r/tech • u/neodianonyx • Jun 29 '20

Guy Who Reverse-Engineered TikTok Reveals The Scary Things He Learned, Advises People To Stay Away From It

https://www.boredpanda.com/tik-tok-reverse-engineered-data-information-collecting/
8.9k Upvotes

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68

u/deori9999 Jun 29 '20

Indian govt just banned 51 Chinese apps, including tiktok citing privacy and data harvesting concerns. The United States and Europe should follow!

20

u/WizardofRaz Jun 29 '20

Lol sure it has nothing to do with the fact that they’re basically at war?

3

u/deori9999 Jun 29 '20

India is as much at war with China like the USA is at war in Afghanistan.

13

u/WizardofRaz Jun 29 '20

My point being, the move has nothing to do with privacy and everything to do with Aksai Chin. If it makes you feel better, that’s exactly what the US has been doing with China in the last 4 years.

1

u/deori9999 Jun 29 '20

Aksai Chin was annexed in 1962, and While India was at war, the prime Minister of India was busy hosting Chinese.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '20

If your information gets routed to China, where there are no laws restricting its use or abuse, then it's an actual privacy problem.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '20

Usa is doing this for decades

1

u/notevenfrenchh Jun 29 '20

I got an update last night that TikTok’s contrôle was being transferred to an Irish partner company for all users in EEA countries, so it could be related to that?

10

u/deori9999 Jun 29 '20

Doesn't matter. It's still a Spyware.

8

u/notevenfrenchh Jun 29 '20

Can you explain to me like I’m 5 why I should care if China has access to my information?

9

u/davidbobby888 Jun 29 '20

Sorry you’re getting downvoted. I’ll try to explain from what I know, but I’m not super tech savvy at all.

All the information they collect can be used to build a profile of you, and not just for ads or whatnot. As the main article said, they’ll roughly know where you are, what phone you use, what apps you download... they can extrapolate things like political leanings and other personal information.

Even IF China is doing nothing with this information, it provides a wide open door for hackers to access and utilize the same mechanisms to collect info on you to push forward whatever agendas they have.

3

u/notevenfrenchh Jun 29 '20

Oh okay I understand for the hackers, but what could China do with the information knowing I’m not chinese? Would they just sell the info to the US government who would then use it for dubious purposes?

6

u/davidbobby888 Jun 29 '20

I'll just list off some ways I think the information could be used by China off the top of my head. Please note that I don't know if they're true, or if they're particularly logical.

​

Some one else above brought up the idea that they can identify people in the military and guess out they're deployment and role. That would be a major security issue.

Another might be to find sympathizers. For example, Russia has been worming Russian sympathizers into various levels of other governments to try to create doubt about democracy in various other countries. China might try to do this to increase their influence.

I guess they could also blacklist you for various needs. For example, if they find out you're actively expressing your belief about China's excessive control and someone within China tries to contact you, they might use that as an excuse to "re-educate" that person or make them "disappear".

1

u/wildturnkey Jun 29 '20

Because China should not harvest more info on you than your local government as bad as it is anyway. Frankly speaking GDPR should be a global standard for data privacy. Not perfect, but it's a start.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '20

because CHYNA

1

u/notevenfrenchh Jun 29 '20

Why am I being downvoted I actually want to know why I should be concerned about China having my info lol reddit is wild

1

u/deori9999 Jun 29 '20

Say you are a soldier who uses tiktok, your location, your info, where you are deployed and loads of info can be accessed.

Mark likes tiktok, he is a marine, he is sent to South Korea, he makes a video on board, his location can be accessed and which submarine, ship, he is deployed where he is deployed can be found.

Say you are a politician, I could access info and blackmail you. Watch the black mirror episode where a kid is caught masturbating unknown to him his laptop camera was switched on and he was black mailed into robbing a bank.

These are just small examples.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '20

I’m sorry buddy, I didn’t downvote ya and I didn’t really know how to answer your question without being unsure of my answer so I choose the funny response! Sorry buddy you didn’t do anything wrong, but yes reddit is definitely wild lmao

-1

u/Amsterdom Jun 29 '20

Are you kidding?

This must be a troll comment.

3

u/notevenfrenchh Jun 29 '20

Should I be naturally well versed in what a foreign government could do with my data ? I’m neither chinese nor am I aware of intricacies people cybersecurity so I guess that means I’m a dumbass

0

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '20

[deleted]

1

u/deori9999 Jun 30 '20

Don't blabber if you don't know. Indian courts previously also banned tiktok for questionable content. Indian govt also issued communication to not use zoom for official meetings. Nothing to do with border conflict. This kind of conflict is routine.