Apple Limits iPhone File-Sharing Tool Used For Protests In China (bloomberg.com) 84
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple has limited the AirDrop wireless file-sharing feature on iPhones in China after the mechanism was used by protesters to spread images to other iPhone owners. AirDrop allows the quick exchange of files like images, documents or videos between Apple devices. The latest version -- iOS 16.1.1, released Wednesday -- caps the window in which users can receive files from non-contacts at 10 minutes. The previous options didn't limit the time involved. Users could choose to get files from everyone, no one or just their contacts. After the 10-minute period expires, the system reverts to the mode where files can only be received from contacts. That means that individuals won't be able to get an AirDrop transfer from a stranger without actively turning on the feature in the preceding few minutes. It makes it harder for anyone seeking to distribute content and reach people in a discreet manner.
Apple made the change to AirDrop on iPhones sold in China. The shift came after protesters in the country used the service to spread posters opposing Xi Jinping and the Chinese government. The use of AirDrop to sidestep China's strict online censorship has been well-documented over the past three years and was highlighted again recently. Apple didn't comment on why the change was introduced in China, but said that it plans to roll out the new AirDrop setting globally in the coming year. The idea is to mitigate unwanted file sharing, the company said.
Apple made the change to AirDrop on iPhones sold in China. The shift came after protesters in the country used the service to spread posters opposing Xi Jinping and the Chinese government. The use of AirDrop to sidestep China's strict online censorship has been well-documented over the past three years and was highlighted again recently. Apple didn't comment on why the change was introduced in China, but said that it plans to roll out the new AirDrop setting globally in the coming year. The idea is to mitigate unwanted file sharing, the company said.
Unwanted file sharing (Score:5, Insightful)
Cute subterfuge. Obviously this file sharing is "unwanted" by someone but it's not the end user. I'll give them credit. It's a very clever way to literally say what you're doing but to make it sound like a good thing.
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IIRC there was a case of a passenger AirDropping porn or something else objectionable to everyone on a plane, and the ended up catching him and booting him off the plane. I've also received prompts while riding the train between NYC and Jersey, and while waiting at airport terminals.
That said, I'm sure the fact that it rolled out first in China is no coincidence. President Pooh Bear isn't a fan of anyone being able to say anything to anyone else without being ab
Re:Unwanted file sharing (Score:5, Insightful)
Then the mechanism to solve that already exists, don't allow public drops.
It's the solution to a problem that doesn't exist for everyone except the chinese government.
Re:Unwanted file sharing (Score:4, Informative)
Then the mechanism to solve that already exists, don't allow public drops. It's the solution to a problem that doesn't exist for everyone except the chinese government.
Exactly. I've done that and if someone needs to airdrop something and Is blocked I simply temporarily change the setting.
Re:Unwanted file sharing (Score:4, Informative)
Then the mechanism to solve that already exists, don't allow public drops.
It's the solution to a problem that doesn't exist for everyone except the chinese government.
Exactly. I've done that and if someone needs to airdrop something and Is blocked I simply temporarily change the setting.
Exactly.
I can't think of a good reason to leave AirDrop in "Everyone" Mode all the time. One wrong Tap and you just granted limited (you hope!) File Access to your Phone to someone (you hope!) is not malicious.
No thanks.
I do, however, think a Spinner to choose the Timeout (with "Never" being an Option) would be a great addition. Perhaps that feature will be added by the time this is rolled-out Globally.
you are not me (Score:1)
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I keep mine on all the time to transfer files between my devices at home. I was already not planning to "upgrade" my OS versions because Apple inserted the code to snoop on your files and report you to the feds if it thinks you have illegal content, but eventually my devices will wear out and I'll be stuck with the newer shitware. If I have to reenable promiscuous sharing every time I want to move a file it just might be so annoying that I stop using Apple devices altogether. The solution to not liking a feature is to not use it altogether!
And your Use Case is the only relevant one, of course.
You do realize that you can transfer files using either the Share Panel or the Files App, even to things like SMB Shares, right?
You are not using AirDrop as intended. Period. It is not designed as a Persistent-Connection, File-Sharing Protocol, like AFP or SMB.
AirDrop was primarily intended for temporary, zeroconf, ad-hoc File Transfer for use in situations where setting-up a permanent file-sharing connection was simply not worth the trouble.
You are the
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And your Use Case is the only relevant one, of course.
The most relevant use case is the one Apple is implementing this change in attempt to stop -protesters in China sharing information and avoiding government censorship.
Your attempt to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt is obvious (You are not using it as intended! Strangers could access your file system!)
Enjoy carrying water for the CCP.
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And your Use Case is the only relevant one, of course.
The most relevant use case is the one Apple is implementing this change in attempt to stop -protesters in China sharing information and avoiding government censorship.
