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Caleb2099 t1_j22arve wrote

I mean yeah people shouldn't be downloading apps on their work phones

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9-11GaveMe5G t1_j22b97r wrote

Replying to Caleb2099 (#1,135,796)

The company I work for doesn't allow this. Why in the world would a government device allow it? I'm hoping this is just codifying existing norms, but I'm sure Gaetz has Teen Tinder on his phone

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AxelBrose t1_j22fmvs wrote

Now can we ban it completely in the US? Sick of hearing about all these stupid challenges.

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SardonicCatatonic t1_j22jw9h wrote

Now do Signal. Things politicians communicate should be on record.

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Weary-Ad-5346 t1_j22ohdk wrote

Replying to Neve_Dreve (#1,136,893)

While your comment is focused on someone complaining about challenges, banning the app is helpful in the sense that a Chinese company has access to parts of your device. Viewing history, manipulating said viewing history, location, etc. are things that can be used against us. The content form is great in the sense that it takes advantage of the stupidly short attention spans that the general public has obtained. We just need a better alternative.

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Trax852 t1_j22qd1k wrote

I bought a new phone (Moto) it came with TikTok installed.

I play a game called ultimate Jewel Tutankhamun. When you change to another "room" a TikTok ad shows.

I don't run TikTok, and it's annoying as hell the ways it's trying to get my to use it.

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VincentNacon t1_j230g1r wrote

Oh noes! How will MTG, Boebert, and Gaetz gonna pass the time when working at Congress? 🤣

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Pokethebeard t1_j233ccl wrote

Replying to Weary-Ad-5346 (#1,138,081)

>Viewing history, manipulating said viewing history, location, etc. are things that can be used against us.

If tik tok was banned on those grounds that would open the door to every tech company getting shut down.

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piggybits t1_j234329 wrote

Replying to Pokethebeard (#1,140,479)

Idk I’m pretty ok with companies syphoning my intimate data outside the confines of their apps seeing real repercussions for a change and getting shut down. We really should be normalizing punishing companies who practice ethically questionable shit

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piggybits t1_j234n7e wrote

Replying to Pokethebeard (#1,140,625)

Well it’s not like America has a squeaky clean record but we really can’t ignore what’s been going on in China. Their human rights violations are plentiful and being done out in the open. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around morality police stations set up in foreign nations… out in plain sight. It’s was horrific enough what they do people they don’t claim like the uyghur but tianamen square, Hong Kong, taiwan just to name a few. China has proven themselves an insidious entity trying real hard to play world colonizer 2.0 and we really shouldn’t act like they and America are the same.

That being said I’m not American but I have a bunch of bloatware on my phone from American companies sucking up all my god damn data so in the spirit of equity, let’s actually punish everyone thanks cuz I’m pretty sick of foreigners owning my digital life

0

Cole446 t1_j236i4n wrote

Aka "we just let communist china spy on government phones for 2-3 years before taking action"

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Last-Caterpillar-112 t1_j236w46 wrote

And Tiktok deeply appreciates the gesture to keep crusty old Congress folk off its app.

−5

Jim-JM t1_j23a6rb wrote

TikTok joins the long list of apps banned on federal government devices.

The media are trying hard to make this a big news story.

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Im_a_seaturtle t1_j23k7tp wrote

Selena Meyer had it right in VEEP:

“Why don’t we just give the Chinese their own passwords?”

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krowas99 t1_j23o4bs wrote

How comes that there is no whitelist instead of a blacklist?

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Illustrious-Plate-17 t1_j23oa36 wrote

Wonder what the social media team for congress people will do. They probably use the hoot suite equivalent for tiktok

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pfcypress t1_j23onkl wrote

This shouldn't even be a big story. Just common sense risk management.

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mr_blanket t1_j23qpcl wrote

Replying to samoorai (#1,143,037)

You aren’t kidding.

Just last night, I look out in front of my house and watch the 4-5 girls that live in our neighborhood doing some kind of “challenge” on our street. They would run at oncoming cars screaming, the car has to stop, then they would review the footage. They would take turns doing this. Their parents no where to be found.

