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This is not how spies work in the real world. Kompromat, bribery, and threats. Not watching kids videos.

cosmie 6y ago
The intelligence apparatus of a nation-state is far more encompassing than just spies. And no one has to actually watch any videos for the above-mentioned use cases. It's an engineering assignment for data science and tech teams, not spies. As well, there's a very hazy line between government and industry interests in China, greatly expanding the potential use cases of sigint derived from such incidental data leakage beyond just what would be useful for kompromat, bribery, and threat. purposes.
- jimsmart 6y ago
  Indeed, spies are just a single tool and have a very specific use cases — big-data, analytics and data science is where the big nation states are at nowadays. We don't know much about China's systems here, but looking at XKeyscore [0] (NSA, via Snowden leaks) is likely to be somewhat insightful re function and capabilities. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XKeyscore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XKeyscore
annoyingnoob 6y ago
See this: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/corporate-blog/post/understanding-information-tiktok-gathers-and-stores https://www.proofpoint.com/us/corporate-blog/post/understand... A quote: TikTok app permissions include personal information and device control First, our researchers examined the permissions TikTok requires on Android and iOS devices following installation. While some of the permissions detailed below are to be expected, all of this is consistent with TikTok’s written privacy policy. However, when you see all that TikTok gathers it can still be of concern. In summary, these permissions allow TikTok to: Access the camera (and take pictures/video), the microphone (and record sound), the device’s WIFI connection, and the full contact list on the device Determine if the internet is available and access it Keep the device turned on and automatically start itself when the device restarts Secure detailed information on the user’s location using GPS and other apps that are running Read and write to the device’s storage, install/remove shortcuts, access the flashlight (turn it off and on), request additional installation packages Our researchers found that TikTok has full access to the audio, video, and address book on the device, which isn’t surprising given that TikTok is an audio-visual app by design. However, the GPS tracking is surprising, especially as TikTok videos don’t obviously display location information. TikTok does call out their collection of location information in their privacy policy. Recap: TikTok does not need to be collecting contact and location data from my kids or any of our devices. This vacuuming up of information at scale reveals the relationships between people and a lot more. And that is my main problem. TikTok is way more than just a video app, its spyware.

The intelligence apparatus of a nation-state is far more encompassing than just spies. And no one has to actually watch any videos for the above-mentioned use cases. It's an engineering assignment for data science and tech teams, not spies. As well, there's a very hazy line between government and industry interests in China, greatly expanding the potential use cases of sigint derived from such incidental data leakage beyond just what would be useful for kompromat, bribery, and threat. purposes.

jimsmart 6y ago
Indeed, spies are just a single tool and have a very specific use cases — big-data, analytics and data science is where the big nation states are at nowadays. We don't know much about China's systems here, but looking at XKeyscore [0] (NSA, via Snowden leaks) is likely to be somewhat insightful re function and capabilities. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XKeyscore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XKeyscore

annoyingnoob 6y ago

See this: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/corporate-blog/post/understanding-information-tiktok-gathers-and-stores https://www.proofpoint.com/us/corporate-blog/post/understand... A quote: TikTok app permissions include personal information and device control First, our researchers examined the permissions TikTok requires on Android and iOS devices following installation. While some of the permissions detailed below are to be expected, all of this is consistent with TikTok’s written privacy policy. However, when you see all that TikTok gathers it can still be of concern. In summary, these permissions allow TikTok to: Access the camera (and take pictures/video), the microphone (and record sound), the device’s WIFI connection, and the full contact list on the device Determine if the internet is available and access it Keep the device turned on and automatically start itself when the device restarts Secure detailed information on the user’s location using GPS and other apps that are running Read and write to the device’s storage, install/remove shortcuts, access the flashlight (turn it off and on), request additional installation packages Our researchers found that TikTok has full access to the audio, video, and address book on the device, which isn’t surprising given that TikTok is an audio-visual app by design. However, the GPS tracking is surprising, especially as TikTok videos don’t obviously display location information. TikTok does call out their collection of location information in their privacy policy. Recap: TikTok does not need to be collecting contact and location data from my kids or any of our devices. This vacuuming up of information at scale reveals the relationships between people and a lot more. And that is my main problem. TikTok is way more than just a video app, its spyware.