China's ByteDance admits using TikTok data to track journalists

Seems to me all non-work related apps should already be banned on government devices, Facebook, Twitter, Line, whatever, it should be a work device.

Seems to me all non-work related apps should already be banned on government devices, Facebook, Twitter, Line, whatever, it should be a work device.

I tend to agree. I have often said well adjusted, mature adults don't tweet. Regardless of that sentiment, how many government agencies have an official Fakebook page and how many elected or appointed officials have official Twitter feeds? It is how their constituencies communicate. If you want your ideas out in front of the public you almost have to have a presence on a variety of social media, as repulsive to some of us as that is.

Keep the pressure on TikTok and the CCP. Don't give them an inch....they'll take a mile.

Keep the pressure on TikTok and the CCP. Don't give them an inch....they'll take a mile.

While you are on it add US govt and IT firms also. As they are no better than CCP.

US public have no freedom in this age. just look at NSA and what they are up to.

Come on. If the parent company is founded/based in China, the Chinese government basically has control of it. It's very simple. If ByteDance doesn't comply with arbitrary rules imposed by the Chinese government they have one choice: be fined and then closed down.

 just look at NSA and what they are up to.

I think NSA is greatly over rated. I honestly do. I doubt they collect even 1/10th of 1% of the personal data bought and sold daily by the world's major corporations. In one year, maybe even in one month you willingly give more personal information to private parties who then proceed to sell it to multiple buyers than NSA will ever collect on you in your whole life. I probably just gave a dozen or more companies information about me just in the time I typed this! In fact I would dare say most of us will never be known to NSA while every single one of us is well known to hundreds, maybe thousands of private companies and corporations. If you doubt me then ask where those pop up ads are coming from in your personal e-mail and on your phone. Big chain stores know where in the store your cell phone is and what you are looking at so ads can be tailored to your buying habits. NSA in their wildest dreams doesn't have that level of granularity on people.

Even if top management had no knowledge of the acts, any Chinese employee with family in China is a potential spy for the CCP. They are vulnerable to threats, bribes, and blackmail to them or family members. The top management just needs to not be involved for plausible deniability.

All the tech companies would do this if their data was being leaked. This is not about the Chinese state. This is cheap reds-under-the-bed nationalist propaganda as part of USG attempts to limit users access to internet services.

And you think all these things that we've been saying about Tracking individuals is a myth ? The CCP are in Control of everything made in China.... if you have a Chinese made Smartphone / Laptop / Router... be worried, very worried about what you may be giving them... the CCP that is.

The CCP are in Control of everything made in China.... if you have a Chinese made Smartphone / Laptop / Router... be worried, very worried about what you may be giving them... the CCP that is.

Depends on who you are. If you're a non-government American, having the CCP spy on you is probably better than the US government spying on you. The CCP can't do anything to people in America, but the American government sure can.

The CCP can't do anything to people in America, but the American government sure can.

Chinese Americans? I guess you missed the recent stories of Chinese police stations in many cities and counties, including Japan, the EU and the US.

invalid CSRF

if you have a Chinese made Smartphone / Laptop / Router... be worried,

At a quick first glance, I wondered how my Chinese made wood Router could be affected by the CCP. :)

Strange,why would the government spy on me

@FizzBit - hahaha... wood router, yes, nice one. That however is a different form of technology to what I had in mind, and harks more from the Woodworking World than the Wireless/Wired Network Devices Routers of the IT World.

China knows everything about you.

Strange,why would the government spy on me

There is no good reason, but that doesn't mean they don't. The CCP are control freaks. Consider that all Chinese carry an ID card with RFID embedded. Everything everyone in China does is tracked and recorded. Everyone is scored on their behavior with something called a "Social Credit Score". Those the CCP deems somehow unreliable are punished with anything from throttled internet access to bans on traveling. Being control freaks the Chinese are trying to control people outside of China. Their overseas "police" stations are part of that but consider that if you use a Chinese owned telecom they can feed you propaganda while censoring access to sites the CCP considers unfavorable to them. Those apps everyone had to load on their phones for the Beijing Winter Olympics had censorship software built in that affected people's phones long after they left China. If you go to China buy a burner phone to use there and drop it in the trash as you board the plane to leave. Leave your computer at home because they can scan the contents of your hard drive while your computer is in your checked bag. The why is immaterial. It is what they do.