I’ll also add that I think we should take a stance against TikTok in particular because (I assume) it makes our data accessible to the Chinese government, who I think are probably the most dangerous actor on the world stage.
I read most of the article and skimmed the rest. I think it’s short-sighted and misses a few points.
It’s very US-centric. like the quote “In a series of responses this summer both to lawmakers and the public, TikTok has staunchly maintained that it does not and would never share US user data with the Chinese government.”, which only refers to US data. So the Chinese authorities can still easily mine non-US data. Which is… a lot.
It believes the statements of Bytedance too much. They say they would never share US data with the Chinese authorities, but do you really buy it, when they could just share it and compel TikTok inc. to hide it someway?
It mentions that China is notorious for stealing data, but I think an app like TikTok is a whole new level. Imagine you were Robin Hood, and you discovered that instead of putting all this energy into assaulting rich guys in the forest, you can somehow open a bank and convince all the rich people’s kids to open accounts and pay fees. You’d take that for sure?
This is actually my main point—it underestimates the risks of data mining, which I think mostly come from advanced AI. You could, for example, use vast amounts of data to create models of American society to plan stratgic moves, or to find outliers and recruit spies, or to use existing AI to find people who criticise the CCP, etc.
These considerations seem important. Some of them seem deep and general. Because I don’t have depth and because some involve bigger views of the world, it’s hard for me write a reply that would be really useful.
One reason I gave a US-centric article, is because that country is actively opposed to the other. So to me, a moderate take from a mainstream publication that seems clueful, carries more weight to me.
I’ll also add that I think we should take a stance against TikTok in particular because (I assume) it makes our data accessible to the Chinese government, who I think are probably the most dangerous actor on the world stage.
The vibe with TikTok is bad, but the concrete risks and causal linkages with harm seems unclear, this article seems balanced?
https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-nationa-security-threat-why/
I read most of the article and skimmed the rest. I think it’s short-sighted and misses a few points.
It’s very US-centric. like the quote “In a series of responses this summer both to lawmakers and the public, TikTok has staunchly maintained that it does not and would never share US user data with the Chinese government.”, which only refers to US data. So the Chinese authorities can still easily mine non-US data. Which is… a lot.
It believes the statements of Bytedance too much. They say they would never share US data with the Chinese authorities, but do you really buy it, when they could just share it and compel TikTok inc. to hide it someway?
It mentions that China is notorious for stealing data, but I think an app like TikTok is a whole new level. Imagine you were Robin Hood, and you discovered that instead of putting all this energy into assaulting rich guys in the forest, you can somehow open a bank and convince all the rich people’s kids to open accounts and pay fees. You’d take that for sure?
This is actually my main point—it underestimates the risks of data mining, which I think mostly come from advanced AI. You could, for example, use vast amounts of data to create models of American society to plan stratgic moves, or to find outliers and recruit spies, or to use existing AI to find people who criticise the CCP, etc.
These considerations seem important. Some of them seem deep and general. Because I don’t have depth and because some involve bigger views of the world, it’s hard for me write a reply that would be really useful.
One reason I gave a US-centric article, is because that country is actively opposed to the other. So to me, a moderate take from a mainstream publication that seems clueful, carries more weight to me.