 'Surreptitious' Data Practices

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

For Apple to ban TikTok it would mean they'd need to have a spine.

I don't know a single corporation with a spine.

The only guts I see corporations display is on matters that can be spun into increased revenue.

Apple and China are too deeply dependent on each other for Apple to even suggest small changes for TikTok as the latter is essentially, or legally, a subsidiary of the Chinese government as most of the biggest businesses in China are.

Banning or regulation is not going to happen unless the U.S. government steps in and declares TikTok and similar apps to be threats to national security (which it should, just to be clear).

 

[laptech]

Trump administration RIGHT, Biden administration WRONG. nothing more needs to be said.

 

[FindingAvalon]

Nothing in my statement reveals hurt of any sort. Another member of the forum explaining to you facts from a position of insight, or highlighting you being wrong is not an attack on you so please don't take it that way! It is simply revealing where your area of knowledge is lacking for the purpose of enlightening you so you can eventually debate from a position based on facts rather than 'feelings'.

Because of your repeated abuse I will now block you for an unspecified period. Please do not send me any messages. Good day.

Lol at you. What you understand about any of this wouldn’t fill a thimble. Thanks though for confirming my whole point about you being butthurt. Lol.

 

[svish]

Wonder what will happen! Might end up being removed after all.

 

[MedRed]

@LeadingHeat​

Biden drops Trump attempt to ban TikTok, WeChat; orders new review

President Joe Biden on Wednesday withdrew a series of Trump-era executive orders that sought to ban new downloads of WeChat and TikTok, and ordered a Commerce Department review of security concerns posed by those apps and others.

www.reuters.com

That quote is from Biden's 2021 EO rescinding Trump's EO to ban TikTok and WeChat.

​

 

[djstile]

I thought we already banned this...weird.

 

[djstile]

I knew some smart ass would come in here with that. I mean they were fighting it with the trump administration and now they’re fully in support of it.

It's painfully obvious that Joe just got rid of anything and everything Trump did because "orange man bad" regardless of whether or not it was a good idea. Now that enough time has passed, the FCC can suggest banning TikTok - which is totally different than Joe issuing an Executive Order (because it's not like the chairman of the FCC is appointed by the President or anything). They know this but just want to somehow make it: same action but it's correct now because it was done by my team.

 

[visualseed]

It's painfully obvious that Joe just got rid of anything and everything Trump did because "orange man bad" regardless of whether or not it was a good idea. Now that enough time has passed, the FCC can suggest banning TikTok - which is totally different than Joe issuing an Executive Order (because it's not like the chairman of the FCC is appointed by the President or anything). They know this but just want to somehow make it: same action but it's correct now because it was done by my team.

This isn't the FCC or the Chair of the FCC that is doing it. It's a single guy (Carr) on the commission that did it on his own. The last few days he has been walking it back saying it has no legal merit and was only a personal request to start a dialog. App stores aren't even under the FCC's authority to regulate.

 

[russell_314]

Zuckerberg and the US government don’t like competition 😂

 

[maxoakland]

I don't know a single corporation with a spine.

Corporations have tons of spine when it comes to dealing with Unions or consumers asking for something that would cost them a penny. Other than that, none

 

[wigby]

Naive Americans believe Google and Facebook are not invasive but only the ‘foreign’ Chinese company is? Ridiculous, they all are intrusive. But Google should not be the one to decide to ban TikTok because this is its only competitor that is a real and tangible threat to its video platform monopoly.

I prefer Chinese companies to American ones because Chinese companies won't hand over data to our government and lobby for laws that can violate our rights. And as far as subverting fair elections, I think we also have that pretty wrapped up here domestically.

 

[n8236]

The Federal Communications Commission has asked Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores because of its "pattern of surreptitious data practices," reports TechCrunch.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is said to have written to Apple and Google on Tuesday to make the request, which comes after a BuzzFeed News report last week claimed TikTok staff in China have had access to U.S. users' data despite statements made by the company suggesting otherwise.
TikTok has historically responded to data privacy concerns by promising that the data of users in the United States is stored in the U.S., rather than China, where the app's parent company ByteDance is located. However, according to BuzzFeed News, TikTok staff in China had access to U.S. user data up until January 2022. The claim contradicts testimony given by a TikTok executive under sworn oath in an October 2021 Senate hearing that a "world-renowned, US-based security team" decides who gets access to U.S. users' data.

TikTok responded to the report by announcing that it is moving all U.S. users' data to Oracle servers situated in the country. The company said it uses its own U.S. and Singapore-based servers for backup, but in future it expects to "delete U.S. users' private data from our own data centers and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the U.S."

"We're also making operational changes in line with this work – including the new department we recently established, with US-based leadership, to solely manage US user data for TikTok," the company added.

TikTok's user data practices have been a point of controversy for several years now, and former U.S. President Donald Trump signed several executive orders banning apps tied to China during his time in office. In the most high profile order, Trump sought a ban of the short-form video app TikTok in 2020.

However, Trump's bans were never enforced after several court orders blocked the restrictions, despite claims by the Trump administration that the apps posed a risk to national security.

