The dispute between the U.S. government and China-owned social media app TikTok reached new heights as a wave of restrictions banned the use of TikTok on government devices across the West.
However, a complete ban on all U.S. citizens appears to be the White House’s ultimate goal, which would require a VPN service to maintain access to the app. was not easy to achieve.
A new bill introduced by the U.S. Senate could be key to quickly tracking down the TikTok ban. It’s possible. This is what’s at stake for US users.
What are US Restrictions? Abbreviation for the RESTRICT Act. (opens in new tab) It was first introduced in the Senate on March 7 in a bipartisan effort led by Senators Mark Warner and John Thune.
As the name suggests, the bill aims to give the Commerce Department powers to review and ban certain technologies that allow U.S. user data to interact with “foreign adversaries.”
China, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Venezuela and North Korea are six named adversaries that currently pose significant risks to US national security, but the blacklist is open to new entries in the future. .
“This bill A Systematic Framework for Addressing Technology-Based Threats For the safety and security of the American people,” read the official statement. (opens in new tab) He urged lawmakers to bring the bill to the president’s desk immediately.
It has been approved by the White House and is currently under review through Congress.The Guardian also reported (opens in new tab) The government was “very supportive” of the bill, with support from both Republicans and Democrats.
At the same time, critics are growing not just on the web, but beyond.
Commentators have increasingly criticized the Restrictions Act as effectively giving the Secretary of Commerce the power to determine what technology Americans can and cannot access.
They also warn of the far-reaching negative impact that the proposed law and its broad language will have on citizens’ digital rights.
A spokesperson for Private Internet Access, a popular VPN provider, told TechRadar:
“Rather than worrying about restricting access to certain technologies, the U.S. government should work toward strengthening national laws that protect citizen privacy and data security. There is no gender and the rights of citizens are poorly protected.”
Banning TikTok: It’s Not As Easy As It Looks Before we dive into our concerns about the bill and how it might affect us if it were enacted, let’s take a look at the motivation behind the bill.
TikTok isn’t specifically named in the law, but it’s undoubtedly one of the main reasons lawmakers have come together to create a framework to deal with similar conundrums.
Whether or not the most downloaded social media app is a privacy nightmare compared to other platforms, banning TikTok for all Americans is easier said than done.
The Restrictions Act could have far more impact than China-owned video-sharing apps.
After all, the Trump administration had already attempted something similar in 2020. A year later, he succeeded in banning Chinese tech company Huawei from doing business with companies doing business in the country. bottom.
Plans to sell parts of the social media company to an American company were halted after TikTok filed a lawsuit against the US government. Canceled.
Two years later, the U.S. government has yet to provide concrete evidence to justify a full block or forced sale. (opens in new tab) .
So, even if it doesn’t explicitly target video-sharing apps, the RESTRICT Act can very clearly be seen as an attempt to legally achieve a ban on TikTok in the end.
It’s not just about TikTok But despite seemingly targeting TikTok, the RESTRICT Act seems far from a one-trick pony.
Instead, the Directive covers a great many digital technologies, as long as they are used by more than 1 million US users. These include all web applications, AI software, machine learning, quantum computing, post-quantum cryptography, and more.
ACT presents five categories into which these technologies must fall in order to guarantee limits and other restrictions. these are:
Interfering with or subverting IT communication products and services Catastrophic impact on security or resilience of US critical infrastructure and digital economy Interfering with, altering the results of, or reporting the results of the U.S. Federal Election Coercive or criminal activities that undermine democratic processes or institutions, or induce policy or regulatory decisions that favor foreign opponents Excessive or unacceptable security risks to U.S. national security or people These provisions appear to be more detailed than anti-social CCP laws (opens in new tab) , a similar bill currently under consideration.but language still seems broad and vague which can lead to potential misuse.
Critics also disagree about how such executive power in the hands of the U.S. government would inevitably be. Consolidate the central role of the US technology lobby .
Let’s take meta as an example. The 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal sheds light on how the Silicon Valley giant behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp clarified how his platform was illegally used to influence US elections. showed. Last year, a big tech company was convicted of paying Republican-backed companies to spread public mistrust of TikTok. (opens in new tab) .
Meta is not banned or restricted in the US for its misconduct. Additionally, under the Restrictions Act, the social media giant is given a seat on an advisory board (opens in new tab) We are responsible for determining how to address the risks posed by TikTok and other foreign technologies. It’s not that hard to find a conflict of interest here, is it?
Will the RESTRICT Act Criminalize VPNs? Another growing concern across the Internet community is whether the proposed legislation would make it illegal to use VPNs and other evasion tools to grant access to restricted applications. is.
Its creators strongly rejected such allegations, arguing that penalties that could amount to up to 20 years in prison would not be applied against civilians.
“This law is aimed squarely at Kaspersky, Huawei, TikTok and other companies that pose systemic risks to U.S. national security, not individual users,” Warner said. ” explains.
Again, the broad language used in the bill makes this scenario a real possibility.
As the EFF expert pointed out (opens in new tab) under the Commerce Act, the Department of Commerce has the power to impose “mitigating measures” (although it is not made clear which measures actually are what), and that these measures are You can also punish those who “avoid”.
Although the current administration claims it has no interest in prosecuting consumers, these Ambiguous definitions lead to potential abuse future.
“Congress absolutely needs to strengthen the language of this penalty to eliminate all possible prosecution of individuals who use apps,” EFF wrote.
Digital Rights at Risk Critics also fear the RESTRICT Act will violate Americans’ collective digital rights.
First of all, section 12 of the bill exempts lawmakers from providing details about the decision-making process. Simply put, citizens don’t know if her reasons for banning TikTok and other apps are really correct.this lack of transparency It also prevents the challenging decisions that are the foundation of any democratic state.
The U.S. government is increasing its powers to determine whether foreign technology works in the United States, but citizens freedom of expression is restricted and online censorship deepens .
Experts say this not only negatively impacts people’s rights, undermine confidence in the United States Condemn similar actions taken by the enemy at the international level.
“The free flow of information is a principle of democracy, even when the enemy is speaking,” EFF wrote.
what’s next? As we’ve seen, the RESTRICT Act hopes to be a better whack-a-mole solution when dealing with potentially disruptive new technology, but it’s met with a lot of criticism just one month after its introduction. was able to collect
In addition to the aforementioned issues affecting Americans more broadly, some commentators are also concerned about the logistics of implementing such provisions in the current IT market.
Many US companies, even the biggest companies like Apple, do some of their business abroad, including in America’s number one enemy, China.
The legislation, which is currently passing through Congress, needs to gain support in the Senate before it falls on President Biden’s desk. But many believe that a comprehensive data privacy regulation like the proposed ADPPA should be a real priority.
“If Congress is concerned about foreign powers collecting our data, we will focus on comprehensive consumer data privacy legislation that has real impact and protects data no matter what platform it is on. We need to,” said the EFF, urging citizens to contact their representatives to oppose the bill.
“A foreign adversary cannot obtain data from a social media company if the social media company is not authorized to collect, retain and sell the data in the first place.”
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