Tech site: Hawley ‘xenophobic, wildly inconsistent and largely just stupid’ on China
A technology blog has labeled Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s attempt to protect U.S. privacy from Chinese intelligence as “performative histrionics.”
TechDirt, an online site that analyzes technology and government policy, wrote about Hawley’s recent letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin opposing U.S.-based Oracle’s partnership with the Chinese app TikTok.
Hawley contends that data from American users would remain at risk to Chinese intelligence, even with the new arrangement.
Writer Karl Bode agrees — saying the proposed deal “does absolutely nothing to thwart Chinese intelligence from collecting TikTok data” — but says Hawley and other politicians are fixated on a minor point instead of the bigger problem.
“Banning TikTok to protect U.S. consumer privacy is like spitting on a wildfire then patting yourself on the back for being an incredible firefighter,” Bode writes. “The real solutions to these problems require taking a far smarter, broader, more holistic view.”
The website Media Bias/Fact Check gives TechDirt a left-center media bias, while also giving it a “high” rating for its reporting.
Bode argues that current U.S. privacy and security standards are inadequate, allowing China to steal data easily regardless. The solution, he says, includes improved privacy laws, election reform and better funding for privacy regulators.
“Fix the broader problem(s), and TikTok becomes a detail,” Bode wrote. “Hawley not only doesn’t seem to understand that, he’s actively opposed to many of these broader reform efforts.”
Bode opines that Hawley — like fellow Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Tom Cotton — “oddly adores freaking out when China is involved” as it relates to national security issues.
“It’s just weird how, for some folks, security and privacy only seem to matter when foreigners are involved,” Bode wrote. “It’s performative, xenophobic, wildly inconsistent, and largely just stupid. Either you genuinely care about U.S. security and privacy or you don’t. Showing up late, crying about China, then disappearing entirely when broader solutions are recommended isn’t ‘helping,’ it’s performative histrionics.”
