cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/7897866
Thank you American software
Most of these companies sell your data for profit. One of these companies gives it to the CCP for free. Neither situation is good.
This meme reeks of Chinese soft propaganda, actually.
Tbh, selling data for profit is not the only thing they do. The cloud act in US exists, and government agencies can get what they want essentially when they want.
This at least applies to the big 3 cloud providers in the picture.
I guess the double standard that is the core idea behind the picture is true. On the other hand, it’s also easy to see why it’s considered different whether your data goes to the NSA or to the CCP, from the perspective of a US citizen.
I am a US citizen, so that does set the context in this case. If my data stays in-house, that is something that is a little more tolerable, but not by much. (Once data out of your hands, it’s basically in everyone else’s at that point. Data doesn’t respect imaginary lines on maps, after all.)
The case with TikTok has been brewing for a while though as that app was a little more cavalier about data collection methods.
Honestly, I believe the meme is mostly a false idea that would only apply to general purpose racists than anyone else. For US citizens, the actual issue is a national security problem. (That logic is applicable to any wide spread app used by any person in any country.) The meme under-cuts that point by classifying the problem as user idiocy wrapped up in a hint of whataboutism while ignoring that TikTok is just another puppet company for the CCP.
There are many countries that have massive privacy issues, but China is probably at the top of that list. They are extremely open about the systems they have in place to track each one of their citizens so it isn’t much of a stretch to assume they would extend that system to people outside of their borders.
All of that mess is still fairly benign until you start weaponizing data that is collected and I could talk for hours about that, actually.
Honestly, it’s not so much about your data specifically.
One of the core problems/benefits with massive datasets is that you, in particular, wouldn’t stand out from the millions of other people. If someone does something stupid, like being pulled over for a DUI, that persons name can than be used to index their stockpile of history. Something bad can immediately get exponentially worse. Quickly. (That is an issue for a Chinese citizen, but I wanted to explain a big nuance of large datasets.)
The most valuable targets would be military, government and high level company executives. Having a wedge into their phone is a great start for some good 'ol fashioned blackmail and/or coercion.
For regular people like us, travel in China would be the biggest problem but at a higher level, occasional location tracking could give out some interesting data. Google for “strava app military base”, as a good example. You could probably brainstorm some scenarios about how that could apply to civilians as well.
Probably the worst bit, and given the rapid advancements in AI, your data can be used to target your own unique mental vulnerabilities. Propaganda becomes much easier if you have bots instantly curating your feeds to show you just the right amount of crap that is tuned to your specific interests.
Early in the history of TikTok, you would see random pro-China (soft propaganda) videos inserted between the hundreds of Overwatch song renditions. It’s probably much more aggressive and subtle these days, actually. (The videos were usually projecting the skill and prowess of their athletes, military or industry. Now, it’s probably custom per user.)
In some of the worst cases, Chinese living outside of China are tracked and threatened if they show the slightest bit of dissent from the motherland. (That is some creepy shit, actually.)
I’ll stop now, but you get the idea and I haven’t even scratched the surface yet.
I mean, this is kinda what I was fishing for. China can’t do anything to me directly. I’ll never go there. They can try to inject propaganda into my freed, but it’s not going to work on me because I already have my opinions, I have diverse news sources, and I am pretty self-aware. Now, if the US government has my data, they can use it against me directly to build up cases, use it to profile me, arrest me, and who knows what else.
That’s why I don’t care if China has my data when the US government already has an open buffet.
the American ones give the info and databases very cheap to anyone who needs it. Republicans and tea party don’t need to be communists to spy hundred of thousand of gringos. Maybe you have consumed too much gringo propaganda, and they created Evil China for you.
Also, aside of YouTube, non of the other companies shove me CCP propaganda into the face via addictive short clips. Tbh YT is very dangerous too but still on another level.
Careful, you’re skirting awfully close to some mod deleting your comment.
The US wants to keep big tech inside it’s borders. They don’t want a social media app as valuable as tik Tok being used by any state department other than their own. It’s not about privacy, it’s about control.
I know it’s really difficult for people to understand in this era of tribalism, but some of us don’t want any of those companies having our data. One of them being prevented from spying on people is a step in the right direction. Also, only one of those companies is partially funded and highly influenced by an oppressive government regime.
Spyware
Spyware, USA