Bill To Ban TikTok On US Government Devices Passes Committee

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously passed a bill that would ban U.S. federal workers from downloading the popular app TikTok onto U.S. government devices, Senator Josh Hawley, a bill sponsor, said in a press statement on Wednesday. Reuters reports: The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a similar measure in August 2020. Representative Ken Buck has introduced a similar bill in the House. The app, which is popular with teens eager to show off dance moves, has come under fire in the United States because of concerns over its Chinese owner, ByteDance. TikTok has sought to distance itself from Beijing with mixed success. Hawley called the company "an immediate security threat." "This should not be a partisan issue and I'm glad to see my colleagues in the Senate act together to address Beijing's covert data collection campaign," Hawley said in a statement after the vote.

Ban all non-already-approved apps on gov devices

[cygnusvis]

This is advice for all governments around the world. Government computers/devices should not have anything that is not pre-approved already. It should not be a black list (deny list), it should be a white list(approve list).

Re:Ban all non-already-approved apps on gov device

[lunchlady55]

Totally agree. It should be a list of allowed, tested and vetted applications, not a list of banned apps. Just like firewall rules - DENY ALL first. Then allow some traffic.

Re:

[cygnusvis]

without interference from grandstanding politicians.

never gonna happen, we will always be at the mercy of the non-technical simply because they are the majority and the voting system lets dumb people vote.

Re:

[sabbede]

Public rules should be set by elected representatives of the people, with advice from experts, not by unelected technocrats. Technocratic dictatorships may be efficient, but they are also cruel and oppressive. They're also unstable. The politics doesn't go away when you replace politicians with technocrats, it just means you strip your politicians of any accountability.

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[zenlessyank]

DIAF

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Government computers/devices should not have anything that is not pre-approved already.

Here is the UK this is certainly the case with some Government networks even at quite low classifications. I've used systems where there is such a white list. The process of adding and removing any approved tools you need was quite easy with a provided GUI (a bit like a local App Store) although you needed support from IT for some more complex approved software particularly where there would be a fee for an extra lic

Re:

[ColoradoAuthor]

Such a policy is vital for maintaining security, but so is a responsive system for whitelisting needed software and handling exceptions. Otherwise, you end up with a health agency which is unable to communicate with certain segments of the population (by, say, posting videos on Tik Tok). Or a critical military operation being run via Word macros (having lived near several major US military bases, I can state with confidence that has in fact happened). Or employees disabled by RSI because they weren't allowe

Hawley is an immediate security threat

[Somervillain]

He supported and cheered on the January 6 attacks and is perpetuating the big lie that somehow voter fraud happened, but has yet to provide even the flimsiest bit of evidence.

I actually think banning TikTok on gov devices is fine. They can ban whatever they want on their property. However, I am weary of Hawley's motives and I have yet to see any evidence or even decent indicator of ByteDance doing anything wrong...similar to how we've seen no evidence or even reasonable indicators of voter fraud.

This is a whole lot of bluster for a complete piece of shit politician. It's not to be taken seriously, just like him.

I'll be terrified when given a decent reason

[Somervillain]

You are a China apologist and don't "see much" in general, so you are not to be taken seriously.

The rational world needs a reason to be terrified. Don't just tell me "TikTok is bad" "it's from China" and expect me to jump on your weird bandwagon. I need more before you instill fear in me. Is ByteDance a threat? Maybe. I am not saying they aren't, but I'd like to see a reasonable indicator they are before I panic. I am not like those Fox News viewers tuning in nightly to Carlson/Hannity looking for their outrage fix. Maybe ByteDance is spying on us and selling us out to foreign intelligence...m

Re: I'll be terrified when given a decent reason

[e3m4n]

Since 2007 there has been a massive downplay on any terrorist activity. Things done silently in the background while pretending as if nothing ever happened. I get it I guess. Dont want the public to panic every time our security is breached. There is no question our country is as polarized as it can get. You strike me as someone in that category. So when senators from opposite parties unanimously agree on something, instead of trying to tear each others throats out, it should say a tremendous amount. Its po

