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United States Politics

House Votes To Ban TikTok on Federal Devices (politico.com) 41

The House has voted to bar federal employees from downloading the video-sharing app TikTok on government-issued devices as part of a $741 billion defense policy bill. From a report: Lawmakers voted 336-71 to pass the proposal, offered by Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), as part of a package of bipartisan amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act. The prohibition would extend to members of Congress and congressional staff. National security concerns about TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, have picked up steam amid fears that U.S. users' personal information could fall into the hands of government officials in Beijing.

TikTok has said it has never handed over user data to the Chinese government, and that it would not do so if asked. But the assurances have done little to assuage its critics on Capitol Hill and across Washington, who are now pushing for more sweeping action against the platform. Buck called TikTok a "serious national security threat" during a floor speech Monday before the vote and said the data the company collects from U.S. consumers "could be used in a cyberattack against our republic" if shared with Chinese government officials.

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House Votes To Ban TikTok on Federal Devices

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  • by CubicleZombie ( 2590497 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @12:35PM (#60315471)

    All software of that kind has been banned outright on every government and company computer I've ever had access to.

    I wouldn't even use it at home.

  • Who's there?

    • by nazsco ( 695026 )

      The same people behind every other app, selling the same data to the same North American Advertisement networks, but this time using the referral code that sends the revenue cut to a chinese company.

  • by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @12:52PM (#60315573)
    Why would they be choosing just one "app" to ban. I would imagine there are thousands of Chinese "apps" that send data back to the Chinese government. WeChat is also a hugely popular "app" owned by the Chinese government. This seems like really, truly, pointless political posturing.
    • by dstwins ( 167742 )

      I'm honestly less concerned about TIkTok and more about wechat.. and not because of what it CAN do, but rather what people put into it AND by extension where it flows.. (most people use WeChat for pretty much everything.. (its the facebook of China in many respects, except more so.. people conduct business through it, post financial data on it, ID information on it, etc...).. but this is less about WeChat and really about bad security habits.. (such things should NEVER be put into a system that you can't 10

    • The logic is simple.... TikTok is insanely popular. WeChat is not, at least not in the West. No one in the US uses WeChat for anything so it is not a serious concern, at least not like TikTok is.

    • Maybe it was the only one they could find that isn't pre-installed on their phones without a chance to get rid of it.

  • The thing that bugs me the most out of this, is that I haven't heard of any good evidence that TicTok is being a bad actor. Other than people saying it is a Chinese Company and Chinese companies are owned by the communist government. But that is just political redirect not facts that TicTok is any real danger. As it has services around the world, that has to subscribe to the local laws as well. Just like how Google and Apple to sell services to China, will often has to block particular information deeme

    • As a matter of policy, unapproved software shouldn't be present on any federally owned devices. Not just TikTok, but anything not vetted and approved.

      It likely would not have been approved by most federal agencies anyway - not even as a matter of its China origins, but simply as a matter of good security practices. It's an application which has no legitimate purpose on a federal device, and its presence presents yet another opportunity for compromise.

    • This all started back in '08 when several secret US military bases were made extremely obvious by the fitness app Strava (https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42853072#:~:text=Online%20fitness%20tracker%20Strava%20has,the%20heatmap%2C%20a%20spokesman%20said.). When this happened it opened the eyes of lawmakers and the military to how exposed they were by the apps on their employees and service member's personal phones.

      As they started looking at this closely, was around the EXACT same time TikTok started taking off. TikTok is the only popular social media application that is used in the west yet owned by a Chinese company. The fear is that this exact same type of information could trivially be gathered by the CCP via TikTok, and TikTok would be forced to comply due to how Chinese intelligence law works (no matter how much TikTok may say they will not give up data nor access, they would be mandated to do so).

    • by Anonymous Coward

      The thing that bugs me the most out of this, is that I haven't heard of any good evidence that TicTok is being a bad actor.

      TikTok has a ton of known security flaws, and has built-in (and not easily removable) capabilities that could be used for spying.

      The thinking is that an app couldn't have so many flaws just by accident; it has to be deliberate.

      https://threatpost.com/tiktok-... [threatpost.com]

      https://www.cybersecurity-insi... [cybersecur...siders.com]

      https://medium.com/technicity/... [medium.com]

      https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/0... [cnbc.com]

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/0... [nytimes.com]

  • With the advent of the internet, we've allowed ourselves to repeat history in the worst way possible.

    The more things change, the more they stay the same.

  • I have a work issued phone that I only use for work and they have a very small whitelist of work related apps that I can download and use. No social media apps are included in that list.

  • by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @01:32PM (#60315765)
    Adults with government owned devices are adding Tik Tok on their work devices so they can make funny videos?
    Wonder how the government handled their SCRM requirements. They should be following the same guidelines they impose on all vendors and contractors.
    If the government would follow their own regulations. I do not see any way TikTok could get on a government device.
    Just my 2 cents ;)
  • Can't have them Chinese in there. That is American data for American companies.
  • Good to know House is Wasting Time. Don't worry about fixing any problems that effect everyday americans...
  • I have the Outlook client, and the Teams client on my government phone. The end. I use those, along with SMS messages and normal old phone calls. Everything else I want to "play" with on my free time, is on my personal phone. Why is this a problem?
  • Does anyone here think a single congressclown understands TikTok and the risks involved, or not involved? These morons are sticking their fingers in the air, seeing which way the wind is blowing, and voting in their own best interests.
    • by gavron ( 1300111 )

      I wish they would apply that much science to it. Sadly the only thing they're sticking in the air is their ****. And they are definitely voting in their own best interest!

      E

  • Our Congress is made up of two types of stupid:
    Democrats, and Republicans.

    They know NOTHING about technology, software, apps, or anything other than how to line their own pockets.

    TikTok did not line their pockets. China did not line their pockets. That makes it all "bad".

    End of story.

    E

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