Your attempt to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt is obvious (You are not using it as intended! Strangers could access your file system!)
Enjoy carrying water for the CCP.
Of course.
That's why they are rolling it out globally. [eyeroll]
Before jumping into "Apple is taking orders from the Chinese government" theories, there may be other perfectly reasonable reasons for this change. Like, for instance, the fact that AirDrop has been used as a medium for sending obscene images to strangers. Some news stories:
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/n... [fox10phoenix.com]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/20... [abc.net.au]
https://news.yahoo.com/video-s... [yahoo.com]
https://nypost.com/2022/06/27/... [nypost.com]
Re: you are not me (Score:2)
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Is that why the default is limited to your contacts? Everyone on your contact list is only temporary
WTF are you bloviating about?
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Apple already supports that - turn off public file drops, just allow files from contacts.
The 'problem' is that it's a hassle to set up credentials for one-off file transfers, e.g. sharing some photos at a party or conference) when you're never going to see that person again. So 'open public file drops for ten minutes' is a middle-ground between totally open and totally locked down - it gives almost the same convenience, but you're safe from unwanted file drops except when you choose to open up for ten minut
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The 'problem' is that it's a hassle to set up credentials for one-off file transfers
Sounds like the usual garbage UI that one should expect from Apple, then. There's no good reason why you shouldn't simply be prompted to give someone permission for a duration, or permanently (at your option) when they attempt to drop a file on your device. This literally could not be more obvious.
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the thing is a prompt is a bad idea. That means that while you might not see a preview of what someone is sending you that you still get your phone use interrupted by a prompt.
Having a "temporarily open" setting makes a lot of sense for something like this and it should have been in there from the beginning.
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the thing is a prompt is a bad idea. That means that while you might not see a preview of what someone is sending you that you still get your phone use interrupted by a prompt.
On Android you would just get a notification which you could ignore until you were ready to attend to it. Is the iOS interface so shit that it would really interrupt your phone use?
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Why would you not use that setting, is "public filesharing" on by default?
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yeah but sometimes I am talking to someone who isn't a contact and I want them to drop me a picture they took or some other bit of data and so I turn on the feature and then I have to remember to turn it off.
Having this time limited was an obvious feature they should have include years ago and the use case for having your phone setup as a constant publicly available drop box is kind of not a thing.
I don't care for why they did it, but it should have been a feature from day one.
Re: Unwanted file sharing (Score:1)
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Oh I agree this is an issue, but rolling it out to China first without a way to configure it to the original setting is far from acceptable. One of the few places in the world where the bug is a feature and they change it there first. They knew they couldn't just limit file sharing without drawing global attention, so they negotiated a way to try to make it look totally benign.
Re: Unwanted file sharing (Score:4, Funny)
It takes courage
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It takes courage
That, right there, is the definition of irony — using "courage" as a euphemism for bowing to pressure from a foreign government. Nice job. :-)
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Oh I agree this is an issue, but rolling it out to China first without a way to configure it to the original setting is far from acceptable. One of the few places in the world where the bug is a feature and they change it there first. They knew they couldn't just limit file sharing without drawing global attention, so they negotiated a way to try to make it look totally benign.
Any approach would destroy its usefulness in China. Remember that Chinese phones have to store backups on servers in China, which likely means the government has access to logs. If you set it into that mode a year ago and "forgot" about it, you have plausible deniability, and can say that you didn't go there to receive the drop. If you have to set it into that mode ten minutes earlier, you don't, and if you override the setting so that it will stay active, you don't.
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Yep. I've never encountered the random AirDrop.
That said, the solution should have been to define the window size. eg "Do not accept files > sizeMB after X time" or "Do not accept files outside this geofence after X time" because it might be desirable to have the feature always accept files when you're at school without adding everyone to your contacts.
Now why this would have been enabled for default is probably because marketers wanted it. Enter a store and get the flyer or whatever. Now that has to be
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Well, there are two different use cases. Most common, people who leave public file sharing open can get 'flashed' with unwanted files dropped onto their device. And in China and a few other countries where the governments are very control oriented, you're right, it's the government that doesn't want to allow people to communicate easily anonymously. In the first case, people tend to leave file sharing open so that they don't have to deal with setting up specific sharing credentials random people who they ju
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We should not call it Apple's principles.
I'm almost sure that after the last 10 years, Apple China is now well separated from the rest of Apple company.
Our big international company did just that. We share the same name and some stuff, but China 'branch' has their own leadership. It can be cut off at anytime.
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"I really wanted a gold chain, I tried really hard to stick to my values .. but then, even though it isn't food and I am not at all starving, I decided the gold chain was worth a lot of money so I had no choice but to rob the store. Sure I knew it may end up putting the store owner into bankruptcy/homelessness, and that is sad .. I wish it didn't, but then I really wanted that gold chain."
