ToTok is a UAE spying tool, say US officials. Delete it now.

[xeni]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/12/23/totok-is-a-uae-spying-tool-sa.html

Google and Apple remove app

[anon48584343]

@xeni

Google and Apple remove app

Yet Facebook persists. Even W/O WhatsApp in the UAE FB is used to track and spy on people there. And everywhere.

[Nerd_Furnace]

What messaging app is not a spy tool? The corporate interests in your data exist because it has value to others who pay for it. What stops nations from purchasing the data without going through all of this hassle?

[Lot_49]

Boy that was close. Wouldn’t want some government looking at all your data!

[anon2148050]

@Nerd_Furnace

What messaging app is not a spy tool?

Signal

Signal, the secure messaging app: A guide for beginners

[beep54orama]

Dammit Xeni! Enough already with reposting gazillions of tweets. Makes your posts unreadable. Try summarizing and quotes for heaven’s sake.

[ficuswhisperer]

I found the Wired article in one of the tweets to be very informative.

Uninstall ToTok, an Alleged Emirati Spy App, From Your Phone Now

[Entity447B]

Anyone else get confused when this article was next to the one about TikTok?

[oktroj]

Today is the day that we trust US Intelligence Officials, apparently.

Maybe they are pissed off when they are not the ones doing the spying. Sour grapes etc.

[KingGhidorah]

Don’t conflate UAE’s spy tool with China’s spy tool

[anon87143080]

How many people mistakenly downloaded it thinking they were downloading TikTok, and are now being spied on daily?

[anon50609448]

I hope this story gets a lot of attention. People installed this app on their Apple device confident that Apple is a walled garden that doesn’t allow harmful apps. People installed this on their Android device after looking at a “Play Protect” logo telling them it was safe.

Our idea of what counts as “malicious” in “malware” is broken. We talk about malware entirely in terms of how it accesses our information, not at all in terms of what they are going to do with that information. It’s okay to steal your identity if they just write, “We are going to steal your identity,” in section 103.1(g) of the EULA, right?

[semiotix]

Time for everyone to get my messaging app, ToTallynotascamTok.

The fascists at the Apple store have banned it, but you can get it from semiotix.kompromat.ru. Just ignore the warnings from your browser or virus protection software.