Congrats, People Of Montana: Your Governor Is About To Blow A Ton Of Taxpayer Money

[ancianita]

On An Unconstitutional TikTok Ban


... Republican governors sure are having a moment these days throwing away millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars on totally unconstitutional laws that take away people’s 1st Amendment rights. It’s quite uncanny...

... Enter Montana governor Greg Gianforte, a former tech exec, who’s probably most famous for throwing a journalist to the ground after disliking the journalist’s questions. The people of Montana still elected him after that, first to Congress and then as governor, suggesting they actually like electing people who stomp on free speech rights.

But now it’s likely to cost them a ton of taxpayer money.

That’s because Gianforte has now signed into law the blatantly, ridiculously, hilariously, obviously unconstitutional ban on TikTok...In signing it he laughably claimed that he’s “protecting Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party.”

Except, of course, he’s done no such thing. He’s trampled on the 1st Amendment rights of Montanans and put their data at much greater risk. That’s because the law will require geographic tracking by TikTok, Apple, and Google to a much more significant degree than exists currently, just to figure out who is in Montana and who is not. So, by setting up this ban, he’s forcing these companies to collect more data than they otherwise would, putting that data at much greater risk.

On top of that, if China wants that data, they can just buy it from American data brokers, because we have basically nothing in place to stop them...

This law stands basically no chance of surviving a run through the courts, and all it’s going to do is suck up a ton of Montanans’ taxpayer dollars, wasted on lawyers who are going to lose.

This isn’t protecting anyone’s privacy. It’s stomping on their rights, all so Gianforte can fight a fake culture war.
It seems to be all the GOP has these days. Grievances, nonsense, and culture wars. How pathetic.


https://www.techdirt.com/2023/05/18/congrats-people-of-montana-your-governor-is-about-to-blow-a-ton-of-taxpayer-money-on-an-unconstitutional-tiktok-ban/

[MontanaMama]

1. Kicking for truth.

Most of us in Montana are pissed off about this.

[ancianita]

2. ...

Not sure I understand. What are they pissed off about, since most Montanans voted Gianforte in, right? Is it the tax money?

[GP6971]

3. K & R n/t

[GenThePerservering]

4. They're such a bunch of luzers

who are clueless as to how pretty much anything works.

"He’s trampled on the 1st Amendment rights of Montanans and put their data at much greater risk. That’s because the law will require geographic tracking by TikTok, Apple, and Google to a much more significant degree than exists currently, just to figure out who is in Montana and who is not. So, by setting up this ban, he’s forcing these companies to collect more data than they otherwise would, putting that data at much greater risk."

The world has moved on to global communications, and they're still back waving a mouse at a screen to get it to turn on. This kind of thing should NOT be entrusted to these tax-wasting fools.

[ancianita]

5. It's not that they don't want information about these things. It's that media they trust don't give

it to them. If they trust any media at all. Who knows.

I'd like to believe that if Montanans want even the least freedom -- to just be left alone -- they would know this governor and their legislature are not helping them. And they'd vote accordingly.

[lostnfound]

6. Insidious and possibly nefarious--perhaps a feature not a big

Who wants the data and what can they do with it? Who planted this is gianforte’s brutal little mind?

[Pinback]

7. So are they planning to outlaw VPNs?

From TechRadar:

In the meantime, we advise people in Montana to get a secure VPN service before the end of the year. This security software can, in fact, spoofs users' IP address location and make them appear if they're browsing from a completely different country within seconds.

https://www.techradar.com/news/people-in-montana-will-soon-need-a-tiktok-vpn-to-keep-accessing-the-app

ArsTechnica has more on the ban:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/05/montana-is-first-state-to-ban-tiktok-over-national-security-concerns/

[ancianita]

8. I hear you. Thank you for the links.

I suppose using VPN's would work for those who use TikTok, yes. But it does depend on the quality of the VPN, from what I've read. Many tech sites list ExpressVPN and NordVPN at the top, though others appear in the top five.

from Sweden
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/05/01/cops-raid-swedish-vpn-provider-only-to-find-out-theres-no-there-there/

Issues with VPN's, and no, VPN's will not be outlawed
https://www.techdirt.com/2022/04/21/researchers-again-show-how-major-vpns-quietly-undermine-user-security/

More on Mark Warner and his RESTRICT Act and the SAFE TECH Act:
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/03/30/senator-warners-restrict-act-is-designed-to-create-the-great-firewall-of-america/

Both the a) cost Americans of more tax money spent in the name of "national security," AND b) Americans' constitutional rights to privacy and free speech, will have to be sorted out by Congress people smarter than we have right now. Which is even more true for state leaders who are no smarter than those we have in Congress.

[Pinback]

9. Thanks.

All these misguided, ill-informed attempts to sanitize and censor the internet come at a great cost. It’s a very slippery slope and a boost to aspiring authoritarians.

[amcgrath]

10. Montana is very lucky,

that TikTok are taking legal action. The banning of the app is actually being done via app stores, meaning it would be illegal for Apple or Android stores to offer the app in Montana.
I suspect Apple may sit back and let TikTok handle the case, but if they do decide to wade in, you will have a corporation worth $2.6 trillion, going up against a state with a GDP of about 20% of that

[ancianita]

11. Not sure why,

since the people of Montana, to keep their privacy and right to commerce, will bear the legal costs of this suit -- not just the cost of a possible 'settlement,' but the cost of possible punitive damages to TikTok. Who wins? Montanans win their privacy. TikTok, Apple and Android continue profiting.

Montanans could take a lesson from this and vote this legislature and governor out for wasting their money on the beating back of flagrantly unconstitutional laws. But they probably won't. These costs could likely be born by a lot of red state taxpayers because they don't responsibly use their voting rights. Then we hear that they want to throw the democracy baby out with the government water and just institute strongman rule. Power. But they forget when they toss democracy, that power won't work for them.