Ex-White House CIO tells The Reg: TikTok ban may be diplomatic disaster
- Reference: 1711977306
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/04/01/tiktok_ban_white_house/
- Source link:
The [1]law bill has passed the House and is now before the Senate.
In an interview you can watch below, former White House chief information officer [2]Theresa Payton told The Register the tech industry should start prepping for a ban, given the timelines involved and indications that China will [3]block TikTok's divestment.
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"As soon as the President signs this bill into law, and if it passes as written … there will be 180 days" for ByteDance to offload TikTok, Payton explained. "I don't know about you, but I can think of very few major transactions that can happen in 180 days."
"If I were advising some of the largest ISPs, Apple, Google and others … you need to be play-booking the worst scenario of what a shutdown means," Payton said. "This is unprecedented."
Internet connectivity providers could be forced to block traffic to the ByteDance subsidiary, app store owners will likely have to take action, and rival social networks may be required to prevent the sharing of TikTok videos.
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Beyond that, Payton warns that China - which already bans many Western social media platforms including Facebook - could decide to take a harder line on US-based firms that do business in the Middle Kingdom.
"Pick an American icon company that builds things in China. They could say 'you're no longer allowed to do business here and you need to divest.' There's a diplomacy concern here as well," Payton said.
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Among other things we discussed, Payton said this entire affair would be different if, like other nations, the US had a privacy bill of rights. America doesn't have any such federal-level law, with the [8]most recent attempt crashing and burning.
"If we had … a privacy bill of rights where the guardrails were set, including international access to data points, this conversation might be a little different," Payton, CEO of cybersecurity firm Fortalice, told us.
"I would love to see something fast-tracked more around that." ®
Get our [9]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/us_congress_passes_tiktok_ban/
[2] https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresapayton/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/07/tiktok_divest_ban/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZgraG15qxicSgM0MU@q6NgAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZgraG15qxicSgM0MU@q6NgAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZgraG15qxicSgM0MU@q6NgAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZgraG15qxicSgM0MU@q6NgAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/15/federal_data_privacy/
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
"you need to be play-booking the worst scenario of what a shutdown means,"
I'm not sure they'd be calling it "the worst scenario", more like a game of chess. It probably means preparing to roll out something called "Tock-Tick" or the like that they've prepared for just such an even and trying to work out how close to 180 days they can get and still be first mover.
New platform
If the ban comes to the UK any alternative platform should be called "Ding Dong".
This has the dual advantage of referencing a British icon but still sounding as though it might be Chinese. Or possibly Vietnamese?
Mind your footing
It’s a slippery slope.
USA gov likes what it sees abroad but needs some precedent for internet censorship
If only the US had a privacy bill of rights…
With no express right to privacy in the U. S. Constitution, the US is going to be hard pushed to legally prevent entities commercial or otherwise(*), domestic and foreign, from hoovering up US citizens data.
I can see US corporations and the Republicans supporting a privacy bill that only applies to foreign entities, but not one that restricts domestic businesses from exploiting US citizens…
(*) I wonder whether companies such as Palantir are arms length commercial fronts for the NSA et al, so they can legitimately collect data o US citizens, without it being classed as spying…
> "Pick an American icon company that builds things in China. They could say 'you're no longer allowed to do business here and you need to divest.' There's a diplomacy concern here as well," Payton said.
Hm. I thought China had already done this to several large companies, and they had left as a result. I'm also pretty sure China has gone "give us your source code or GTFO"
Plus the Great Firewall is blocking pretty much everything American already.
Plus isn't this going to mean "the yoots" are simply going to get VPNs?
"China has gone "give us your source code or GTFO""
Thats SOP in China. We were required to hand over a copy of our source before we could deploy to China. I don't think it ever got updated so the value of that early cut of the system pretty low in terms of running bootlegs of it, but invaluable from learning the design and architecture.
And of course you can't go it alone, you need to be in a "Joint Venture" with a Chinese Company. The purpose of that quite obviously so that the local "partner" gets enhanced access to your IP to make it easier to syphon off.
Being kicked out would be the best thing for us -- if it wasn't already too late.
Guess who changed their tune on this?
None other than Donald 'Make America Pray with my Bible' Trump.
That was after a major stockholder in TikTok/Bytedance was entertained at Mar-a-lardo.
funny was a large donation to the Wannabe Dictator's cause can do isn't it?
Project 2025 are already talking about repealing the 22nd Amendment which limits POTUS to two terms. Trump becomes POTUS for life like his pal Putin.
Vote Blue in 2024 before you lose the right to do it ever again.
Hey now...
...that's what the states are for. I'm all for some loose federal regulations *specifically targeted* at other countries' companies, but other than that, it should be at the state level.