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mr_blanket t1_j23r120 wrote

Replying to Jim-JM (#1,141,568)

Right? I used to work for an agency as a 12 month temp. They gave us iPhones without an App Store, or any ability to log in as anything other than your work email.

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phoneguyfl t1_j23rf01 wrote

Sounds like a good thing. Next up should be Twitter and Facebook.

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Even_Author_3046 t1_j23rwam wrote

Why would they (government)need tiktok on their devices anyway?

1

ObviouslyJoking t1_j23s0o1 wrote

Why am I not shocked that our law makers are out of touch enough to install apps like TIkTOk on their work device.

1

Thin-Rip-3686 t1_j23sz0h wrote

I love that. Issued by the US House.

“Hey Bruh, is that the new iPhone?”

“Nah, it’s just a 12. Issued by Apple.”

“I useda have a droid, issued by Samsung.”

“What do you have now?”

“It broke so now I have this cheap POS by some Chinese-owned off brand”. “US House”.

“Bruh, that sucks! I hear you can’t even get TikTok on those!”

−1

psychedoutcasts t1_j23t9ls wrote

Folks upstairs should have a dedicated pr time to run their social medias to allow communication with the public.

Having unfiltered access to personal accounts while in a position of power was a cluster fuck when Trump was president.

1

texansfan t1_j23tez3 wrote

Never downloaded the app, still cannot understand why anyone would

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ComfortableProperty9 t1_j23v1z0 wrote

Replying to 9-11GaveMe5G (#1,135,890)

I don't know what the regulatory space looks like for the feds but there are regulations for a few different industries that cover mobile security. There are companies out there that just do mobile management for large mega-corps. Tens of thousands of mobile devices under management.

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Geek_Verve t1_j23vfpf wrote

It's genuinely scary that this had to be mandated.

"I'm a US Congressperson in charge of State secrets. What's this Chinese app everyone's talking about? I should check it out on my official, government-issued phone."

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wgc123 t1_j23vxqc wrote

Replying to Caleb2099 (#1,135,796)

“Now”? How the eff are people allowed social media on their employer device to begin with?

I suppose my employer doesn’t specifically ban tik Tok, but that’s because only work related apps are allowed. With how cheap and ubiquitous laptops and smart phones are, I don’t se how this even comes up

−3

Achillor22 t1_j23wvas wrote

Wasn't it already banned like 4 years ago though?

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freediverx01 t1_j23wxnv wrote

Oh no, where will Lindsey Graham find his next pool boy?

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jumptick t1_j23yczj wrote

Will they ban the TikTok AK-47…I think that version killed more people TikTok 1.0.

−1

SkullRunner t1_j23ypm4 wrote

Now the republicans will have to post their TikToks from the burner phone they use get orders from Putin.

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atomicpenguin12 t1_j241mh2 wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,145,930)

What I mean to say is that TikTok is an invasive piece of software that is literally designed to bypass your phone's security settings and track your data, including location and personal information, even if you specifically don't give it permission to do so: https://old.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/w1i3ik

And an internal investigation of ByteDance, the company that owns and operates TikTok, recently confirmed that they were accessing and using this private data technology to track the physical locations of journalists: https://justthenews.com/nation/technology/bytedance-confirms-using-tiktok-monitor-journalists

That's what I mean when I say that TikTok is malware. As for your other point, I'm not Apple so I don't know why they allowed this incredibly invasive piece of software into their app store. But a piece of software that tracks your personal information even if you deny it permission to do so is malware.

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Ardothbey t1_j248095 wrote

I'll be damned. Something Congress did that I agree with.

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joegekko t1_j248qe8 wrote

Do Congress-supplied devices not use some sort of mobile device management with curated app availability? Because that's pretty basic stuff.

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ardenter t1_j24baa3 wrote

HOW'M I GUN DO MY #SendSecretsToChinaChallenge NOW?!

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theliewelive t1_j24eisv wrote

How many representatives actually use TikTok on their work phones though? This seems like an empty gesture when you consider the millions of kids being brainwashed by it daily.

