Regular Bernardi show viewers will know of my repeated warnings about the evils of big tech and why you should choose privacy over convenience in your tech choices.
That’s particularly appropriate when it comes to Chinese spyware apps like Tik Tok.
Hundreds of millions of people have this garbage app on their phone and are effectively giving away almost every bit of their personal data to the Communist Party. But who cares about that when you can watch stupid things like this.
If you think watching weirdo’s pointing out their weirdness justifies you giving up your privacy then we’ll have to agree to disagree.
However, one group that does seem to agree with me is the Department of Parliamentary services who warned MPs and Senators to consider what apps they install “following recent media reports regarding apps such as TikTok”.
Knowing how politics works, this caution wouldn’t have come solely as a result of media reports.
I’d wager that our security agencies had some input too.
The Departments advice in an email stated “Privacy settings on apps can be overly permissive or may contain security vulnerabilities that can allow access to information on your device”.
It went on to urge our pollies to:
“Consider the country of origin in which the app development company is located, including the government use of data in those countries.”
About time too.
For their part, the AFR reports that:
“Tik Tok denies any data can be accessed by the CCP and says it has robust security protocols over who can access it.”
Now who to believe; our government agencies or a business vassal of the Chinese communist party.
A tough choice for sure, but trust me on this….delete Tik Tok from your phone!
