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WeChat ban is just evil, no justifiable benefit. Almost all the users in America are overseas Chinese who use it to talk to friends and family in China and send

WeChat ban is just evil, no justifiable benefit. Almost all the users in America are overseas Chinese who use it to talk to friends and family in China and send money.

cyc116 6y ago
I mean if the Send money feature is what triggers it then isn't it already banned prior to this ban? There are also many non-Chinese that use wechat.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
  > There are also many non-Chinese that use wechat. Are there?
  - withinboredom 6y ago
    If you have a Chinese supplier or have Chinese friends, you probably have wechat.
dheera 6y ago
> WeChat ban is just evil Yes, they do some evil spyware things, but so do many US apps as well. > no justifiable benefit. Maybe to you, but this does not apply to everyone. This is supposed to be a free country, but projecting one person's idea of benefits on everyone is exactly the opposite of a free country. > Almost all the users in America are overseas Chinese who use it to talk to friends and family in China and send money. Well yes, people need a way to talk to their family, and we shouldn't be taking out country politics on civilians' basic human needs, including both visitors and US citizens with family in China. As a free country we should be respecting the needs of the overseas Chinese and overseas everyone-else who is here. While I do support apps not being evil, I don't think the right answer is to ban WeChat. Rather, the right answer is better and stricter privacy controls on phone OSes that prevent these apps from doing evil things, like arbitrarily scanning your Wi-Fi networks, which both WeChat and Google do. LineageOS (Android fork) has a good set of tools for this and can run WeChat just fine while spoofing fake data to their servers for most of these spy attempts.
- jessaustin 6y ago
  Parent said that ban is evil, not that app itself is evil.
TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
Calling the ban evil is a bit hyperbolic IMO, or maybe just incomplete. Phones with the software could easily be compromised. Users with the software can be profiled and tracked by the Chinese government pretty easily. The Chinese market bans most of America's social media software, and we're entering a trade war. All these are real, legitimate reasons to ban it.
- shajznnckfke 6y ago
  Retaliatory action in a trade war is probably a good idea, but the government may not have a legal tool to block the app for that reason. Hence the need to come up with a security threat. I’m skeptical of the security issue. If China wanted to inject spyware into American’s phones, there are so many apps to choose from, including lots of apps with millions of installs from no-name developers that could easily be compromised. If the US wants to protect citizens against these threats, they can have entities with infosec skills like the NSA or CISA work with Apple/Google to help detect threats in the app review process. My guess is that programs like this are already in place. Blocking just a couple of economically significant apps doesn’t seem like the way you’d go about pursuing that goal. It smells like a pretext for firing a few more shots in the trade war.
- johnnyfaehell 6y ago
  > Users with the software can be profiled and tracked by the Chinese government pretty easily. This is true of all apps coming out of the US with the NSA. Should Google, Facebook, Netflix be banned in Europe? > and we're entering a trade war. The trade war started a while ago and I'm pretty sure China is winning it.
  - TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
    > Should Google, Facebook, Netflix be banned in Europe? The EU historically has depended on alliance and trade with the US. If that corrodes, then it would make sense for them to ban those at a certain point. I doubt we're there yet though. > The trade war started a while ago and I'm pretty sure China is winning it. That's irrelevant to what I said.
  - 6y ago
apta 6y ago
That's because the CCP has banned non-CCP apps, they're getting a taste of their own medicine.
- romwell 6y ago
  Yeah, let's follow CCP practices in the US, that'll show 'em!
  - ardy42 6y ago
    > Yeah, let's follow CCP practices in the US, that'll show 'em! To a certain extent, yes. A lot of foreign relations is about reciprocation and self-interest. For many, many years the US tolerated CCP polices that hurt its interests with the hope that, over time, that would cause the CCP would liberalize. That hasn't happened, and it's clear it won't happen anytime soon.
    - romwell 6y ago
      Of course, reciprocation is always the answer. We should also reciprocate CCP's oppression of Uighurs in concentration camps by ramping up our oppression in ICE camps, right?
      - frequentnapper 6y ago
        The parent didn't say reciprocation is always the answer. Stop putting words in people's mouth and derailing the conversation. In this case it makes sense to do a tit-for-tat ban to hurt them.
      - apta 6y ago
        That's a strawman argument.
- whoevercares 6y ago
  Who’s “they” here?
AlexTWithBeard 6y ago
There is at least a dozen apps to chat with your friends: from Telegram to FB messenger. Why banning one of them is evil?