Democrats rushed into Iraq

[Somervillain]

So when senators from opposite parties unanimously agree on something, instead of trying to tear each others throats out, it should say a tremendous amount. Its possible they may never tell you what the issue was/is. Its entirely possible that the reasons are painfully embarrassing in a mutually assured way. Hell look at the warren report. They were supposed to release everything some 30yrs later and always with the 11th hour delay. I guess someone was still alive that maybe lived longer than expected. So maybe in 30yrs we will find out how some really sensitive info got leaked from a phone with tik-tok on it.

It says little to me. The Democrats are mostly rational. Most of their voters WILL turn on them if they think the Republicans serve their needs better. Look at the 1984 electoral map. That's why so many of them rushed to authorize the use of force in Iraq. They know that if Saddam Hussein had WMDs and they voted against force, their careers would be over with. The Democrats are also generally not very good at winning elections or predicting the mentality of their voters...they're deathly afraid of l

Re: Democrats rushed into Iraq

[e3m4n]

Which should mean that cell phones should be in faraday cages during discussions of classified data. Ive had this position for s very long time. No laptops with working microphones or cameras. The biggest threat to national security is humans. We dont even connect the servers that house the data onto the internet. Its purely sneaker-net to get classified information printed, stenographied, and delivered to the need-to-know. That was the big deal about HRC and her actual violations. She told her staff to rem

Re:

[sabbede]

So yeah, they could be operating a profitable fad app ad revenue source....or it's a Chinese government sting...which do you think is more likely?

Did you think it couldn't be both? That the former couldn't be effective cover for the latter? That the CCP isn't clever enough to use the corporations it controls to provide itself with intelligence?

Military ties cut into profitability

[Somervillain]

Did you think it couldn't be both? That the former couldn't be effective cover for the latter? That the CCP isn't clever enough to use the corporations it controls to provide itself with intelligence?

Anything is possible, but finding out you're a pawn of the Chinese Intelligence service is bad for business. They know better than most that leaks will happen. Their 2020 revenue was 37 billion dollars. That's a lot of money, especially in China. If I were to guess, I'd guess they want money more than whatever intel they can get from TikTok...which seems to be primarily "challenges" for teenagers and really short entertaining videos. I'm not sure how much value that provides. Keeping that 37 billion an

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[i.r.id10t]

But does what amounts to an acceptable use policy really need to be legislated?

I mean, I'm glad the congresscritters are wasting time working on this vs. enriching themselves (wait... does one of 'em have an interest in a competitor product that is allowed?) or restricting my rights further but I would much rather see them spending the time on proper infrastructure bills, true net neutrality, etc. (yeah, I know, wishful thinking)

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[ayesnymous]

Yale and Harvard should sue him for defamation. He is devaluing their law degrees.

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[HiThere]

While I agree with you about Hawley in general, this particular piece of legislation is only bad in that it is too permissive. Tiktok has no business on a government computer. Does Facebook? Well, maybe at the PR desk, but not generally.

There should be a whitelist rather than a blacklist, but how should it be maintained? Different jobs have different needs. (I can't, however, imagine that any job requires Tiktok.)

Of COURSE we'll ban CCP's access to gov. officials

[Pierre Pants]

DUH. It would be stupid to allow apps compromised by the Chinese. Everything knows the CCP controls everything coming out of China, is a totalitarian, oppressive and genocidal regime, and can never be trusted. Oh but yeah we just removed that blacklisting of Xiaomi, we don't mind.

Re: Of COURSE we'll ban CCP's access to gov. offic

[dwater]

"everyone" does not know that.

Paranoia...

[presidenteloco]

Soul destroyer.

What's the harm in the CPP intercepting US government personnel's dance moves? Blackmail because of how bad they are? lol.

