3 ms·

This is from Twitter and might be a hyperbole or conspiracy: Overheard on current US war on Tiktok. A thread: Talks abt ban on Tiktok subsiding a bit because

by chvid 6y ago

This is from Twitter and might be a hyperbole or conspiracy: Overheard on current US war on Tiktok. A thread: Talks abt ban on Tiktok subsiding a bit because Tiktok in talks with General Atlantic and Sequoia to sell to a US shell company. US demanding that Tiktok technical staff be completely changed, AI algorithm be based in the US... Continued at https://twitter.com/CarlZha/status/1288284750273114112 https://twitter.com/CarlZha/status/1288284750273114112

eunos 6y ago
> AI and tech team evaluated by NSA Suppose that PRC considers to open the GFW but with the same requirements (AI and tech team evaluated by MSS). Would that be acceptable?
- chvid 6y ago
  That sounds like a good deal. I will ask my higher ups.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - pjc50 6y ago
    That is a terrible deal, because it amounts to letting them clone your technology in depth. On the other hand, until the US kicked over the table, the UK had a national security oversight centre for Huawei where people with UK security clearances performed code review ..
    - 3pt14159 6y ago
      Yeah but they don't pretend that it is foolproof. It's the typical government "we have to do something" answer to a fundamental problem. Software defined networks are not secure from state level interference and everybody in tech that is honest knows it. And since they are not secure, and not easily monitored with strong encryption they're the perfect delivery vector for targeted malware. I wish we had the political will in the liberal alliance to say no to networking gear originating from countries like China.
      - earthboundkid 6y ago
        There are two questions about the CCP and spyware: is it technically possible and do they have the political will to do it? I don't think the CCP is putting spyware into the iPhone because it's only barely technically possible and they don't have the will to risk it. Getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar there would be the end of their whole economic strategy. Would the CCP put spyware into Tik Tok? It's trivially possible, and the will is absolutely there. I would be more surprised if it were somehow proved that they weren't interfering with Tik Tok on some level. Would the CCP put spyware into 5G? AFAICT, it would be technically possible, and the payoff from it would be so huge that they might have the will for it, but it's a close thing. Hard to say definitively either way. I think the industrialized nations should make their own 5G, just so they're not shut out of a growth industry, but the spy thing is sort of a wild card that could be something or nothing.
        3pt14159 6y ago
        What I've learned over the years is that the lines always get tapped. The just do. Whether it's the telegraph, the telephone, or fiberoptic cables under the sea. The lines get tapped if at all possible. I don't believe for one second that the CCP doesn't leverage Chinese made networking gear for intelligence. They probably even leverage third party gear too. This stuff is all so insecure everyone is in everything anyway.
- andreilys 6y ago
  They would never open the GFW because it would be a threat to their governance model.
  - oh_sigh 6y ago
    Using proxy servers is quite common in China, to the point where internet cafes used to have instructions on how to do so. I wonder what percent of people are actually stymied by the gfw, versus minorly annoyed
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
chvid 6y ago
Full thread: Talks abt ban on Tiktok subsiding a bit because Tiktok in talks with General Atlantic and Sequoia to sell to a US shell company. US demanding that Tiktok technical staff be completely changed, AI algorithm be based in the US ... US want both TikTok staff and the algorithm to be verified by a US technical committee which includes the NSA. US threaten to put TikTok on entity list that would prevent it frm run on Android or OS phone if it doesn’t sell to a US company. The implication is that for any Chinese app with a lot of users abroad, US will now demand the code and the models or they will kill the app. Some Chinese tech leaders nows think China needs a tech Manhattan project to build its own IT stack from scratch. It will be hard but can be done if China really tries esp when forced to the wall by US. Some people are pretty sure US will sabotage any Chinese attempt to go it alone. Many in China believed US intelligence agencies behind 2015 XcodeGhost malware attacks on China to test whether they could screw w China’s software “supply chain” also a warning to Chinese.
devmunchies 6y ago
> US demanding that Tiktok technical staff be completely changed, AI algorithm be based in the US plot twist, HQ moved to Israel and entire company becomes un-critique-able
- solatic 6y ago
  You joke, but when it comes to the US-China Cold War, Israel is practically Switzerland. Lots of economic alignment both ways, lots of investment both ways, lots of flights (pre-Covid) to each, geographically far outside of each other's regional geography.
  - devmunchies 6y ago
    yeah i get that. the joke is that despite playing both sides, many still view them as our "greatest ally" and would never question them. Nothing against Israel, they're smart to hedge their bets.

