Space Industry and Business News  
INTERNET SPACE
TikTok grab could extend -- or undermine -- US online dominance
By Rob Lever
Washington (AFP) Aug 6, 2020

US wants to eliminate Chinese apps from US app stores
Washington (AFP) Aug 5, 2020 - The US is expanding its China-targeted Clean Network program to include Chinese-made cellphone apps and cloud computing services that it claims are security risks, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday.

Pompeo said the US wants to ban untrusted Chinese apps from the app stores of US mobile carriers and phonemakers.

"With parent companies based in China, apps like TikTok, WeChat, and others are significant threats to the personal data of American citizens, not to mention tools for CCP content censorship," he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

But he added that the US also wants to block American-made apps from being pre-installed, or made available for download, on Chinese-made phones and wireless equipment from global giant Huawei and other makers.

"We don't want companies to be complicit in Huawei's human rights abuses or the CCP's surveillance apparatus," the top US diplomat said.

Pompeo also said the US government will seek to limit the ability of Chinese service providers to collect, store and process sensitive data in the United States.

He cited specifically Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent.

His announcement came two days after President Donald Trump told Chinese tech company ByteDance to sell its hugely popular TikTok app to an American company or see it shut down by mid-September.

Washington says TikTok gleans massive amounts of personal data from hundreds of millions of users, which could be passed on to Chinese intelligence.

The targeting of app usage and cloud services expands the 5G Clean Path program the State Department unveiled on April 29.

At its core the program is a multi-country initiative to prevent Huawei and other Chinese telecom suppliers from dominating next-generation or 5G wireless telecom services.

The United States says Huawei technology could open the door for Chinese intelligence to easily tap communications in other countries.

The US government has banned Huawei equipment and strongly discouraged authorities and businesses around the country from using it.

China's ambassador in London Liu Xiaoming condemned on Wednesday the Clean Network program as bullying and called it contrary to free trade ideals.

"The US bullying on the issue of 5G not only undermines fair international trade rules, but also damages the environment of free global market. The US is not qualified at all to build so-called 'Clean Network,'" Liu said in a tweet.

A tie-up of TikTok with Microsoft could extend American dominance of the online and social media world. But it may have some unintended, negative consequences too for US firms and the open internet.

The deal being negotiated with the administration of President Donald Trump would carve out parts of the popular video app for Microsoft, which would gain a foothold in the fast-growing, youth-focused social media environment and join the ranks of rivals like Facebook.

Such a deal "would strengthen American preeminence in technology by moving a major consumer product from Chinese ownership," said Darrell West, director of the center for technology innovation at the Brookings Institution.

"But it also could encourage data nationalism by fueling calls in many nations for local control over internet platforms and data storage within their own national borders."

Other analysts said the deal could have far-reaching effects for the idea of an open internet, a longstanding position of Washington in contrast with that of China and other authoritarian regimes which restrict online content.

"It would cross a rubicon in terms of internet governance," said Graham Webster, editor of the DigiChina Project at the Stanford University Cyber Policy Center.

"This would result in the US appearing to support the longstanding Chinese position, which is that if they don't like the way another country's companies operate, they can ban or seize them. That would be a huge step."

- Microsoft entry -

Microsoft said it has been in talks with TikTok parent firm ByteDance to acquire TikTok's operations in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and address Washington's concerns about data security in light of claims that the social platform could become an espionage tool.

Trump said he is likely to approve such a deal, and set a mid-September deadline after which he would ban TikTok in the United States.

Any deal would give Microsoft a large chunk of the estimated billion-user TikTok base and technology which has helped make the app wildly popular with young smartphone users.

The talks come against a backdrop of growing dominance in much of the world of US-based Big Tech firms in social media, online search and advertising, cloud computing and other sectors which have become more important during the coronavirus pandemic.

Patrick Moorhead, analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, said the US may be justified in its move because of China's limits on US firms operating in that country.

"China has been imposing these rules on us for the last 25 years," he said.

"If you are an American company setting up in China you need a 49 percent local owner and you need to give up intellectual property. A Chinese firm in US doesn't need a US owner sponsor, you just open up shop. The US wants symmetric trade rules."

- Fragmentation -

Susan Aaronson, a professor and head of the Digital Trade and Data Governance hub at George Washington University, said any effort to carve up TikTok could face major hurdles and lead to negative consequences.

"They can't divide up the app, no such thing has ever been done," Aaronson said, adding that there has been no carity on how a sale would affect TikTok in dozens of countries.

Aaronson said Trump's "bullying" of TikTok and ByteDance could encourage other countries to take similar actions, possibly against American firms which dominate the non-Chinese internet ecosystem.

"The whole thesis of the internet is data should flow freely across borders," Aaronson said. "If you're bullying and acting as a nationalist the internet gets more divided."

Webster said the large US tech firms could face consequences from what might be seen as an "expropriation" of TikTok.

"It could be extremely costly if one of these (US) firms is forced to spin off part of its operations," he said.

More fundamentally, Webster said a forced TikTok sale would represent a step away from globalization which has benefitted the Silicon Valley giants.

"The US position has been that companies should be able to do business across borders, and that openness is beneficial to US companies," he said.

The divesting of TikTok "might set in motion a pattern of localization of online services" which the US and its companies have opposed, he added.


Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


INTERNET SPACE
Instagram adds video clips in challenge to TikTok
San Francisco (AFP) Aug 5, 2020
Instagram on Wednesday added a new short-form video feature to the image-focused platform in a direct challenge to TikTok, which is in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump. "Reels" lets users record videos of up to 15 seconds and provides tools for editing, audio and effects, according to the Facebook-owned company. "Reels invites you to create fun videos to share with your friends or anyone on Instagram," the social media platform, based in California, said in a blog post. Trump has ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

INTERNET SPACE
How to mix old tires and building rubble to make sustainable roads

Pentagon aims to continue supporting telework

Hole in none: how screen golf got serious in South Korea

Texas firm develops adaptable satellites with fast software upgrades

INTERNET SPACE
Northrop Grumman to provide key electronic warfare capabilities for AC MC-130J aircraft

South Korea's first military satellite launched

Alion to provide support to USAF for spectrum management

SpaceX launches South Korean communications satellite

INTERNET SPACE
INTERNET SPACE
Xi unveils Beidou full-scale coverage

China's self-developed BDS officially opens for global users with upgraded services

Full global service of Beidou signals space tech independence

Beidou also belongs to world

INTERNET SPACE
Virgin seeks to revive supersonic commercial flight -- but faster

Lockheed, Boeing and Saab bid on Canada's fighter jet contract

India uses arrival of new fighter jets to warn China

India receives first Dassault Rafale fighter planes

INTERNET SPACE
DARPA Selects Teams to Increase Security of Semiconductor Supply Chain

Scientists discover new class of semiconducting entropy-stabilized materials

"Giant atoms" enable quantum processing and communication in one

Share surge propels Taiwan chip giant TSMC into top ten

INTERNET SPACE
Contract signed to build Europe's carbon dioxide monitoring mission

New Space satellite pinpoints industrial methane emissions

China's newly-launched satellite to boost surveying, mapping capabilities

China launches new Earth-observation remote-sensing satellite

INTERNET SPACE
In Mecca, dreams of a 'green hajj'

Investigation of water-borne contaminants starts at former Reese AFB, Texas

Unlikely alliance against Corfu luxury resort

Even as air pollution declines, disparities in exposure remain









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.