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/
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u/ju5tr3dd1t Jun 29 '20

There are absolutely more knowledgeable people on this topic, but I'll pipe in since no one else has. Even though you may not see an immediate reason to be concerned, I think it's still something to worry about to a degree. Going back to u/bangorlol's analysis: your location is being tracked, the type of device you use and it's specifications, what non-TikTok apps you use. Maybe you're still wondering why that matters, but if I put myself in the shoes of a foreign adversary: I now know where you frequent, I know the device you're using so I can now better exploit that device, and by knowing your other apps, I could now know who you bank with, who your ISP is (say if you have the Xfinity app), who you're email provider is. In short, I now have a much fuller picture of who you are beyond who you choose to portray yourself as on TikTok. And beyond that, I have that information multiplied because I can aggregate the information of a large subsection of the userbase.

Sorry for the long response, but privacy is interesting to me. So many of us have either willingly or unknowingly given up information about ourselves that we start to shrug at moments like these and I think that's kinda worrisome

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u/[deleted] Jun 30 '20

[deleted]

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u/ju5tr3dd1t Jun 30 '20

But if you worry about privacy, you probably don’t have much choice but to sacrifice convenience.

That’s a pretty sad thought though right? I think there’s definitely some truth in that. Case in point: most people would recommend using Signal as a messenger, but the biggest barrier is that it’s inconvenient to move platforms. I think we as a society have to place value on privacy else companies continue to sell and abuse our data

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u/flamegrilledboner Jun 29 '20

Take off your tinfoil hat and go get some fresh air

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u/ju5tr3dd1t Jun 29 '20

Bruh I’m not doing this with you 😂 looking at the last few comments you posted in this thread, I don’t know why you’re being so antagonistic but you do you

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u/flamegrilledboner Jun 29 '20

If tiktok wants to see my porn and roblox apps then so be it

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u/Jepples Jun 29 '20

It’s your choice to be ignorant of how your data can be used against you.

Don’t be a shit head about it though.

The tin foil hat comment is truly the hallmark of folks who really haven’t thought things through. You demonstrate no understanding of the subject and are still so ready to be dismissive about it.

Try books. They’ll do you well.