IS TCR NEXT TO FACE BAN?: With Tik Tok Facing Ban Unless it Sells to American Company is The Campaign Registry Next on the List?

8 Comments

So its official– TikTok, owned by a Chinese company  ByteDance, must either sell to a domestic company or be banned. This by an act of Congress.

Pretty big deal.

Per CBS news, the rationale is simple: “U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that TikTok threatens national security because the Chinese government could use it to spy on Americans or weaponize it to covertly influence the U.S. public by amplifying or suppressing certain content.”

Sounds about right.

But if TikTok’s foreign ownership is a danger to national security–and it seems that it is–how is the Campaign Registry’s foreign ownership not?

The TCR has a record of every intended text message campaign in the country–every business, and even every politician, must bow before TCR and disclose all manner of sensitive information regarding its intended outreach plans.

Just as in the case of TikTok, TCR is in the hands of a foreign-owned parent. And no assurances have been provided that data from American businesses–and political candidates!!–is being shared with the foreign owners of TCR.

So if foreign governments can use TikTok to spy on Americans, that is CERTAINLY the case with TCR– it has a COMPLETE roadmap of every outreach schedule, plan, and schema for every business and politician in the nation.

That’s just nuts folks. How could we allow that?

Plus TCR can EASILY shape American elections by approving certain content and messaging–perhaps from favorable “Manchurian” candidates–while rejecting campaigns by individuals that are less favorable to TCR’s foreign backers.

And let’s not forget that TCR is hobknobbing with the “Mobile Brotherhood”–the Mobile Ecosystem Forum–a shadowy group of telecom globalists who frequently convene to share god knows what information with one another.

This is a VERY serious issue, at least as threatening as TikTok’s foreign ownership in my view–and likely much worse.

Now, I can’t take credit for this analysis. This is not an original thought by the Czar.

A great telecom lawyer named Rick Joyce solved this a while ago as I discussed in superficial fashion a little while ago:

BOGUS?: Is TCR’s Foreign Ownership A Threat To National Security? They Just Retained Latham & Watkins to Convince the FCC They Are Not

But with the move by Congress to ban TikTok–and as my simmering discontent with MEF continues– it definitely seems time for TCR to face a similar ban, or at least a transfer to a domestic company.

Also, I think we all (America) need an accounting of what data regarding American businesses and political campaigns have been shared with the corporate parents of TCR.

I read not long ago that China had infiltrated our telecom networks. I don’t see how that happens without the participation of TCR and groups like MEF. Not saying they were involved with Volt Typhoon. But I would not be surprised at all.

And that’s my point.

Why do these foreign organizations have so much visibility and access to sensitive American datasets in a format that can be wielded to unfairly compete with American businesses, censor American speech, and perhaps effect the outcome of American elections?

Very very disconcerting.

More people should be talking about this.

Certainly hope the FCC is listening. And I think they are.

By the way, the “Mobile Brotherhood” is on the cover of Deserve to Win magazine this month–be sure to request your free copy!

ITS HERE–AND ITS FREE!!!: The April Edition of Deserve to Win Magazine is Out And FREE TO ALL!!!!

Chat soon!

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Published by Eric "Czar" Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

8 Comments

  1. We just need to shut TCR down. Unworkable, unhelpful, unneeded, and frankly, un-American.

    Reply

      1. BTW, my antipathy to TCR is not political nor about the people there nor even about the involvement of another country. For me, personally, it’s that the whole notion of forcing anyone to register what they’re going to say in text messages before they send them feels insane. It was insane for short codes and it’s insane for long codes. Imagine if we had to do that to send a group e-mail to our employees or make a phone call alerting people about an emergency school shut down. Further, I know small businesses (like a doctor) who switched to e-mail to run his business and no longer calls or texts as a direct result of the campaign requirements and calls/text being blocked, so this is accelerating the death of the phone network. More so, it is rife for abuse, even if it’s not being abused now it will be someday. And finally, there are alternative ways to do this that involve doing the work to monitor behavior and shut it down quickly when it’s doing something illegal (it’s more nuanced, but that’s the idea). A bad idea, implemented badly, with bad consequences.

  2. Some additional perspective regarding Tik Tok, and its influencing of the masses that doom scroll it for hours every day

    Here’s some food for thought…
    So Facebook was pioneering mind control experiments way back in 2012 with its algorithms just imagine how far the science has evolved by now!

    To think these tactics aren’t being used in the ‘secret algorithm’ of TikTok is simply naive (of course the users won’t accept it – but hey why would they, they’re too busy doom-scrolling…)

    PBS NewsHour segment:
    https://youtu.be/oruh5Hb_95I

    The Published Study:
    “Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks”
    https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1320040111

    “Significance:
    We show, via a massive (N = 689,003) experiment on Facebook, that emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness. We provide experimental evidence that emotional contagion occurs without direct interaction between people (exposure to a friend expressing an emotion is sufficient), and in the complete absence of nonverbal cues.”

    Lastly as far as Tik Tok claiming they haven’t/won’t share US user data with China – as a Chinese company it’s not their choice:

    “Under Chinese cybersecurity laws, TikTok, like all Chinese owned apps, is bound by an agreement to share all user data with the CCP on request.”
    https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktoks-still-sharing-us-user-data-china/706093/

    Reply

  4. While Congress is at it, ban Tik Tok, ban TCR, and ban all overseas telemarketers from calling into the USA. The World will then be a happier and safer place! Oh, and please sign me up for my free copy of Deserve to Win.

    Reply
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