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AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

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Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#191

Post by snoot »

brandur wrote: post #16
jsnell wrote: post #8

This seems to have been announced a couple of weeks ago, so we don't need to just trust the tweet: https://www.macworld.com/article/1377200/apple-to-limit-aird... Having it open to everyone for only a limited amount of time actually kind of seems like the right thing, but it's hard to come up with a legit explanation for why they rushed that change to China first.

To be fair: (1) it seems like the update landed recently, and (2) the article you linked does cite the same reasoning as the Twitter posts. Even if was a little ahead of the more recent Zero Covid protests, it seems like AirDrop's been a known vector in China to share government criticism, which is why Apple's cracking down.

> which is why Apple's cracking down.

This is absurd. Apple is doing this because of government pressure, not because of their own desire to crack down.

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#192

Post by Frost1x »

jibbers wrote: post #57
mhoad wrote: post #9

I don’t ever want to hear again how Apple is some champion of privacy and ethics. I’ve lost count of how many scandals have come out of their relationship with China from the suicide nets to the repeated investigations showing their supply chain was riddled with slave labor that they would later campaign against protections that would prevent it. Now this. They are fucked as a company, I can’t get out of their ecosys…

> suicide nets I assume this is about Foxconn. Does that mean you'll be boycotting other companies that also work with them, like Amazon, Dell, Google, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Vizio, Acer, Lenovo, Nintendo, and Sony? I'm genuinely asking. It's a tough pill to swallow to learn all our tech stuff we all enjoy is built on the backs of poor people on the other side of the planet.

>It's a tough pill to swallow to learn all our tech stuff we all enjoy is built on the backs of poor people on the other side of the planet.

It's far far more than 'tech' stuff. A lot of everything we enjoy is built off the backs of the poor and exploited, that's how most of the system we have works at a fundamental level.

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#194

Post by twobitshifter »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #97

We heard about this over 2 weeks ago https://www.macrumors.com/2022/11/10/airdrop-10-minute-limit... This is not in response to this particular protest. iOS16 just dropped, so the timing was coincidental I guess.

I realize apple hates options, but adding a 4th option to leave it as everyone indefinitely would have been sooo easy. And I see people were commenting about the protests as a motivating factor 2 weeks ago in that story.

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#195

Post by stoeckley »

skrowl wrote: post #154
webinvest wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Do you personally know anyone who has been using the same iPhone for 8 years? I find that claim dubious.

I used an iPhone 4s from 2011 until end of 2018. Probably most remarkably, I never put a case or any kind of screen protector on it. The thing was still practically scratch free when I stopped using it. It’s still sitting in a drawer next to me.

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#196

Post by yamtaddle »

ASalazarMX wrote: post #89
yamtaddle wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You pay $1000 for a computer, and you are only allowed to install software on it that Apple says you are allowed to. For i-devices, yeah, true. > You can only pay for software on their own store. As nice as exposing the App store to more market effects might be, the app store monopoly enables them to force other companies to be less shitty on the platform (or else abandon it—but it's lucrative, so most don't), so i…

That also enables unreasonable monopolistic behavior, like not allowing ANY browser besides Safari. Why not allow alternative browser engines that follow strict privacy practices? What about native ad blockers? Why not encourage privacy-friendly apps that don't collect data by lowering/waiving their fees?

> Why not allow alternative browser engines that follow strict privacy practices?

A few reasons for me, personally:

1) I like the consistency of all web pages being rendered by the same engine and having access to similar capabilities, no matter if it's a web-view inside an app, or in a browser.

2) Safari's a pretty great default for mobile devices, so I don't feel like I'm losing out by being "stuck" with it.

3) From a big-picture perspective, