Taking a note from China’s playbook, the US wants to build upon its own “Clean Network”

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Proving that he is the best at everything, Donald Trump has announced a newer “Clean Network” for the United States. That’s right. The whispy-haired genius now has a qualification in network engineering and he plans to use it. Not just a medical professional, Trump the computer whizz now plans to build a new network for the whole of the US. Keeping everyone else out, in the process.

Not happy with building massive physical walls, Trump also wants to put up a digital barrier between the US and China. This is because he doesn’t trust China. Or its apps. Or anything else about the place. So, the state department has announced plans to change the scope of the “Clean Network,” rolled out in April. With this extension, he wants to remove Chinese tech from US shores. And he wants to remove it all.

It’s my data and I’ll cry if I want to

Being the overbearing, giant orange toddler that he is, Trump is known for throwing all of his toys out of the pram. Of course, we already know that he plans to ban TikTok and WeChat, among other apps. In the bold move, Mike Pompeo states, “With parent companies based in China, apps like TikTok, WeChat, and others are significant threats to the personal data of American citizens, not to mention tools for Chinese Communist Party content censorship.”

However, he also plans to outlaw any “untrusted” mobile carriers, cloud services, apps, and tech brands. He’s even going to be scrutinizing the internet cable that connects the US to the rest of the planet. The back story is always the same with this kind of news. Trump/his administration doesn’t trust an app, or brand, or whatever, so they brand it a security threat and ban it. This is starting to feel more like a chapter from DMZ as we speak.

Digital sovereignty?

The fact that Trump plans to weed out any and all Chinese apps and tech seems an awful lot like China’s previous moves. Prior to now, China has been known to block foreign tech, including Google and Twitter. To do this, they use their own “Great Firewall.” This makes the use of such apps illegal inside of China. This allows their own brands to grow, unfettered by external interference. Not only that, but it also prevents Chinese citizens from viewing information of a sensitive, political nature. It strikes us as unusual that the US would condemn this kind of behavior but then make moves to replicate the model.

Perhaps with platforms like Clearview AI stealing your face for all manner of nefarious deeds, this is a sensible move. However, the internet isn’t intended to be a closed space. That is exactly why its inventor didn’t sell the concept, it was made available for everyone. Fragmenting the internet in such a way is yet another step toward clipping the wings of our liberty.

As we all become more and more cut off from one another, it does make you wonder what the future of global relations is going to look like.

What do you think? Should the US block things from other places around the world, including China? Do you agree with the implementation of a “Clean Network?” Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• As Trump looks to ban TikTok, it turns out there are many Pro-Trump creators on the platform
• Microsoft says it’s interested in buying TikTok and somehow Trump is involved
• Twitter is cracking down on QAnon, deletes 7,000 accounts and limits 150,000 more
• Unlike Facebook, TikTok will reveal its algorithms in order to build trust in its policy enforcement