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Gee, you must be a True American thinking of the U.S. Marines as a gang of thugs.
Have been waiting for this (Score:2)
I often switch on AirDrop-visibility for everyone and then broadcast my (phone's) name to everyone around me for weeks.
I was waiting for a feature that turns promiscuous off after a while and this seems to be it. It's a security and privacy feature from my perspective and it should always have been an option.
Re:Have been waiting for this (Score:5, Insightful)
1) this isn't an option, if anyone wants to keep airdrop on 24x7 they can't after this
2) China CCP
An option would be to add a new _option_ to put a 10m timer on and make that the default. Not eliminate 24x7 entirely.
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No it isn't, it's forcing a use case onto everyone. You can already turn it off if you're not an idiot.
Why should everyone else be restricted because you're too stupid to operate your phone?
Re: Have been waiting for this (Score:2)
You can already turn it off if you're not an idiot.
Remember, you're talking about iphone users...
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You can already turn it off if you're not an idiot.
Remember, you're talking about iphone users...
No.
We're talking about pretty much anyone who does not Live on their Phone 24/7.
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> You can already turn it off if you're not an idiot.
You can already add numbers by hand if you're not an idiot, right?
The point of computers is to automate the mundane, so humans can focus more on concepts and strategy.
I have my phone on a Do Not Disturb and Red Shift and backup and update schedule automatically. Why would I want to do any of these manually?
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The point of computers is to automate the mundane, so humans can focus more on concepts and strategy.
Which is why computer technology is the answer to The Fermi Paradox.
The human animal didn't evolve to "focus more on concepts and strategy". Like all animals, humans evolved to secure food access, defend/escape predators, establish nests/territory, and physically reproduce. Mundane tasks are the reason we exist. Mundane tasks are what our bodies and brains evolved to do.
The human animal's brain is capable of a degree of abstraction far beyond all other creatures, but that abstraction didn't evolve for the s
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No it isn't, it's forcing a use case onto everyone. You can already turn it off if you're not an idiot.
Why should everyone else be restricted because you're too stupid to operate your phone?
Because people often do things like turn on Promiscuous Mode in common situations (often at the behest or with the assistance of someone else) like Business Meetings, gatherings of Friends and Family, etc, fully intending to turn it off afterwards. But especially in the case where the User isn't in the habit of using AirDrop, it is far too easy to forget to turn Promiscuous back off; since there is no in-your-face indicator or reminder.
That doesn't mean the User is an Idiot; just Distracted. IOW, human.
IMH
Non-Bloomberg Link (Score:3)
Same info, less javascript requirement [timesnownews.com]
It keeps coming up on planes (Score:2)
Re:It keeps coming up on planes (Score:5, Insightful)
If they just wanted to stop your phone from getting clogged with unwanted files, they could give you an option to screen uploads.
This is not for that.
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If they just wanted to stop your phone from getting clogged with unwanted files, they could give you an option to screen uploads.
This is not for that.
You can screen them (by not Accepting the AirDrop Request); but, like Caller ID, you can't screen Content, only "Callers".
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Sounds like there's no actual problem then, people opening their devices to anything dropped on their phone deserve everything they get, and the functionality already exists to prevent abuse. They didn't need to change anything.
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Sounds like there's no actual problem then, people opening their devices to anything dropped on their phone deserve everything they get, and the functionality already exists to prevent abuse. They didn't need to change anything.
I agree; but I can also understand how especially non tech aware people could get caught unaware.
Hundreds of nude and violent pictures you say? (Score:1)
Are there any parts of Disney World that are particularly bad and we should avoid? Did you see any pictures that you’d never seen before?
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Are there any parts of Disney World that are particularly bad and we should avoid?
Yes. Disney World.
At least don't fucking go there until they pay their employees enough to live on.
Re: Hundreds of nude and violent pictures you say? (Score:1)
If the employees are not getting paid enough to live on then why are they still working at Disney?
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May be useful?!?
Re-read your own post!
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LOL. I only said may because I don't understand why someone would use Airdrop in that open mode.
Sorry!
Sometimes the idiots get me in a Combative mindset... ;-)
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One flight the pilot threatened to return to the gate if one more Mr. T picture was shared.
That sounds like an AWESOME flight!
Actions speak much louder (Score:5, Insightful)
tan all the virtue signalling self aggrandising BS Apple and similar corporation PR depts put out about how they value people/human rights/cuddle kittens every day.
When it comes down to it profit , not matter what tiny percentage, is more important than people or their rights. But hey, look, new Emojis!
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tan all the virtue signalling self aggrandising BS Apple and similar corporation PR depts put out about how they value people/human rights/cuddle kittens every day.
When it comes down to it profit , not matter what tiny percentage, is more important than people or their rights. But hey, look, new Emojis!
