Maryland bans state agencies from using TikTok and other Chinese and Russian products after NBC News

The state of Maryland on Tuesday banned the use of TikTok and other Chinese and Russian products by state agencies, citing reporting by NBC News about hackers linked to the Chinese government stealing millions in Covid benefits from state governments in the U.S.

In announcing the emergency directive, the state said the entities “present an unacceptable level of cybersecurity risk to the state, and may be involved in activities such as cyber-espionage, surveillance of government entities, and inappropriate collection of sensitive personal information."

Maryland bans state agencies from using TikTok and other Chinese and Russian products after NBC News report

well...good for Maryland.
having a Republican governor (for a few more weeks) helps

I doubt the US congress would consider this considering how many of them are supposedly in Beijing's pocket

I don't do TikTok. I hear it has spyware in it.

anyone else?

a reply to: ElGoobero

I think regulating what people watch on the internet is a slippery slope, especially when it is the government doing it, because of fweedom and all that.

a reply to: Brotherman

In any society where people are going to live in peace and harmony, there have to be agreements on how that society is going to function. Do as though wilt, is not going to cut it.

There will likely be a lot of give and take. What is good for one, will not always be good for everyone, and completely intolerable for some.

We humans have not had a good track record for pulling off the Eden thing. Peace is short lived and the only reliable harmony on this planet is the Schumann resonance, and even it can be fickle at times.

a reply to: Brotherman

I don't think you understand it is the platform that is baned and not the content. The reason of the ban is because of who owns the platform, the government of China, and their practices.

Remember when Parlor was removed from the Apple Store and Google Play because of political ideology and Trump was called a racist for asking for asking that it be done to TikTok for being Chinese spyware only they never did?

a reply to: ElGoobero

wasn't there a U.S. National leader that wanted and tried to ban TikTok and caught all kinds of hell over it and called a xenophobe racist.

funny how things turn out hunh.

DC is in Maryland so it does what Trump wanted. Sort of a start.

Sounds like censorship to me. Especially being a TikTok user and seeing a lot of people wake up to the lefts nonsense. Ever since people started feeling the pain of Biden’s economic policy’s people switched tunes really quick. I think this is the first step to stop that movement.

TikTok has been known for a long time to be a Chinese weapon targeting American younger generation, is not secret, when Trump tried to stop TikTok in the US as usual the liberal showed opposition, Gates even came out and proposed that he will buy TikTok, I guess to make it American.

But nope nothing happen, TikTok is a Chinese spying tool, the same way that now I phones are another one.

This not about freedom of speech, this more about national security.

Next is to purge the darn spying Chinese police stations that has sprouted all over liberal cities in the US.

It seems Democrats love China.

a reply to: ElGoobero

So we are against free speech after all, or just the one you don't agree with?

I guess you totally understand china now, for censoring Google and what not, it's only normal you'd do it too, i mean who wouldn't right?

This not joke, is not about freedom of speech in this instance is about national security

TikTok is a ‘massive surveillance’ tool for China, senators warn as Biden admin weighs proposal to spare app from U.S. ban, “It’s not just the content you upload to TikTok but all the data on your phone, other apps, all your personal information, even facial imagery, even where your eyes are looking on your phone,” Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton said on “Fox News Sunday.” TikTok is “one of the most massive surveillance programs ever, especially on America’s young people,” he said.

The app is “an enormous threat,” Senate Intelligence Committee chair Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said on the program. “All of that data that your child is inputting and receiving, is being stored somewhere in Beijing,” he said.

President Joe Biden’s administration is seeking a security agreement with TikTok to spare it from a US ban floated under his predecessor Donald Trump. Critics remain concerned that data can leak to China via the popular app, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd.

Two influential Republican lawmakers, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, said this month they’re introducing legislation to ban TikTok from use in the US and criticized the Biden administration for taking insufficient action.

fortune.com...