In June 2021, President Joe Biden revoked the executive orders that Trump issued in August, which attempted to force ByteDance to divest TikTok to a U.S. company, along with another one that targeted several other messaging and financial transaction apps including Alipay and WeChat Pay. Instead, the Biden administration has said it is taking an "evidence-based approach" when reviewing the security concerns posed by apps.

Biden's executive order states that the collecting of data from Americans "threatens to provide foreign adversaries with access to that information," and directs the Commerce Department to continually evaluate any transactions that "pose an undue risk of catastrophic effects on the security or resiliency of the critical infrastructure or digital economy of the United States."

Article Link: FCC Commissioner Calls for Apple and Google to Ban TikTok Over 'Surreptitious' Data Practices

There’s a reason why AWS, Azure, and GCP isn’t hosting their data…OCI isn’t exactly what one would call top-tier.

 

[Maximara]

Trump administration RIGHT, Biden administration WRONG. nothing more needs to be said.

Trump administration WRONG (about winning the 2020 election) Seriously if either administration was concerned about national security they would do something about all the dark web sites coming out of China and Russia.

 

[wigby]

Trump administration WRONG (about winning the 2020 election) Seriously if either administration was concerned about national security they would do something about all the dark web sites coming out of China and Russia.

What does the dark web have to do with national security? Dark web is mostly for legal and illegal commerce so there are plenty of bad actors there but it's not like they're applying for state sponsored hacking jobs over the dark web.

 

[Maximara]

What does the dark web have to do with national security? Dark web is mostly for legal and illegal commerce so there are plenty of bad actors there but it's not like they're applying for state sponsored hacking jobs over the dark web.

As The Role of the Dark Web in Future Cyber Wars to Come (02/21/2019) shows what the dark web has to do with national security.

*Sale of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Sensitive Documents
*United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM)getting their database hacked.
*Terrorist Use of Dark Web to Engage in Financing & Weapons Acquisition
*Zero-Day Exploits —"From a national security perspective, the uncontrolled proliferation of zero-day exploits raises many concerns, as these capabilities have historically demonstrated a capacity to significantly affect the national security arena."

"Uranium, dangerous chemical compounds, military grade firearms —> these are sample subset of the types of weapons that have been listed on the Dark Web."

"Whereas the Dark Web is most well-known for hosting illicit economic trade, it has become clear that the Dark Web also holds some very serious national security implications that will affect most nations throughout the globe. The proliferation of cyber and kinetic weapons, the facilitation of terrorism, intelligence gathering, extortion, malicious services-for-hire —> all of these illicit activities are occurring on the Dark Web, and the evidence put forth in this paper suggests that these activities may occur at increasing rates in the coming future."

 

[wigby]

As The Role of the Dark Web in Future Cyber Wars to Come (02/21/2019) shows what the dark web has to do with national security.

*Sale of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Sensitive Documents
*United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM)getting their database hacked.
*Terrorist Use of Dark Web to Engage in Financing & Weapons Acquisition
*Zero-Day Exploits —"From a national security perspective, the uncontrolled proliferation of zero-day exploits raises many concerns, as these capabilities have historically demonstrated a capacity to significantly affect the national security arena."

"Uranium, dangerous chemical compounds, military grade firearms —> these are sample subset of the types of weapons that have been listed on the Dark Web."

"Whereas the Dark Web is most well-known for hosting illicit economic trade, it has become clear that the Dark Web also holds some very serious national security implications that will affect most nations throughout the globe. The proliferation of cyber and kinetic weapons, the facilitation of terrorism, intelligence gathering, extortion, malicious services-for-hire —> all of these illicit activities are occurring on the Dark Web, and the evidence put forth in this paper suggests that these activities may occur at increasing rates in the coming future."

I guess I misunderstood your question but asking them to do something about the dark web is a little like asking them to shut down the internet. It won't happen, but they monitor it and take action based on credible intelligence. Not sure what else they could do.

 

[Maximara]

I guess I misunderstood your question but asking them to do something about the dark web is a little like asking them to shut down the internet. It won't happen, but they monitor it and take action based on credible intelligence. Not sure what else they could do.

And this is different from Tiktok how?

 

[scheinderrob]

Same can be said for macrumors forum users.

no, it can't.

 

[wigby]

And this is different from Tiktok how?

Are you comparing the entire Internet to a single company?

 

[Maximara]

Are you comparing the entire Internet to a single company?

"monitor it and take action based on credible intelligence." Doesn't the US already do this?

 

[Solomani]

And the call to ban Facebook? *crickets*

Facebook = Old People's TikTok. Also a waste of time. But equally vulnerable to Chinese and Russian infiltration.


But you can't ban Facebook because.... Old People still control the US Government. Including the FCC bureaucrats that suggested (to Apple and Google) to ban TikTok. Yup, they are mostly old Boomers (or Gen X-ers) in Government. Good luck trying to take their Facebook away from them.

This is truth.

 

[Maximara]

Facebook = Old People's TikTok. Also a waste of time. But equally vulnerable to Chinese and Russian infiltration.


