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Were the journalists foolish enough to install the app (not victim blaming but come on) or does the TikTok app scan for other wifi signatures in the vicinity an

Were the journalists foolish enough to install the app (not victim blaming but come on) or does the TikTok app scan for other wifi signatures in the vicinity and that’s how they correlated the locations?

jimbob45 4y ago
I was wondering this myself. Tiktok surely needs location data permitted to track, no? I'm sure there are some heuristics it can use, perhaps pinging servers or image matching pictures but surely this could all be solved by putting TikTok in a container with specifically limited permissions.
- blessedwhiskers 4y ago
  Images probably have location data in the EXIF as well that can be used for this. If notifications cause background data fetch from their servers that could also probably leak IP address.
joenathanone 4y ago
There are multiple data points that can be used and/or correlated to determine location, including IP address, if permissions are enabled, nearby Bluetooth devices, nearby WiFi MAC addresses, connected cell tower, and of course GPS. Also they don't even need to be installed on the journalist's device, but their child/spouse/coworker/close friends would also do.
LarryMullins 4y ago
> Were the journalists foolish enough to install the app Foolish doesn't describe it, if they knew they were taking a calculated risk. Suppose they knew there was a risk the app could be used to track them, and maybe even a risk that tracking data could be used to assassinate them. But if TikTok tracked them with the app, that could also become part of their story against TikTok and thus advance their journalistic career. Fortune favors the bold.
BrandoElFollito 4y ago
Of course we should blame the victims here. They are supposed to know what to do in a hostile world, if they don't they are not good journalists. It is like staying that a company that got hacked because it did not put in place basic security gets a free pass because Russians/Chinese/NKs are bad. If the journalists were targeted by a sophisticated back I would be completely sympathetic. Here they were simply careless.
- tgv 4y ago
  You know you shouldn't install that app. You know you shouldn't enter that neighbourhood. You know you shouldn't wear that skirt. You know you shouldn't have said that. You're simply careless.
  - BrandoElFollito 4y ago
    Pfff. If you are a professional, fail at your job, and blame the adversary then it you are an incompetent professional. Incompetent because you do not understand where the problem is. I wonder how my boss would say if my answer to being hacked was "hey, blame the attacker - I am the victim here and should be consoled. It does not matter that I should have known!". Then there is the "skirt case" - something as a French I am sadly aware of. My personal perspective is that the police should aggressively react to such harassment. And punitions should be drastic. And that deep changes in the way we handle ghettos we built ourselves should be undertaken (this is much more difficult than the first two ones but effectively the only way forward). With this said, I will not go to a cité (more or less a ghetto) with a "Fuck Allah" shirt and wonder why my head was chopped. We live in a world where there seems to be a contradiction between "common sense" and "justice". Justice and equity is the most important but it does not mean that we should not think WHEN WE KNOW that the world is not ideal yet.

jimbob45 4y ago

I was wondering this myself. Tiktok surely needs location data permitted to track, no? I'm sure there are some heuristics it can use, perhaps pinging servers or image matching pictures but surely this could all be solved by putting TikTok in a container with specifically limited permissions.

blessedwhiskers 4y ago
Images probably have location data in the EXIF as well that can be used for this. If notifications cause background data fetch from their servers that could also probably leak IP address.

joenathanone 4y ago

There are multiple data points that can be used and/or correlated to determine location, including IP address, if permissions are enabled, nearby Bluetooth devices, nearby WiFi MAC addresses, connected cell tower, and of course GPS. Also they don't even need to be installed on the journalist's device, but their child/spouse/coworker/close friends would also do.

LarryMullins 4y ago

> Were the journalists foolish enough to install the app Foolish doesn't describe it, if they knew they were taking a calculated risk. Suppose they knew there was a risk the app could be used to track them, and maybe even a risk that tracking data could be used to assassinate them. But if TikTok tracked them with the app, that could also become part of their story against TikTok and thus advance their journalistic career. Fortune favors the bold.

BrandoElFollito 4y ago

Of course we should blame the victims here. They are supposed to know what to do in a hostile world, if they don't they are not good journalists. It is like staying that a company that got hacked because it did not put in place basic security gets a free pass because Russians/Chinese/NKs are bad. If the journalists were targeted by a sophisticated back I would be completely sympathetic. Here they were simply careless.

tgv 4y ago
You know you shouldn't install that app. You know you shouldn't enter that neighbourhood. You know you shouldn't wear that skirt. You know you shouldn't have said that. You're simply careless.
- BrandoElFollito 4y ago
  Pfff. If you are a professional, fail at your job, and blame the adversary then it you are an incompetent professional. Incompetent because you do not understand where the problem is. I wonder how my boss would say if my answer to being hacked was "hey, blame the attacker - I am the victim here and should be consoled. It does not matter that I should have known!". Then there is the "skirt case" - something as a French I am sadly aware of. My personal perspective is that the police should aggressively react to such harassment. And punitions should be drastic. And that deep changes in the way we handle ghettos we built ourselves should be undertaken (this is much more difficult than the first two ones but effectively the only way forward). With this said, I will not go to a cité (more or less a ghetto) with a "Fuck Allah" shirt and wonder why my head was chopped. We live in a world where there seems to be a contradiction between "common sense" and "justice". Justice and equity is the most important but it does not mean that we should not think WHEN WE KNOW that the world is not ideal yet.