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Yeah, I can provide an alternative solution: ban its use within the government for sensitive uses, but allow its use by citizens. Issue a public notice to citiz

Yeah, I can provide an alternative solution: ban its use within the government for sensitive uses, but allow its use by citizens. Issue a public notice to citizens that any wechat communications may be known by the chinese government. If there's an actual national security issue with private citizens using the app, they should air it and give it a chance to be addressed, or succeed in court on its merits. > I don't think that USG could achieve the goals of Chinese not being able to intercept US communication Frankly, that shouldn't be a goal of the us government for private citizens. The us government can protect government communications all it wants, but private citizens should be free to use chinese services if they want. I know someone learning chinese in an american college, and one of their resources is using weibo (a chinese twitter clone basically, definitely hosted on chinese servers). If US private citizens using wechat is "china intercepting us communication", than this person using weibo and emailing chinese students to learn would count too, right? It seems like a clear violation of the 1st amendment, and the justification seems very flimsy, at best.

remarkEon 6y ago
The issue is not strictly limited to 1A issues or concern over intercepted communications, though. There's a much larger elephant in the room: a social media app, wildly popular with easily influenced young people, that the Chinese Communist Party has, effectively, editorial control over. That's, imo, the most concerning issue here. Imagine what you could do with this power. (I ask that question a bit tongue in cheek, because we should also be asking it of Facebook/Twitter/Google et al.)
- pishpash 6y ago
  Imagine what you could do with a newspaper where the editor has editorial control. Oh the horrors!
  - remarkEon 6y ago
    I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make. Are you admitting that TikTok and WeChat are essentially “news” apps that CCP has editorial control over?
pishpash 6y ago
It is also violation of free association, because social apps have a community aspect.
thaumasiotes 6y ago
> Yeah, I can provide an alternative solution: ban its use within the government for sensitive uses, but allow its use by citizens. Use by citizens is already allowed; the order doesn't address it at all.

remarkEon 6y ago

The issue is not strictly limited to 1A issues or concern over intercepted communications, though. There's a much larger elephant in the room: a social media app, wildly popular with easily influenced young people, that the Chinese Communist Party has, effectively, editorial control over. That's, imo, the most concerning issue here. Imagine what you could do with this power. (I ask that question a bit tongue in cheek, because we should also be asking it of Facebook/Twitter/Google et al.)

pishpash 6y ago
Imagine what you could do with a newspaper where the editor has editorial control. Oh the horrors!
- remarkEon 6y ago
  I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make. Are you admitting that TikTok and WeChat are essentially “news” apps that CCP has editorial control over?

pishpash 6y ago

It is also violation of free association, because social apps have a community aspect.

thaumasiotes 6y ago

> Yeah, I can provide an alternative solution: ban its use within the government for sensitive uses, but allow its use by citizens. Use by citizens is already allowed; the order doesn't address it at all.