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limitless__ t1_j24ewy2 wrote

It is beyond ludicrous that US government-issued phones aren't locked-down, highly encrypted and incapable of downloading apps from Google or Apple. It's pure nonsense. They have cameras and microphones on them FFS and these people are in highly sensitive meetings all the time.

THAT should be the story here. Get off Twitter and Tik Tok on your work phones you idiots.

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elister t1_j24f58r wrote

Waiting for some to bitch and moan about how they cant tell them what to do.

1

eldog t1_j24fiue wrote

Replying to ComfortableProperty9 (#1,144,965)

I did IT for a military contractor and they are not even allowed to install anything without IT doing it and for IT to do it they need management and security approval. I can't imagine how they impose this regulation for a contractor but not for actual Fed employees.

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oh_bruddah t1_j24fiuf wrote

It always should have been, along with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

1

barrystrawbridgess t1_j24jkdp wrote

Replying to Trax852 (#1,138,394)

>nd they are not even allowed to install
>
>anything
>
>without IT doing it and for IT to do it they need management and security approval. I can't imagine how they impose this regulation for a contractor but not for actual Fed employees.

The phone side of Moto (old Motorola Mobility) is just Lenovo, which is why Tiktok is installed on it.

0

barrystrawbridgess t1_j24k0tg wrote

Replying to Even_Author_3046 (#1,144,260)

>, it’s just a 12. Issued by Apple.”
>
>“I useda have a droid, issued by Samsung.”
>
>“What do you have now?”
>
>“It broke so now I have this cheap POS by some Chinese-owned off brand”. “US House”.
>
>“Bruh, that sucks! I hear you can’

During the height of the pandemic, government health officials were doing outreach for vaccines on Tiktok.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/03/politics/fauci-tiktok-youth-vaccinations/index.html

This was also supported by the White House

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/15/1016451053/young-people-feel-meh-about-the-vaccine-so-fauci-is-going-on-a-tiktok-tour

Also several congress people were doing Q/As on Tiktok.

​

At some point, an IT person helping them with this likely voiced their opinion about security and were overruled.

−1

deadsoulinside t1_j24k8tp wrote

Replying to ComfortableProperty9 (#1,144,965)

At this point you can leverage Microsoft In-Tune to manage app installs for mobile devices and to be fucking honest should already be in place with tight restrictions. If they don't, then we as a nation are fucked as government phones are not being restricted from installing/running any app in the playstores and we already know how many unsafe apps are out there that only get removed later.

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deadsoulinside t1_j24kjfs wrote

Replying to wgc123 (#1,145,139)

> “Now”? How the eff are people allowed social media on their employer device to begin with?

I mean Twitter just had the last president who lived on Twitter before getting kicked off to live on his new social network. Everyone was fine with that, but AOC? Nah, that's just not right..

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muhdbuht t1_j24mwnx wrote

But Twitter is still okay...

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SardonicCatatonic t1_j24nl9i wrote

Replying to Pholous (#1,149,393)

I use signal. I love it. But it’s encrypted in a way that investigators can’t recover the data and supports disappearing messages. That shouldn’t be allowed for official government business. Lots of politicians are using it to talk about their dirty business outside of official archived channels.

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GrimmRadiance t1_j24nv3i wrote

Good. They should ban the app completely from the general populace as well. Kids will be pissed for a little bit but they’ll just move on to the next thing.

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TERE_MOTOS t1_j24nyxe wrote

I am sure tax payers , do not want their public service employees, engaging on social platforms at taxpayers expense.

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deathbymoshpit t1_j24w9aa wrote

Is this the new "Trump Days away from being Idicted' article that will be rewritten and re posted across reddit for the rest of the year?

Seriously, I feel Ive read this title/article a million times in the past month

1

Envect t1_j250uam wrote

Replying to MistaHazard (#1,148,109)

Haven't you seen all this completely organic bitching about the TikTok ban? Clearly real, actual Americans hate the idea. Look at all the trustworthy comments saying as much!

I do appreciate that the preferred angle of attack is expanding privacy protections though. Even if they get their way, we'll still be better off.

