TikTok's intense collection of data about each user is a threat to Americans and to US national security. As EPIC points out, TikTok is far from the only such.

The same is true for many other "social media" platforms, and school education programs, and other proprietary programs. If you can't modify the program to send whatever made-up data you want to send, instead of true facts about you, it is not safe to use.

The ADPPA bill that EPIC recommends would reduce the existing massive internet surveillance, but it starts with the usual mistake: systems can collect data that is "reasonably necessary and proportionate to provide or maintain a product or service". That is too lax and will fail to protect privacy.

My article, linked above, provides a key test. Does the rule prohibit systems that charge for parking which make every driver enter per car's license plate number? That practice is dangerous surveillance; any law that fails to prohibit it is too weak.

The ADPPA's stricter rule for children and teenagers should apply to everyone, but even that could be interpreted in a way that is too weak. We can be sure companies will press for the weak interpretation. This requirement must be bulletproof.