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I worked at EFF for twenty years, and every iteration or incarnation of EFF would have said that it should be extraordinarily difficult for the government to pr
by schoen 2y ago
I worked at EFF for twenty years, and every iteration or incarnation of EFF would have said that it should be extraordinarily difficult for the government to prevent Americans from using foreign web sites or software. And that it should be extraordinarily difficult for the government to compel tech intermediaries to help block foreign sites or software. This would have been a bog-standard EFF position for the organization's entire existence.
(I would say something even stronger than "extraordinarily difficult", but then I'd be on thinner ice.)
- munchler 2y agoIt required specific legislation to ban TikTok. I would say that's pretty extraordinary. I think even the EFF should admit that allowing the Chinese government to control a major American social media app is an unacceptable security risk.
- hedora 2y agoThe second paragraph of the EFF statement says the ban provides insufficient protection of US security.
- munchler 2y ago> The United States’ foreign foes easily can steal, scrape, or buy Americans’ data by countless other means. True, but that's not the point. > Shutting down communications platforms or forcing their reorganization based on concerns of foreign propaganda and anti-national manipulation is an eminently anti-democratic tactic, one that the US has previously condemned globally. Sorry, that might've been true for old media, but social media is way more insidious.
- beepbooptheory 2y agoSo is it that it's not antidemocratic now because of new media, or is it antidemocratic but thats ok because of new media?
- munchler 2y agoProbably the latter, if viewed narrowly, but the whole point is to preserve democracy in the end. This ban is the lesser of two evils. Is chemotherapy not unhealthy now because of cancer, or is it unhealthy but that’s OK because of cancer?
- accrual 2y agoIt's amazing that all three arms of the government can come together so quickly to ban an app, but we can't have affordable housing, public healthcare, a higher minimum wage, or send kids to school without bulletproof backpacks.
- ok_dad 2y agoStop talking about that or they'll ban HN next!
- packetlost 2y agoNot only did it require specific legislation, but it had the near unanimous support of all 3 branches of the government (if you exclude the shifts in presidential opinion)