About 59% of Americans say TikTok a threat to the national security of the United States, according to a new survey of U.S. adults.

  • SCB@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Russia is similarly not a threat to the US. I agree with the people who said that.

    I won’t be fighting said war, but my son almost certainly would. I feel confident that it won’t happen and more than he’ll get eaten by a bear next time we go camping.

    Some fears aren’t worth entertaining.

    • galloog1@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      One of the things that best prevents a conflict is deterrence. That is what this is. By not deterring, you make conflict more likely. It is absolutely worth entertaining and we do all the time. That is why you have such confidence that it won’t happen. They are not a threat because we actively deter them from becoming one.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Banning TikTok is not a deterrent. Having a big navy is a deterrent.

        • galloog1@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Information dominance is our single greatest advantage in the West and has been since WWII. Code breakers did more to win in Europe than any bombing campaign alone and the Battle of Midway would not have been won otherwise. It is why Ukraine is doing so well to this day. Numbers only go so far.

          • SCB@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            TikTok does not grant information dominance unless our government is dumb enough to pull a Russia and allow deployed soldiers in combat zones to post on TikTok, which I sincerely doubt.

            • galloog1@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Always on location enables machine learning models to be developed on movement. This applies to troop movements, critical civilian infrastructure, and maximizing civil disruption. Always on audio enables the fully automated development of models that sound just like you enabling fake orders to be developed, propaganda, and misinformation at an individual user level. Always on video enables the mapping of military bases and threat profiling. Access to biometric data enables readiness assessments. Combinations of all of the above enable the development of combined information warfare which has not been possible yet.

              All of this has literally already been done, just not at scale yet but they are actively working on it. This is real and why we are working to deter it. It is no longer about individual networks anymore.

              • SCB@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                If it applies to troop movements, our military failed at basic infosec. If it applies to civilian movements outside of wartime, it’s useless information, since the US is very easy to map logistically.

                All of this has been done, you’re right - in like 1812.

                • galloog1@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  The only thing I can do at this point is to encourage you to trust that warfare has indeed changed in the last 200 years and that we (somewhat) know what we are doing at a strategic level.

                  • SCB@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    I’m quite aware of how warfare has changed, as is clearly evident from my posting so far.

                    You’ve yet to articulate an actual threat TikTok’s data harvesting has on the civilian populace. We agree about military/government security protocols.