#bemad

I'm feeling spicy today, I know.

So, unless you've been hiding under a rock the past year, you're probably aware that the US government is looking to ban TikTok. Politicians will split hairs insisting it is not a ban so I'm not going to argue whether or not it is. What I will argue is this:

Privacy rights within the United States are in stark contrast to the EU's GDPR (aka, the right to be forgotten). Here, if you post something online it will likely stay there forever. You can attempt to use the leverage of the GDPR to get info removed, but if you are not in the EU or a EU citizen, it is possible that tech companies will just choose not to comply. I work in this field. I have personally handled GDPR requests. I have seen it on the inside.

In the US, there ARE some level of privacy concerns with HIPAA and other identifiable data points. Aside from HIPAA, it's often just best efforts to retain your data privacy.

Which leads to the big issue. In the wake of the Patriot Act in the US, the US government has worked closely with social media companies to access and analyze social media data. Even if you ignore the personal implications of data privacy (I started studying on Duo Lingo and now all my adds are no longer in English. Spooky, huh? Want a really unsettling one? I'm learning Hebrew and I started getting anti-Israel ads. Put your opinions on Gaza aside for a second and consider how sinister that is)

Anywho. What I want to emphasize is that the US government doesn't give a crap about your privacy. We'd have the GDPR if they did. The US government doesn't want OTHER countries--especially China--to have access to data and data trends.

So, by all means join the movement to Red Note, but do consider the privacy concerns and how much you want China to know about you.