cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/7897866
Thank you American software
this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2024
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Just curious. How does China haivng my Tiktok data hurt me?
Honestly, it's not so much about your data specifically.
One of the core problems/benefits with massive datasets is that you, in particular, wouldn't stand out from the millions of other people. If someone does something stupid, like being pulled over for a DUI, that persons name can than be used to index their stockpile of history. Something bad can immediately get exponentially worse. Quickly. (That is an issue for a Chinese citizen, but I wanted to explain a big nuance of large datasets.)
The most valuable targets would be military, government and high level company executives. Having a wedge into their phone is a great start for some good 'ol fashioned blackmail and/or coercion.
For regular people like us, travel in China would be the biggest problem but at a higher level, occasional location tracking could give out some interesting data. Google for "strava app military base", as a good example. You could probably brainstorm some scenarios about how that could apply to civilians as well.
Probably the worst bit, and given the rapid advancements in AI, your data can be used to target your own unique mental vulnerabilities. Propaganda becomes much easier if you have bots instantly curating your feeds to show you just the right amount of crap that is tuned to your specific interests.
Early in the history of TikTok, you would see random pro-China (soft propaganda) videos inserted between the hundreds of Overwatch song renditions. It's probably much more aggressive and subtle these days, actually. (The videos were usually projecting the skill and prowess of their athletes, military or industry. Now, it's probably custom per user.)
In some of the worst cases, Chinese living outside of China are tracked and threatened if they show the slightest bit of dissent from the motherland. (That is some creepy shit, actually.)
I'll stop now, but you get the idea and I haven't even scratched the surface yet.
I mean, this is kinda what I was fishing for. China can't do anything to me directly. I'll never go there. They can try to inject propaganda into my freed, but it's not going to work on me because I already have my opinions, I have diverse news sources, and I am pretty self-aware. Now, if the US government has my data, they can use it against me directly to build up cases, use it to profile me, arrest me, and who knows what else.
That's why I don't care if China has my data when the US government already has an open buffet.
Honestly, many bad situations can improved simply by understanding the risks involved and having a decent idea of where a potential threat is.
Flipping the script a bit, I have been a home automation early adopter for a good number of years and have relied on voice assistants, cloud accounts and all that garbage. Now that local AI is better developed, building everything I want in-house is feasible and I can stop giving my data away. I knew what my risks were and planned around it.
A person can err on the side of paranoia, or, they can simply not give a fuck. Both choices are valid and I use them both in my own weird ways.