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Why doesn't anybody talk about AirDroid "Remote access & File" which has over 100 million downloads and was developed by China-based Sand Studio. That app has c

Why doesn't anybody talk about AirDroid "Remote access & File" which has over 100 million downloads and was developed by China-based Sand Studio. That app has complete access to a huge number of Android devices and suffers from far greater Chinese Communist Party data access issues than other Made In China applications. At least currently, AirDroid is a FAR greater threat to global security than TikTok is.

andreilys 6y ago
I’m more interested in the ways you can subvert a nation covertly by adjusting the algorithm. Up weighting/down weighting content that exacerbates a rival nations problems or promotes the virtues of its own
- someperson 6y ago
  Delivering content curated by Chinese Communist Party approved algorithms and censorship on what may become a core part of world pop culture is definitely a powerful piece of soft power. It's no exaggeration that any app delivering content to young people several hours a day may one day rival Hollywood in cultural influence. But AirDroid gives you full remote access to your Android device through a web browser. Including messages (reading/sending/receiving), camera (taking photos/videos, and accessing existing photos/videos), and full access to files. It's used widely (even by corporate IT) to transfer files between Android devices and PCs over Wi-Fi. It's a very functional app with remote access to millions of devices, and just like Huawei there are of course a steady stream of major security vulnerabilities. These may be plausible-deniable "bugdoors", or just sloppy practices introducing major vulnerabilities than happen to be exploitable by independent researchers and nation states. The issue is that it's developed by a company based in China and thus very closely linked with the Chinese Communist Party and given what we know about the CCP, it's almost certainly regularly being used by the Ministry of State Security and People's Liberation Army for to exfiltrate specific highly valuable files eg, private messages, VPN and SSH keys. It seems strange there's no debate on banning AirDroid when it poses a far greater immediate threat than TikTok.
- brendawalsh 6y ago
  If you are in the US and have Netflix, watch Ip Man 4 and tell me what you think.
anniefrost 6y ago
Because the reason they focused on Tiktok is that the giant tech in america are unable to beat Tiktok popularity. I could only see it like that, I'm sure that the reason of this banning if you can see is that Trump and US administration is just like a thug that were hired by some company to hinder/destroy the rising company.
GuCode 6y ago
Because security is not the real reason to ban TikTok, the government just wants an excuse to do so.
amyxs 1y ago
AirDroid and its products are developed by SandStudio, a tech company based in Singapore, not China. Regarding security, your claims are unfounded. AirDroid has published official statements outlining a pretty robust setup for security and privacy. They explicitly talk about using end-to-end encryption for remote access, HTTPS/SSL for data transfer, and they clearly state they don't sell user data. They also specify that access to your device is only based on the permissions you grant.

andreilys 6y ago

I’m more interested in the ways you can subvert a nation covertly by adjusting the algorithm. Up weighting/down weighting content that exacerbates a rival nations problems or promotes the virtues of its own

someperson 6y ago
Delivering content curated by Chinese Communist Party approved algorithms and censorship on what may become a core part of world pop culture is definitely a powerful piece of soft power. It's no exaggeration that any app delivering content to young people several hours a day may one day rival Hollywood in cultural influence. But AirDroid gives you full remote access to your Android device through a web browser. Including messages (reading/sending/receiving), camera (taking photos/videos, and accessing existing photos/videos), and full access to files. It's used widely (even by corporate IT) to transfer files between Android devices and PCs over Wi-Fi. It's a very functional app with remote access to millions of devices, and just like Huawei there are of course a steady stream of major security vulnerabilities. These may be plausible-deniable "bugdoors", or just sloppy practices introducing major vulnerabilities than happen to be exploitable by independent researchers and nation states. The issue is that it's developed by a company based in China and thus very closely linked with the Chinese Communist Party and given what we know about the CCP, it's almost certainly regularly being used by the Ministry of State Security and People's Liberation Army for to exfiltrate specific highly valuable files eg, private messages, VPN and SSH keys. It seems strange there's no debate on banning AirDroid when it poses a far greater immediate threat than TikTok.
brendawalsh 6y ago
If you are in the US and have Netflix, watch Ip Man 4 and tell me what you think.

anniefrost 6y ago

Because the reason they focused on Tiktok is that the giant tech in america are unable to beat Tiktok popularity. I could only see it like that, I'm sure that the reason of this banning if you can see is that Trump and US administration is just like a thug that were hired by some company to hinder/destroy the rising company.

GuCode 6y ago

Because security is not the real reason to ban TikTok, the government just wants an excuse to do so.

amyxs 1y ago

AirDroid and its products are developed by SandStudio, a tech company based in Singapore, not China. Regarding security, your claims are unfounded. AirDroid has published official statements outlining a pretty robust setup for security and privacy. They explicitly talk about using end-to-end encryption for remote access, HTTPS/SSL for data transfer, and they clearly state they don't sell user data. They also specify that access to your device is only based on the permissions you grant.