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axarce t1_j255g2g wrote

I came to say all this that others have said. Why are gov't issued devices not locked down to the point that you need IT to simply change the wallpaper?

Answer is probably because too many of them madr a big deal about having to carry a personal phone for their non-gov't apps, which honestly is a legitimate gripe. Doesn't mean it should be ok. Just saying it's cumbersome having two phones.

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wgc123 t1_j256u4h wrote

Replying to deadsoulinside (#1,149,939)

You could easily argue that ex-president would have been better off if only a specific marketing department had access to social media. You could also argue that with his being the center of the universe and prioritizing loyalty over honesty, competency, etc, that he would be on board with the general idea even if he didn’t think it applies to him

For those cases where the executive thinks they don’t need any filters (I’m looking at you, Musk), I suppose that still fits the criteria of the only exceptions being those whose job it is.

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machina99 t1_j257piz wrote

Replying to mr_blanket (#1,144,078)

Hell one of the law firms I worked for gave us work phones specifically so that if we got subpoenaed, we could hand over the work phone and be certain there was no personal data. And on the flip side it was easy to say no work material was on a personal device. In my experience, most of my friends that work at firms have two phones or use Samsung specifically for their secure folder feature.

It really should not be a big deal to have a totally separate work phone, especially when it's the government and anything done on it should be archived anyway

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SFLADC2 t1_j25g03p wrote

Replying to Jim-JM (#1,141,568)

I mean it's kinda big in that a lot of the younger members of Congress were trying to make TikTok accounts to appeal to the youths, despite the massive security concerns

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SFLADC2 t1_j25gaeu wrote

Replying to SardonicCatatonic (#1,137,365)

Signal is fairly important in Congress for preventing international spying and to protect against rouge government agencies.

Either way it doesn't matter given Congress is exempt from FOIA, so you can't access their info regardless.

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SoreDickDeal t1_j25n0xp wrote

The fact that this only happened just now is infuriating. I’d like to know how many house and senate issued devices had TikTok installed.

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sasberg1 t1_j25r656 wrote

Hell yeah!!! Obliterate it!!!!

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deadsoulinside t1_j25sk7g wrote

Replying to minois121005 (#1,153,822)

NO, probably shitty wording. Was meaning that for a while people have bitched about AOC and her social media use while in the government. Meanwhile the same people staring at twitter, waiting for Drumpy to tweet something new.

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Jim-JM t1_j25zcbq wrote

Replying to North_Activist (#1,150,897)

Most companies have a list of approved apps that are permitted on company devices, just like government agencies. From my experience to get approval to an app that would make your work a lot easier is usually too painful to make the request worthwhile, I suspect it would be the same in the federal government.

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exgokin t1_j2607zd wrote

I don’t see why this is a big deal. Common sense tells me to keep anything personal off my work phones. The idea of IT being able to access my phone at any time makes me not want to put anything personal on a work device. My GF has multiple work devices…she keeps nothing personal on any of them.

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gothamcommando t1_j26s8ct wrote

This seems so pointless, even on my city level gov phone you can’t even ACCESS the App Store.

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dontcareitsonlyreddi t1_j26x2o1 wrote

Oh look more astroturfing accounts in the comments defending China. What a surprise 🙄

China is committing genocide right now

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QristopherQuixote t1_j275skx wrote

This might work for government, but what about the huge number of companies that use BYOD for phones, giving their employees a stipend for their phones? Tik Tok is a security issue. Researchers have found inactive malicious code that records data entered into sites loaded from the in app browser (ads that pull up web sites or other links). The Chinese government owns a stake in ByteDance and can ask for data at any time.

It is unclear if ByteDance’s long delayed plans to host US data with Oracle will be enough to address these concerns. However, people love Tik Tok and the US is unlikely to stop its use. The best outcome would be a US competitor. I doubt that’s any that are currently in use.

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porkinz t1_j2eqr98 wrote

I’ve been telling people TickTock was spyware from day one. It’s insane that it took this long and that it’s still allowed in the US at all. Your children’s data will be used to train our adversaries’s AI to work against us in every way imaginable.

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