by chvid 6y ago

eunos 6y ago

> AI and tech team evaluated by NSA Suppose that PRC considers to open the GFW but with the same requirements (AI and tech team evaluated by MSS). Would that be acceptable?

chvid 6y ago
That sounds like a good deal. I will ask my higher ups.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- pjc50 6y ago
  That is a terrible deal, because it amounts to letting them clone your technology in depth. On the other hand, until the US kicked over the table, the UK had a national security oversight centre for Huawei where people with UK security clearances performed code review ..
  - 3pt14159 6y ago
    Yeah but they don't pretend that it is foolproof. It's the typical government "we have to do something" answer to a fundamental problem. Software defined networks are not secure from state level interference and everybody in tech that is honest knows it. And since they are not secure, and not easily monitored with strong encryption they're the perfect delivery vector for targeted malware. I wish we had the political will in the liberal alliance to say no to networking gear originating from countries like China.
    - earthboundkid 6y ago
      There are two questions about the CCP and spyware: is it technically possible and do they have the political will to do it? I don't think the CCP is putting spyware into the iPhone because it's only barely technically possible and they don't have the will to risk it. Getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar there would be the end of their whole economic strategy. Would the CCP put spyware into Tik Tok? It's trivially possible, and the will is absolutely there. I would be more surprised if it were somehow proved that they weren't interfering with Tik Tok on some level. Would the CCP put spyware into 5G? AFAICT, it would be technically possible, and the payoff from it would be so huge that they might have the will for it, but it's a close thing. Hard to say definitively either way. I think the industrialized nations should make their own 5G, just so they're not shut out of a growth industry, but the spy thing is sort of a wild card that could be something or nothing.
      - 3pt14159 6y ago
        What I've learned over the years is that the lines always get tapped. The just do. Whether it's the telegraph, the telephone, or fiberoptic cables under the sea. The lines get tapped if at all possible. I don't believe for one second that the CCP doesn't leverage Chinese made networking gear for intelligence. They probably even leverage third party gear too. This stuff is all so insecure everyone is in everything anyway.
andreilys 6y ago
They would never open the GFW because it would be a threat to their governance model.
- oh_sigh 6y ago
  Using proxy servers is quite common in China, to the point where internet cafes used to have instructions on how to do so. I wonder what percent of people are actually stymied by the gfw, versus minorly annoyed
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

chvid 6y ago

Full thread: Talks abt ban on Tiktok subsiding a bit because Tiktok in talks with General Atlantic and Sequoia to sell to a US shell company. US demanding that Tiktok technical staff be completely changed, AI algorithm be based in the US ... US want both TikTok staff and the algorithm to be verified by a US technical committee which includes the NSA. US threaten to put TikTok on entity list that would prevent it frm run on Android or OS phone if it doesn’t sell to a US company. The implication is that for any Chinese app with a lot of users abroad, US will now demand the code and the models or they will kill the app. Some Chinese tech leaders nows think China needs a tech Manhattan project to build its own IT stack from scratch. It will be hard but can be done if China really tries esp when forced to the wall by US. Some people are pretty sure US will sabotage any Chinese attempt to go it alone. Many in China believed US intelligence agencies behind 2015 XcodeGhost malware attacks on China to test whether they could screw w China’s software “supply chain” also a warning to Chinese.

devmunchies 6y ago

> US demanding that Tiktok technical staff be completely changed, AI algorithm be based in the US plot twist, HQ moved to Israel and entire company becomes un-critique-able

solatic 6y ago
You joke, but when it comes to the US-China Cold War, Israel is practically Switzerland. Lots of economic alignment both ways, lots of investment both ways, lots of flights (pre-Covid) to each, geographically far outside of each other's regional geography.
- devmunchies 6y ago
  yeah i get that. the joke is that despite playing both sides, many still view them as our "greatest ally" and would never question them. Nothing against Israel, they're smart to hedge their bets.