
China, Cybertheft, and the Ethics of Espionage
All nations spy, but espionage crosses a moral line when it costs normal civilians their jobs.Earlier this year, the CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, testified before U.S. Congress as to whether TikTok is being used to spy on or gather information from U.S. citizens (e.g., scouring the periphery of videos or installing tracking apps or malware) or to spread misleading propaganda to skew public opinion. Thus far, there is no definitive evidence that TikTok is being used in this way, but the concern is that it can potentially be used in this way because it is a Chinese company that is inextricably tied to the Chinese government. Chinese law means that all companies, in a sense, work for the Chinese government, meaning their data belongs to Beijing. When Alibaba’s Alipay was able to offer Read More ›