TikTok and WeChat ban revoked, new federal app review process ordered

Good. the original ban was put in for purely political reasons having to do with the upcoming election and Trump’s rally last fall getting s*rewed over by TicToc users. It was a petty act as was shown by it getting thrashed in the courts. 

Now whether TicToc and other Chinese apps are a legitimate security risk is a good question. Doing an evaluation first is the responsible way to handle it. That way if an app gets banned the government will have the legal support they need when it goes to court.

The risk of an individual having personal data harvested by Chinese companies isn't the same as a national security risk. The government always has the option of banning federal employees from using an app if they do have some concerns, but banning random citizens from using something like that has no national security purpose. 

foregoneconclusion said:

The risk of an individual having personal data harvested by Chinese companies isn't the same as a national security risk. The government always has the option of banning federal employees from using an app if they do have some concerns, but banning random citizens from using something like that has no national security purpose. 

Problem is, it isn't just Federal employees who do the work of the US government. There are many private firms who contract services to the government. And there are a lot of really stupid people out there who don't know which platforms are safe to do business on. Tiktok servers are in Singapore and China (through Alibaba). And while Tiktok provides their servers, Chinese law says that any server in China must be accessible by the Chinese government (I've linked the article which shows the issues concerning this law). 

https://intpolicydigest.org/the-global-implications-of-china-s-national-and-cyber-security-laws/#:~:text=The%20Chinese%20government's%202015%20National,keys%2C%20and%20backdoor%20access%20to

DAalseth said:

Good. the original ban was put in for purely political reasons having to do with the upcoming election and Trump’s rally last fall getting s*rewed over by TicToc users. It was a petty act as was shown by it getting thrashed in the courts. 

Now whether TicToc and other Chinese apps are a legitimate security risk is a good question. Doing an evaluation first is the responsible way to handle it. That way if an app gets banned the government will have the legal support they need when it goes to court.

The ban was less about the code and more about the servers. The servers are in Singapore and China. The Chinese 2015 National Security Law specifically states that any server in China (regardless of ownership) must be accessible by Chinese government officials. It's a real problem and many companies have removed servers from China specifically for this reason. I know my company did (one of the big 4 financial services firms). 

tylersdad said: 

tylersdad said:

DAalseth said:

Good. the original ban was put in for purely political reasons having to do with the upcoming election and Trump’s rally last fall getting s*rewed over by TicToc users. It was a petty act as was shown by it getting thrashed in the courts. 

Now whether TicToc and other Chinese apps are a legitimate security risk is a good question. Doing an evaluation first is the responsible way to handle it. That way if an app gets banned the government will have the legal support they need when it goes to court.

The ban was less about the code and more about the servers. The servers are in Singapore and China. The Chinese 2015 National Security Law specifically states that any server in China (regardless of ownership) must be accessible by Chinese government officials. It's a real problem and many companies have removed servers from China specifically for this reason. I know my company did (one of the big 4 financial services firms). 

Absolutely and that is a big concern. The mistake was in trying to apply this sort of thing by Royal Decree. They have to follow the legal procedure so when it goes to court they have the evidence to back it up.