Management?

[larwe]

I have to say - in what world is this not centrally managed with MDM software? I doubt that there's a single corporation, no matter how poor their overall opsec, that doesn't manage and lock down their company-owned devices. Without even looking up the relevant regs, it's probably a mandatory control for things like PCI compliance. So either the US Government is less security conscious than the least-aware corporation, or this whole story is really "TikTok won't be added to the allowed applications list in

Re:

[i.r.id10t]

PCI compliance, HIPAA, FERPA, etc and their associated security requirements don't come into play unless that particular organization is in that business (taking credit cards, healthcare provider/insurer, education, etc). IE, if you apply for a job at the post office and for some reason give a copy of your college transcripts, there is nothing in the FERPA laws that would prevent whoever saw it from discussing your grades, etc with anyone else.

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[larwe]

I am well aware of all this, I merely used PCI as an example. "Government has internal security policy that forbids running software of unverifiable functionality or origin on Government devices" seems like a prudent policy to which the Government should adhere.

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[anegg]

I haven't seen any sign of a single government agency centrally managing all devices. Within a particular department, the level at which management is unified varies as well I believe. For executive branch departments (I'm guessing this is the bulk of users), orders about how to run IT are sometimes promulgated "from on high". Compliance with these orders varies, with "security" requirements probably having the greatest amount of oversight, but the oversight is accomplished by individual agencies checkin

Re:

[Frank Burly]

I think it is more based on the ability of a foreign military to--ahem--influence the product. I don't remember the US government doing this with Taiwanese products, which I'm sure you would agree are also Chinese.

Re: Are proofs optional?

[dwater]

Yet.

Re: Are proofs optional?

[dwater]

Speculation is enough. Nothing wrong with that, imo...but it does make them look kind of pathetic. National insecurity, is what it is.

Re:

[sabbede]

The CCP is a persistent threat and they control all three of the companies you listed. We would not allow software owned by the Russian military to be run on our government hardware, nor should we allow software controlled by the Chinese military.

And you'd be a damned fool to think that Chinese military and intelligence agencies wouldn't want to be able to track the location of say... FBI counter-intelligence agents.

Abomination Rule?

[dowhileor]

Platforms should host applications, applications should not abstract platforms.

All software is a potential threat

[couchslug]

The world is far too complex to rely on reactive measures. The less software on government and business machines the better. It's either necessary or it's trash.

Bosses should not be exempt. They're severe risks as most are old people are (the very few old techies should know how few we REALLY are) even less tech literate than helpless inferior non-techies.

Perfect privacy

[manu0601]

Does that mean one will be able to use TikTok with the a legal guarantee to not be monitored by the US federal government?

all social media should be banned

[FudRucker]

especially if it allowed anonymous users to follow their active status and location, its too easy to be used as a tracking tool by criminals and bad actors, (think about it) that includes facebook too, i am sure there are others too

Should ban Android and iOS

[fustakrakich]

Government should not be on commodity hardware and software

A Bill For Firewall Rules?

[zenlessyank]

What the ever lovin' fuck?

it is fked up

[Wolfier]

Why does it need a bill?

It is Government device. Install only from the organisation private app store. Whitelist only approved apps and ban all others.

Re:

[sabbede]

Good question. A President has the authority to direct every agency to ban it, and I thought that's exactly what happened. Did Biden lift that restriction?

The True Problem

[dohzer]

I'm not against Tik Tok, but I am against their tacky watermark in the corner of their videos. They're almost as bad as those "Sent from my Apple branded device" things you get in emails.

Government devices should be business only

[DaveV1.0]

There should be no social media apps on government devices with the exception of those who manage the official government social media sites. There should only be government approved applications on them because it is way too easy to compromise a device with 3rd party software. And, everything that is done on a government owned device should be considered government records and thus follow government retention standards with anyone deleting anything from a government device considered to be illegally destro