fujiJuice wrote on Mar 24, 2023, 12:31:

Verno wrote on Mar 23, 2023, 15:37:

FloodAnxiety wrote on Mar 23, 2023, 14:59:
Some people are really in support of the government telling them what apps they can and cannot use eh? Or do they just not use it, and are in support of the government preventing other people from having the choice?

Of course, government regulates many things, that's part of its purpose. We cannot trust "the free market" when this app is controlled by a foreign government and can be weaponized against us in the form of theft, manipulation, blackmail or propaganda. It has societal implications and that is why government is involved.

Bingo.

You can learn a lot about someone by tracking their time and location.

You can learn a lot about the internal workings of a building or an entire organization by tracking the times and locations of those in it.

When they want to sell us something based on that information it is invasive and annoying but when a foreign adversary does it is a national security threat.

That is just one concern. It might not even be valid in these circumstances (I don't know what TikTok tracks), I am just saying that it should be at least scrutinized because of reasons we can't even imagine yet.

As jdreyer points out, we are playing by the precedent they established.