ST. LOUIS — With various objects making their way over the United States, security is at the forefront in the legislature, even in Missouri.
At the statehouse in Jefferson City, legislators are following the federal government’s lead to ban Tiktok and other apps connected to the Chinese government from state employee devices.
“The Chinese Communist Party is spying on Americans and we shouldn't put up with it,” Rep. Adam Schnelting, (R)-St. Charles County, said.
Rep. Schnelting proposed one solution for that, House Bill 919, to ban any app that is owned by or shares data with China from state-owned devices like laptops and cell phones.
“We've got over 60,000 employees in the state of Missouri or roughly, I should say. Government devices span from law enforcement, military and so on down the line. I make exceptions in the legislation for law enforcement and military so that if they need to for their research purposes or for their task, their duties, they can utilize it,” Schnelting said.
Right now, the bill has bipartisan support in the House Homeland Security Committee.
Rep. Bridget Walsh Moore of (D)- St. Louis County, said they may even consider banning other apps with connections to other countries.
“There have been leaks in the past. Yes, we have had foreign government intervention through other social media apps. That has been proven. And so we are just taking the next step to protect Missourians,” Rep. Walsh Moore said.
Saint Louis University Computer Science Professor Reza Tourani said there can be serious issues with what may seem like harmless information given to social media apps.
“Usually the application asks for access to your contact information, your browsing history, your location information. That's actually really valuable information on finding particular buildings that are not known to other entities, security buildings,” Tourani said.
He said data protection should be important to everyone because nobody ever really knows where this data goes.
“So that is one side of the problem, the information that has been collected. The other side is there is no clear regulation on how this information can be used,” Tourani said.
Once the bill passes out of committee it would go to the House floor for a vote and then to the Senate and could take effect immediately if signed by the governor.
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