Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Governor Bans Tik Tok from State Devices

 Governor Tate Reeves issued the following statement. 

Governor Tate Reeves issued a directive to Mississippi departments and agencies banning TikTok from all state-issued government devices and the state’s network. The directive was announced in a letter from Governor Reeves to Mississippi department and agency heads. Governor Reeves issued the directive to better safeguard sensitive information and protect critical infrastructure from TikTok.
 
“It’s no secret that the Chinese Communist Party is actively trying to steal U.S. intellectual property and Americans’ personal information. It’s a major threat to our national security and critical infrastructure, costs the U.S. economy hundreds of billions annually, and jeopardizes American jobs,” said Governor Tate Reeves. “Mississippi isn’t going to sit around waiting for the Chinese Communist Party to steal our state government data, and that’s why I issued this directive. It will help us better protect our state’s sensitive information and critical infrastructure.”
 
TikTok is owned by ByteDance Ltd., a company headquartered in Beijing that employs Chinese Communist Party members and has a subsidiary partially owned by the Chinese Communist Party. Legitimate concerns have been raised over TikTok’s extensive tracking of user data and the potential access and transfer of this data to the Chinese government.
 
Governor Reeves directed state departments and agencies to ensure that no state employees download or use TikTok, or other software applications developed by ByteDance Ltd. on state-issued cellular phones, laptops, or other wireless communication equipment except in the case of bona fide law enforcement or public safety purposes.
 
Governor Reeves further directed the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services to block access to TikTok from the state network. The U.S. Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have issued similar prohibitions on federal government devices.
 
Employees have been directed to remove, delete, and uninstall all relevant applications from state-issued devices no later than January 31, 2022.
 
A copy of Governor Reeves’ letter to department and agency heads can be found here.

 

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pandering. But good pandering.

Question I have is, what the hell is on state cell phones that is so confidential. The conservative thing to do would be get rid of the cell phones.

Anonymous said...

@7:07 ask Phil Bryant.

Anonymous said...

Good move by Tate.

Back in the early/mid 2000's, our agency's lower tier "executives-in-their-own-mind" were issued the old blackberry.

(They thought they were so cool).

It was kind of funny watching most of them prance around the office and stare at their blackberry every 90 seconds.




Anonymous said...

The majority of state employees don't need a smart phone. A flip phone should be sufficient.

Anonymous said...

lots of states doing this....

Anonymous said...

Hope I can get my TikTok deleted before 1/31/2022. Fire up the flux capacitor.

Anonymous said...

Guess nobody wants to talk about how those devices are made in China, but I digress.

Anonymous said...

We can all sleep better tonight knowing state employees can’t access Tik tok on State phones. I’m happy to see our leaders are focused on real issues that will move us out of 50th place in every category.

Anonymous said...

What about that tobacco spit cups on most executives desks including the State Military Department under the Governor. Can you say good ole boys

Anonymous said...

The old wire-in-the-wall phone with a rotary dial on it will work just fine for 99.9% of all people, not just government workers. Just about all phone calls are unnecessary, and very few are important.

Slackers said...

They should take off Facebook and Instagram too. Why are we paying them to surf the web on a state phone?

Anonymous said...

Include every member of the legislature in a cell phone ban among state employees.

Anonymous said...

8:14 and 10:37, why stop there? Why not just make them be content with carrier pigeons?

Anonymous said...

The state stopped providing telephones to its employees years ago when cell companies started providing unlimited use plans. It requires its employees to pay for and use their own phones for state business. Most state employees who want to look at Tik Tok will keep doing it because they are using - and paying for - the phone anyway.

Anonymous said...

@8:14, @9:06, @10;37 get off my lawn

Anonymous said...

@7:11 AM - You have a lawn? All that I see are "yard cars" and 1,000 empty beer cans.

Anonymous said...

And the sheep march on aimlessly and clueless.....

Anonymous said...

2:27 & 7:11 - Spoken exactly like someone who spends all day yapping/texting about lunch and sports.

Anonymous said...

@7:11 AM - I'm not on your lawn because of all of the yard cars, tires, mattresses, and beer cans.

Anonymous said...

Dang now I have to find something to do with the 7 other hours of my day

Anonymous said...

9:42 - so your solution would be for our leaders to focus solely on the number one issue in the state, resolve it, and then move on to number 2? I've heard that philosophy before hence the invention of the phrase "multi-tasking".

Thanks for the Free Phone said...

Fortunately as a state employee with a state issued iPhone 13 I don't need TikTok to post on JJ. Yes!

Anonymous said...

On deaf ears like the no tobacco use policy

Anonymous said...

Some state agencies give their employees smartphones so they can track them 24/7.

Anonymous said...

I’m sure there is a policy already in place for issues such as this. Why not, just enforce the same policy. I guess our higher up’s don’t want to hurt anyones feelings, they put out this blanket info

Just reinforce the policies that exists

State Employees know damn well we don’t use Tik Tok on state issued phones.

See why we can’t get anything accomplished in a timely manner

I love Mississippi

Anonymous said...

8:42 Our state "leaders" don't have the guts to focus on the top issues in the state. That is exactly why we will continue to be 50 in everything. But, the politicians will continue to be all over bullshit do-nothing issues like this. It's what keeps the sheep (like you) blindly following them.

Anonymous said...

This executive order alone should get Tater Tot reelected. It's now a shoo in.

Anonymous said...

"State Employees know damn well we don’t use Tik Tok on state issued phones."

My thoughts exactly. If employees, state of otherwise, are downloading bullcrap on company devices, that's an HR issue that needs to be addressed.

Why are legislatures even involved in this, other than to score cheap political points?

Anonymous said...

They can’t do anything useful, so they pander by getting rid tiK-tok and Robert E. Lee’s birthday to show the voters they’re doing something.

Anonymous said...

2:10
I know you think we all have this money bag to pass around and grab handfuls of cash out of but realistically it cost most of us being in the legislature. Now when you call me for help I’ll be answering and working to help you on my personal phone that I pay for every month.

Anonymous said...

@ 12:24

You blood suckers are over paid for what you do

Anonymous said...

@ 12.24 - You forgot to mention that your phone is written off as a business expense, just like your walking cane and your parking expense (unless that's free).

Anonymous said...

This is something I would have hoped that any government employee would know to do.
Most government employees I know have a "work" cell and their personal cell.
It's also not wanting their personal information to be vulnerable in cyberattacks.
For the reasons mentioned, I suspect it is unenforceable, but for employees who are clueless about the "real" world, this may help.


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