[ClearCase_guy]

I remember a long time ago when Bush was trying to pass the Patriot Act. The smart people saw that it was bigger than it seemed and would bite us all in the end. At the time, I was not one of the smart ones, and in the wake of 9/11 I thought maybe we needed a tool like the Patriot Act to help us fight terrorists. But I was wrong and now we are all surveilled all the time.

I don’t like Tik Tok. I consider it a tool of the Chinese government to hurt America. But I think I’ve learned a thing or two and I say that throwing out the First Amendment because some people don’t like Tik Tok is pretty foolish. Especially if Biden wants it, it just can’t be good. Privacy and free speech are worth preserving.

[dfwgator]

Our own government is doing a lot more damage than the Chinese government.

[Retrofitted]

I agreed with you about TikTok, and I agree with your take on the “Restrict Act”. Everything I needed to know about the government regulating technology I learned from the CDA, unfortunately, and we’ll never stop feeling its negative effects. Why would we want more?

[MinorityRepublican]

I consider it a tool of the Chinese government to hurt America. But I think I’ve learned a thing or two and I say that throwing out the First Amendment because some people don’t like Tik Tok is pretty foolish. Especially if Biden wants it, it just can’t be good. Privacy and free speech are worth preserving.

It's no big deal that the Chinese are spying on us. Joe Biden wants to destroy Tik-Tok because he doesn't have control over it. Next on his list is Elon Musk. That leaves Mark Zuckerberg in control of all social media in the U.S.

[Apogee]

Yes we now live behind a silicon curtain.

I wish I remembered who or where I first saw that phrase, but it sure seems better than Digital Iron Curtain to me. I suspect it will be much harder to tear down than the iron and bamboo curtains.

I admit confusion about your commentary about Tik Tok and the First Amendment. Not liking it or banning it are not necessarily banning free speech, but free collection of information by avowed enemies. I have no problem with getting rid of it. The problem I have with the legislation is that it is not necessary for doing so, and it seems to be merely a pretext for actually doing the opposite of its supposed purpose, as most bills do, by increasing the surveillance upon the populace. How about no to all of it? Surveillance by Chicoms is not necessarily more RESTRICTive to liberty than surveillance by an unelected cadre of self-professed betters.