Paris Marx: The TikTok ban is all about preserving US power - eviltoast
  • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    Yes, the bill isn’t that long, but I kind of skimmed parts.

    The Patriot Act was reauthorized several times, and it eventually expired, but it’s still effectively enforced by permanent provisions as well as other bills passed since then.

    Regardless, equating this bill and the Patriot Act is nonsensical. This bill allows the government to ban apps and services from adversary countries. It doesn’t authorize data collection on citizens or any of the other nonsense we got from the Patriot Act, it merely allows the government to block certain apps and services from US markets. It’s hardly the same thing.

    • possibly a cat@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      nonsensical

      That’s at least as hyperbolic as calling it the Patriot Act 2.0.

      It doesn’t authorize data collection on citizens or any of the other nonsense we got from the Patriot Act

      No need. It’s already legal. This bill builds on top of that foundation in a very meaningful way.

      it merely allows the government to block certain apps and services from US markets

      And the reason for this is evident based on the choice given to TikTok - allow the US access to all users data (preferably exclusively the US) through methods up to and including selling foreign stakes in the company. The world is capitalist and being closed out of US markets is an impossible handicap to play with. No one will invest because there is a severe limit to growth. This only leads to one outcome: Centralization of data through the US, or the business will be replaced with one that does.