As usual the Biden administration that bends over for anything China, wants protection for TikTok.

a reply to: marg6043

So it's really the device that allows for this, not the app.
I could imagine an app could give a backdoor for this data to be collected, and we know they've been doing it for at least 10 years without an app, direct backdoors in the operating system, but that was some 3 letter agency, doesn't count, they are on our side.
Omg somone else than five eyes is extracting metadata from us, imagine the horror

originally posted by: BernnieJGato
a reply to: ElGoobero

wasn't there a U.S. National leader that wanted and tried to ban TikTok and caught all kinds of hell over it and called a xenophobe racist.

funny how things turn out hunh.

Yeah but this time it was NBC that called out TikTok. Got to be right if the one of the most left media outlets says so.

originally posted by: BernnieJGato
a reply to: ElGoobero

wasn't there a U.S. National leader that wanted and tried to ban TikTok and caught all kinds of hell over it and called a xenophobe racist.

funny how things turn out hunh.

But then it all quietly went away when that same U.S leader struck a deal with his buddy over at Oracle and TikTok to make sure that all traffic flows through Oracle's infra. Making sure Oracle gets a cut AND a copy of the data.

It's funny how the resolution to these things never make it to people's chosen source of....entertainment.

Almost like the objective was to enrich a buddy.

Why I do not understand is why China has been allowed to manipulate media in the US, I guess we do have some anti American politicians after all defending China.

Anti-China hawks on Capitol Hill have demanded that TikTok cut all links with ByteDance and Beijing as a precondition for it being allowed to continue operating in the US.

The Post has sought comment from TikTok.

Wray told the House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday that China has been the most active foreign entity in terms of stealing Americans’ personal and business data.

“China’s vast hacking program is the world’s largest and they have stolen more Americans’ personal and business data than every other nation combined,” Wray said.

The Post has sought comment from the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC.

The US knows China is the biggest hackers in the world, but they have open doors for them.

nypost.com...

a reply to: AScrubWhoDied

But then it all quietly went away when that same U.S leader struck a deal with his buddy over at Oracle and TikTok to make sure that all traffic flows through Oracle's infra. Making sure Oracle gets a cut AND a copy of the data.

you better go back and check, trump signed a EO in Aug 6 2020 saying that ByteDance who would retain 80% ownship had to divest all of it intersts in tik tok by Nov 2020.

Still, ByteDance owning 80% of TikTok would not appear to satisfy the recommendation of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, a panel led by the Treasury that examines U.S. business transactions with ties overseas.

Trump signed an order in August requiring ByteDance to completely divest from its U.S. TikTok operations by Nov. 12. The fate of that order is murky.

TikTok Ban Averted: Trump Gives Oracle-Walmart Deal His 'Blessing'

it was slo joe that that did away with the trumps EO's,,

Biden revoked and replaced the three executive orders by then-President Donald Trump that sought to ban transactions with TikTok and WeChat by American businesses.

Biden revokes and replaces Trump executive orders that banned TikTok

it's funny how folks that suffer TDS ignore forms of entertainment that show something different than orange man bad.

a reply to: BernnieJGato

Biden is a tool and parrot puppet, and China is one of his masters thanks to his
son business deals with China.

a reply to: ElGoobero

Everything has spyware on the internet.

originally posted by: Brotherman
a reply to: ElGoobero

I think regulating what people watch on the internet is a slippery slope, especially when it is the government doing it, because of fweedom and all that.

I think they're talking about state agency networks, not at home.

And it would be dangerous for a state to give its networks access to hackers. I worked in a state IT office and know their network's vulnerability. I don't blame them on this one.

a reply to: ElGoobero

having a Republican governor (for a few more weeks) helps

A Rino/NeoCon governor.

This is a slippery slope after this ban. The NeoCon Bush/Reagan Era governor would after other Chinese/Russian products.

I am sure these RINOs will find some form of a excuse to band their products.