How does this increase Profit?
It may save them some friction with Xi; but that is really about "it".
It is, however, a security improvement for Users who may might turn on the Promiscuous Mode, like for gatherings of friends and family, and forget to turn it off.
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How does this increase Profit?
It doesn't. It prevents a decrease in profit if they are not allowed to sell their devices in China.
It may save them some friction with Xi; but that is really about "it".
Friction? Xi can simply outlaw their devices. Apple is already [very] gradually moving production out of China, so he has nothing to lose... but Apple doesn't want to lose those sales.
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How does this increase Profit?
It doesn't. It prevents a decrease in profit if they are not allowed to sell their devices in China.
It may save them some friction with Xi; but that is really about "it".
Friction? Xi can simply outlaw their devices. Apple is already [very] gradually moving production out of China, so he has nothing to lose... but Apple doesn't want to lose those sales.
...and Xi, who is already Presiding (for life!) over a slowly Collapsing Economy, doesn't particularly want to lose Apple's contribution to their GDP.
Now what?
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...and Xi, who is already Presiding (for life!) over a slowly Collapsing Economy, doesn't particularly want to lose Apple's contribution to their GDP.
Now what?
Keeping the people in the dark is more important than that revenue, that's the problem with keeping secrets from the populace. If they find out, they also find out you're full of shit.
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...and Xi, who is already Presiding (for life!) over a slowly Collapsing Economy, doesn't particularly want to lose Apple's contribution to their GDP.
Now what?
Keeping the people in the dark is more important than that revenue [. . .]
In your opinion...
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Keeping the people in the dark is more important than that revenue [. . .]
In your opinion...
If you don't pay attention to what people (or nations) do, you're always going to be confused. You judge by actions, not shit you made up in your head.
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Keeping the people in the dark is more important than that revenue [. . .]
In your opinion...
If you don't pay attention to what people (or nations) do, you're always going to be confused. You judge by actions, not shit you made up in your head.
I agree.
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China regularly makes policy decisions which hurt the bottom line in order to keep their people in the dark, so there is no logical basis on which to think that they won't do it again, or that they don't have to do it in order to hold onto power — if they didn't have to then they wouldn't, since they are as greedy as anyone.
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Apple protecting your privacy... (Score:4)
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Since... never.
And you're going to suggest Android as the better alternative???
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You really should look at dnscrypt-proxy, encrypted DNS lookups and privately hosted cloud storage to replace App/Goo if you ca
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Well I didn't suggest any alternatives... yet, But it's fair to go there, because as you imply, what is the alternative? Custom ROMs like LineageOS which I use and recommend, or GrapheneOS, which to this point, I have only read about, but it seems to come highly recommended by privacy types. Both are stock Android plus a small ecosystem of supporting privacy/security conscious apps.
You really should look at dnscrypt-proxy, encrypted DNS lookups and privately hosted cloud storage to replace App/Goo if you care about your privacy.
And just like you will never use Apple, I will never use any flavor of Android; especially not one that has had unknown fingers in it.
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code repo: https://cs.android.com/android/platform/superproject/
Seems better than closed source. YMMV.
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Android is open source. You don't think that makes any diff?
code repo: https://cs.android.com/android... [android.com]
Seems better than closed source. YMMV.
Android as delivered by every single carrier and handset mfg. us no more Open Source that MS Office.
And even if it was, not one baseband module has an F/OSS Driver.
And even if it did, not one User in a Meeelion could spot an even non-obsfucated backdoor or other malicious code. Period.
So no, Open Source makes no actual difference; at least in real life.
The yearly parade of decades-long vulnerabilities in even very-popular and supposedly well-scrutinized "Open Source" code, neatly belies the practical "advan
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Custom ROM based on stock Android like LineageOS is factually NOT SAME as commercial Android or Apple at all....
No baseband module has FOSS driver --- yes, that is a possible issue.
Notwithstanding that, you can still be triangulated via cell phone towers, that is true.
But with the measures I proposed [custom ROM, wireguard VPN, private cloud storage, encrypted DNS lookups] you can't have better privacy, as you say, in real life.
As you imp
Go further (Score:2)
Forget about Airdrop controls. That's too limiting.
They should just drop your cell phone and Wi-Fi connections every ten minutes and force you to turn them back on if you want to use them.
As always... (Score:4, Insightful)
Tim Cock bends over again (Score:4, Insightful)
How many people in China and Iran get disappeared every year, just so he can sell iphones in their shit hole countries?
Apple didn't comment on why the change was introdu (Score:1)
Because Apple is happy to function as an arm of the state security apparatus - for money.
Please make it an optional for users! (Score:2)
I'd like this feature even though I'm not in China. This would be useful in case I forget to put AirDrop back to contacts. I usually have it completely disabled since I rarely use it.