this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023

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215

Clemson University to ban TikTok on all campus networks (www.foxcarolina.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

45 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Clemson University to ban TikTok on all campus networks effective Monday, July 10.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yay!!! The Chinese Spyware has been banned 📿

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Long live American spyware 😍

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Fake news. American government would never spy on its own citizens!!

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is no known western API access directly into your phones through any major social media company and if it were known it would get patched. I'll take the American spyware over the CCP spyware any day of the week, thank you very much.

[+] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have. Are you honestly sure you understand them?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Horray, communism is no more!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

[we are doing it for the] “integrity of information and resources connected to the Clemson network”.

They're not doing it to censor or discourage use. They're doing it because they don't want the software running on their network alongside their network resources.

You can still use tiktok, just not while connected to their network infrastructure.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

The ban is on campus networks, but the reactions I'm reading are acting like this is a ban on the campus itself.

It's not censorship (or fascism), just like if they blocked PornHub it wouldn't be censorship (or fascism).

And no, blocking PornHub on a university campus where the vast, vast majority of connected users are 18+ isn't justifiable unless it was under the grounds of security.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I guess VPN will be more popular.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Lol how are they expecting to crack down on this if you can just use cell data.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I think this is more to discourage the use. Using cell data for video can add up quickly.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

That is the point.

People can use their own cell data to watch meme videos instead of hogging all the network bandwidth and slowing down wifi speeds for all the students who are trying to get actual schoolwork done.

[+] [email protected] -8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And how the fuck do they plan on enforcing it when anyone can turn off wifi with a toggle switch?

This is stupid. Beyond stupid.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They're only going to enforce it on their networks, if you want to run it on your cell that's up to you. I think the point is to discourage it overall. If every institution makes the hurdle to use it higher, that will stem the use of it on campus.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago

What exactly would be the OpSec justification for blocking it?

[+] [email protected] -29 points 1 year ago (3 children)

IMHO, this isn't s good move. I don't have any love for TikTok but I hate fascism even more.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’m not following. Can you elaborate a bit on how a private university banning TikTok is fascism?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Clemson isn't private, it's public. It is certainly their prerogative to secure their network and their users' data but there are definitely concerns over government censorship. I don't think this issue is as black and white as people ITT are making it out to be and absent a larger policy stance that would van TikTok or it's practices, I'm not sure this is the right move though I understand their position given the inaction of state and national legislatures in banning foreign spyware

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They're not banning their students from using tiktok, they're blocking access to a website on their own networks. That is how network security works. I have many IP addresses block for many customers because some website shouldn't be accessed on networks with PII. It's really not that complicated.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm well aware - as a public university things are a bit different as they are agents of the state so this becomes a free speech issue. Also, if a university's student internet is the same network containing PII systems like their student records, there are much bigger problems. That's why I mentioned that this action without any legislation that would curtail Bytedance's data collection presents a student rights conundrum. The app does not (as far as we are aware) inject or capture information from the users network but rather the user themselves which they have consented to. The larger issue is whether or not the US should allow foreign entities to collect this info and that's not something the university should be able to decide but rather the state and federal regulatory agencies and legislatures

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Lol how is it fascism if you could just use your mobile data to access whatever weird social network you want?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Because there is no real Operational Security justification for its ban, that doesn't instantly catch all US-based social media platforms as well. It's not about security, it's about control. The feds have no under-the-table deals or even overt surveillance partnerships with TikTok. They do have that with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and beyond. In fact, the CIA has financial stakes with those companies as well, and often were early sources of funding for them: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-is-a-tool-of-the-cia-seriously/

Which I guess is fine because the CIA has never been the enemy of the American people, ever.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So an American school doesn't block an American website that American intelligence agencies have access to and you're wondering why they wouldn't allow a Chinese website that Chinese intelligence agencies probably have access to? I completely agree that Meta and Twitter and all that are horrible for security but it's still relevant who houses that data. I choose not to use any of them but it's completely understandable why a country would hesitate to trust a foreign nation we have no relevant triety with.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago

The Chinese agencies have access to whatever data they want on you. There is no moratorium on data brokers doing business with China. Even if there were, they would get that data from one of their BRICS partners.

So they have data from TikTok. Now what? What's next? What's the threat they pose with that data to the American people or the students and faculty at this university?

What is the university protecting it's network from specifically?

The CIA has a long history of unlawfully monitoring and retaliating against US Citizens for advocating against US policy, like opposing the war in Vietnam.

From a historical standpoint, it would appear that citizens of the United States have more to fear from the CIA then they do from the People's Republic of China.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

facism: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition

I think you'd be better off just saying censorship.

Ultimately though we've never seen anything like this, the old school rules for what constitutes acceptable censorship might need some adjusting (especially as society learns more about what closed source algorithms made by hostile foreign powers used by the youth -- and general population -- of a nation can actually do to said nation).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It would violate my constitutional right to performing dance trends in my dining hall.

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