WeChat ban is just evil, no justifiable benefit. Almost all the users in America are overseas Chinese who use it to talk to friends and family in China and send money.

cyc116 6y ago

I mean if the Send money feature is what triggers it then isn't it already banned prior to this ban? There are also many non-Chinese that use wechat.

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
> There are also many non-Chinese that use wechat. Are there?
- withinboredom 6y ago
  If you have a Chinese supplier or have Chinese friends, you probably have wechat.

dheera 6y ago

> WeChat ban is just evil Yes, they do some evil spyware things, but so do many US apps as well. > no justifiable benefit. Maybe to you, but this does not apply to everyone. This is supposed to be a free country, but projecting one person's idea of benefits on everyone is exactly the opposite of a free country. > Almost all the users in America are overseas Chinese who use it to talk to friends and family in China and send money. Well yes, people need a way to talk to their family, and we shouldn't be taking out country politics on civilians' basic human needs, including both visitors and US citizens with family in China. As a free country we should be respecting the needs of the overseas Chinese and overseas everyone-else who is here. While I do support apps not being evil, I don't think the right answer is to ban WeChat. Rather, the right answer is better and stricter privacy controls on phone OSes that prevent these apps from doing evil things, like arbitrarily scanning your Wi-Fi networks, which both WeChat and Google do. LineageOS (Android fork) has a good set of tools for this and can run WeChat just fine while spoofing fake data to their servers for most of these spy attempts.

jessaustin 6y ago
Parent said that ban is evil, not that app itself is evil.

TheAdamAndChe 6y ago

Calling the ban evil is a bit hyperbolic IMO, or maybe just incomplete. Phones with the software could easily be compromised. Users with the software can be profiled and tracked by the Chinese government pretty easily. The Chinese market bans most of America's social media software, and we're entering a trade war. All these are real, legitimate reasons to ban it.

shajznnckfke 6y ago
Retaliatory action in a trade war is probably a good idea, but the government may not have a legal tool to block the app for that reason. Hence the need to come up with a security threat. I’m skeptical of the security issue. If China wanted to inject spyware into American’s phones, there are so many apps to choose from, including lots of apps with millions of installs from no-name developers that could easily be compromised. If the US wants to protect citizens against these threats, they can have entities with infosec skills like the NSA or CISA work with Apple/Google to help detect threats in the app review process. My guess is that programs like this are already in place. Blocking just a couple of economically significant apps doesn’t seem like the way you’d go about pursuing that goal. It smells like a pretext for firing a few more shots in the trade war.
johnnyfaehell 6y ago
> Users with the software can be profiled and tracked by the Chinese government pretty easily. This is true of all apps coming out of the US with the NSA. Should Google, Facebook, Netflix be banned in Europe? > and we're entering a trade war. The trade war started a while ago and I'm pretty sure China is winning it.
- TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
  > Should Google, Facebook, Netflix be banned in Europe? The EU historically has depended on alliance and trade with the US. If that corrodes, then it would make sense for them to ban those at a certain point. I doubt we're there yet though. > The trade war started a while ago and I'm pretty sure China is winning it. That's irrelevant to what I said.
- 6y ago

apta 6y ago

That's because the CCP has banned non-CCP apps, they're getting a taste of their own medicine.

romwell 6y ago
Yeah, let's follow CCP practices in the US, that'll show 'em!
- ardy42 6y ago
  > Yeah, let's follow CCP practices in the US, that'll show 'em! To a certain extent, yes. A lot of foreign relations is about reciprocation and self-interest. For many, many years the US tolerated CCP polices that hurt its interests with the hope that, over time, that would cause the CCP would liberalize. That hasn't happened, and it's clear it won't happen anytime soon.
  - romwell 6y ago
    Of course, reciprocation is always the answer. We should also reciprocate CCP's oppression of Uighurs in concentration camps by ramping up our oppression in ICE camps, right?
    - frequentnapper 6y ago
      The parent didn't say reciprocation is always the answer. Stop putting words in people's mouth and derailing the conversation. In this case it makes sense to do a tit-for-tat ban to hurt them.
    - apta 6y ago
      That's a strawman argument.
whoevercares 6y ago
Who’s “they” here?

AlexTWithBeard 6y ago

There is at least a dozen apps to chat with your friends: from Telegram to FB messenger. Why banning one of them is evil?