But you can't ban Facebook because.... Old People still control the US Government. Including the FCC bureaucrats that suggested (to Apple and Google) to ban TikTok. Yup, they are mostly old Boomers (or Gen X-ers) in Government. Good luck trying to take their Facebook away from them.

This is truth.

I belong to Generation X (real early part) and from what I see even the younger members of the US Government seem to not understand technology at the level I do. Facebook has a purpose though I never really regularly used it. I agree we have too many fossils in government who think a wired telephone is high tech but given how sheltered so many of them seem would the younger ones really be any better?

 

[Solomani]

I belong to Generation X (real early part) and from what I see even the younger members of the US Government seem to not understand technology at the level I do. Facebook has a purpose though I never really regularly used it. I agree we have too many fossils in government who think a wired telephone is high tech but given how sheltered so many of them seem would the younger ones really be any better?

The "somewhat younger" politicians in Congress are... pretty much in their 50s and maybe late 40s. Look at their ages (look at the ages of Senators, Representatives, White House officials, Cabinet members) And you realize the "younger segment" of DC Politicians are..... exactly defined as Generation X.

And I am discounting the very very few super-young politicians, such as 20-something Madison Cawthorne or The Squad (like AOC), who are probably in the Millennials category. They are a very small minority.


Summary: Senior politicians are still dominated by the Boomers. Next after them are the Generation X politicians.


I fall into the early Gen X myself.... but grew up open to technology. Generation X... we have experienced everything. 8-tracks that our parents loved? Witnessed that. The clunky rapper boomboxes of the 80s? Check. The Motorola pagers before the rise of cellphones? Check. The blocky ringer telephones with the spinning dial wheel? Yes, our Boomer parents had those in the house. The rise of VHS versus Betamax? Check. The birth of Apple and the Macintosh? Yes, we were young kids then. The birth of Dungeons and Dragons? Yes, we were kids back then. The debut of Star Wars Episode IV in 1977? Yes, it was a glorious time to be a kid. Being spoiled with thousands of huge Toys-R-Us stores everywhere in America? Yes, we were spoiled as Gen X kids.

The introduction of the original Atari console? Yes. Happened when we were Gen X kids.

The introduction of the original Nintendo? Yes. Happened when we were Gen X kids.

The introduction of the first Playstation? Yes. We were probably teenagers or early adults by then.

And then we fast forward to the 21st century.... most of us Gen Xers are still working, and we can embrace 21st century technology easily. Our Boomer parents have a much harder time, and we always have to help them with their PCs, help them set up their iPhones, or show them how to use an iPad for the first time. And when we are too busy to help them? We tell our Boomer parents: "Go call your 16-year-old grandson, he can help set up your iphone to your WiFi."

 

[Maximara]

I fall into the early Gen X myself.... but grew up open to technology. Generation X... we have experienced everything. 8-tracks that our parents loved? Witnessed that. The clunky rapper boomboxes of the 80s? Check. The Motorola pagers before the rise of cellphones? Check. The blocky ringer telephones with the spinning dial wheel? Yes, our Boomer parents had those in the house. The rise of VHS versus Betamax? Check. The birth of Apple and the Macintosh? Yes, we were young kids then. The birth of Dungeons and Dragons? Yes, we were kids back then. The debut of Star Wars Episode IV in 1977? Yes, it was a glorious time to be a kid. Being spoiled with thousands of huge Toys-R-Us stores everywhere in America? Yes, we were spoiled as Gen X kids.

The introduction of the original Atari console? Yes. Happened when we were Gen X kids.

The introduction of the original Nintendo? Yes. Happened when we were Gen X kids.

The introduction of the first Playstation? Yes. We were probably teenagers or early adults by then.

And then we fast forward to the 21st century.... most of us Gen Xers are still working, and we can embrace 21st century technology easily. Our Boomer parents have a much harder time, and we always have to help them with their PCs, help them set up their iPhones, or show them how to use an iPad for the first time. And when we are too busy to help them? We tell our Boomer parents: "Go call your 16-year-old grandson, he can help set up your iphone to your WiFi."

IMHO the really late Boomers have more in common with Generation X then with the rest of their group. Born 1964 and you are a Boomer but 1965 you are Generation X? Agewise there isn't that much difference (effectively nil really) Heck, I still remember a piece that put the Boomers as late as 1967 (1946 + real low end of 20–⁠30 year range). The current 15 years that gets thrown around is a big 'huh'?

 

[VulchR]

IMHO the really late Boomers have more in common with Generation X then with the rest of their group. Born 1964 and you are a Boomer but 1965 you are Generation X? Agewise there isn't that much difference (effectively nil really) Heck, I still remember a piece that put the Boomers as late as 1967 (1946 + real low end of 20–⁠30 year range). The current 15 years that gets thrown around is a big 'huh'?

I was born before 1964 but consider myself a Gen X'er. I never really bought into the nonsense a lot of my peers got up to and found myself much more aligned with younger folk. I don't think birth dates are important, but outlook and culture is.