Banning TikTok - Really?

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gzt

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#272838 19-Jul-2020 13:40

Looks like the Whitehouse is planning to ban TikTok, at least in the USA. Most of the concerns cited by commentators are around the security of the application, and security of user data.

Imo these are typical problems and issues with a whole range of Android and iPhone apps made by anyone and are not unique to TikTok.

Isn't the answer here at Android/iOS platform level - providing better security and permission control for users?

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#2525649 19-Jul-2020 16:06

I suspect it stands out from the crowd of insecure give all your data to the Chinese government apps/companies is because of it's popularity.

When viewed alongside the bans on Huawei, ZTE, Dahua, etc it makes more sense.

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scuwp

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#2525653 19-Jul-2020 16:13

Like everyone else isn't using the data anyway.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

gzt

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#2525654 19-Jul-2020 16:14

Lias:When viewed alongside the bans on Huawei, ZTE, Dahua, etc it makes more sense.

The hypothetical does make sense when viewed alongside the above silly decision that resulted in future Huawei users having no play store access. It would be another silly decision that will only be bad for the Android open source / and iOS apps ecosystem. It makes no more sense to me than cutting off your own foot.

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#2525655 19-Jul-2020 16:24

gzt:
Lias:When viewed alongside the bans on Huawei, ZTE, Dahua, etc it makes more sense.

The hypothetical does make sense when viewed alongside the above silly decision that resulted in future Huawei users having no play store access. It would be another silly decision that will only be bad for the Android open source / and iOS apps ecosystem. It makes no more sense to me than cutting off your own foot.

It makes sense if you are conducting economic warfare against China.

ezbee

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#2525656 19-Jul-2020 16:26

My main issue with apps like this is, they are as strong attraction to young children as risky.
So youngsters end up linking up with others who may not be who they say they are.
Content that follows you for the rest of you life, and all that stuff.
Plus the trojan horse of selling support for content providers, who get into egregious levels of begging.
Lack of Parental controls, or age limit , maybe they have resolved this ?

The usual attitude get the money in first and worry about the rest later.
Remember the infamous iPhone Diamond App , 1 click and $1000's gone , at least Apple forced a refund on that.

But that applies to a lot in the App and Internet world.

For average person having your content or children's content on a platform that is beholding to less transparent Governments ?
Well probably no big deal.
Maybe you take a trip, and your child supported a politically dangerous performer, a singer that also sings HK protest songs ?
If you aspire to public office, or work in military or security apparatus, develop a vaccine that is hot property.
Risks differ , you can choose who has easier access.
Most people are not specific targets.

Though a provider may censor and adjust ease of access of content to suit their masters too.

Google (Don't be Evil) and Apple take their cut , so are conflicted, arguably Apple does a better job, but is it good enough ?

Such is the world we created.

freitasm

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#2525675 19-Jul-2020 17:03

gzt: Looks like the Whitehouse is planning to ban TikTok, at least in the USA. Most of the concerns cited by commentators are around the security of the application, and security of user data.

You folks might be ignoring (or didn't know) the politics of it.

TikTok users impacted Donald Trump's Tulsa election rally. He is a vindictive person.

Yes, TikTok is probably as bad as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp - oh, don't you use them?

This is not because someone in the White House is worried about their citizens' security or privacy. They are worried about young voters organising themselves through this app.

"TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally"

President Trump’s campaign promised huge crowds at his rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday, but it failed to deliver. Hundreds of teenage TikTok users and K-pop fans say they’re at least partially responsible.

Brad Parscale, the chairman of Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign, posted on Twitter on Monday that the campaign had fielded more than a million ticket requests, but reporters at the event noted the attendance was lower than expected. The campaign also canceled planned events outside the rally for an anticipated overflow crowd that did not materialize.

Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said protesters stopped supporters from entering the rally, held at the BOK Center, which has a 19,000-seat capacity.

But reporters present said there were few protests. According to a spokesman for the Tulsa Fire Department on Sunday, the fire marshal counted 6,200 scanned tickets of attendees. (That number would not include staff, media or those in box suites.)

TikTok users and fans of Korean pop music groups claimed to have registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets for Mr. Trump’s campaign rally as a prank. After the Trump campaign’s official account @TeamTrump posted a tweet asking supporters to register for free tickets using their phones on June 11, K-pop fan accounts began sharing the information with followers, encouraging them to register for the rally — and then not show.

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#2525678 19-Jul-2020 17:21

freitasm: TikTok users impacted Donald Trump's Tulsa election rally. He is a vindictive person.

I completely forgot about that. He did look a bit sad that day. It's actually really hard to get used to the idea that significant policy is made on this kind of basis.

ezbee

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#2525792 19-Jul-2020 18:49

True Ban is the wrong answer, its just revenge.

There are generic problems across all social media platforms.

Better user controls and defaults for all Apps and service providers, no matter if they be Facebook, Youtube, or Tiktok.
Google / Apple also need to review permission controls to give more capability to users with appropriate defaults to control.
More controls on apps sharing data , and payment limits within apps , especially where children and intangible products are involved.

A log of what data is being sent in the background by what apps would be great so we had visibility.

This ban if enacted would just ignore what really needs to be looked at across the board for all.

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#2525793 19-Jul-2020 18:50

What’s the reason behind India banning it?

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

Handle9

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#2525796 19-Jul-2020 18:53

Dingbatt:

What’s the reason behind India banning it?

India and China have a fairly interesting relationship. In many cases Chinese products are not acceptable for Indian public works.

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#2525798 19-Jul-2020 18:54

An example of the recent border clash between India and China

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/24/border-clash-a-turning-point-in-india-china-relations-ambassador-says.html

ezbee

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#2525808 19-Jul-2020 19:28

I suppose there is the other nuclear option, build your own apps.

If you want to build your own apps there is :
B4x Structured Visual Basic like RAD tools, https://www.b4x.com/

Free for Android, Linux, Windows, and even ESP32/Arduino , iPhone requires some expense.
Capabilities are right up there , though with that comes a lot of libraries to learn, so its a step at a time.
Forums are very active and seem very helpful though.

MIT App inventor , Free, great for kids , and young at heart :-0 , visual Blocks-based coding , like scratch.
https://appinventor.mit.edu/about-us

See a where's my car here.
https://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/ai2/android-wheres-my-car.html

I did manage to get data from a BLE widget and display it crudely fairly quickly. Making it look good might take a while.
There are other sites supporting code snippets and examples in addition to material on MIT web.
https://puravidaapps.com/index.php

Edit, typos

Dingbatt

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#2525814 19-Jul-2020 19:53

Handle9:

Dingbatt:

What’s the reason behind India banning it?

India and China have a fairly interesting relationship. In many cases Chinese products are not acceptable for Indian public works.

So what’s the reason behind China banning

Facebook

Twitter

Google

Instagram

Youtube

Wikipedia

etc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_mainland_China

Nations have their reasons I guess, and since those most affected by a ban on TikTok aren’t voters, politicians can act with impunity.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

elpenguino

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#2525820 19-Jul-2020 19:57

Dingbatt:

So what’s the reason behind China banning

Facebook

Twitter

Google

Instagram

Youtube

Wikipedia

etc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_mainland_China

Nations have their reasons I guess, and since those most affected by a ban on TikTok aren’t voters, politicians can act with impunity.

Probably less the platform and more the threatening, to autocracy, ideas it contains. We don't want to pollute the minds of our innocent citizens with crazy ideas like democracy and freedom of speech.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

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#2525869 20-Jul-2020 07:31

ezbee:

True Ban is the wrong answer, its just revenge.

It's the Trump administration.

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