By giving the President the power to ban websites, not just apps, it opens up a whole new can of worms.
Instead of targeting foreign adversaries directly, the law holds US (or offshore) internet hosting services and app stores responsible for any breaches in security or privacy.
This is a Trojan horse that could lead to censorship and control over what people access online.
Could a VPN get around this?
Yeah, it would be the same as getting around the firewall in China.
Does this mean the US will stop complaining abput thier firewall
Nah, they’ll just bran US firewall as the freedom wall.
One of these days I need to figure out how to connect clients to the WireGuard appliance I set up on my VM host
Yes, but I doubt many of the Tiktok creators/users will jump through vpn hoops. US may once again push to do something to civillians using VPNs, though that would harm the financial industry esp in regards to credit as well as those who work at home.
I think, if this passes, TikTok will just stop providing access to the app in American app stores. It shouldn’t stop you from typing the website into your browser and accessing it, that would require ISPs to block access to it which I haven’t heard of being part of the law and isn’t in these screencaps.
It would be hilarious if people started using Tor to visit the site only for it to get blocked because the entire network is pretty much owned/operated by US intelligence agencies at this point. If that happens it will confirm that “free speech” is only for racism and pedophilia.
I don’t think a user would need a VPN, unless I’m reading this wrong it just means that the website can’t be hosted on US servers or a US-based App store.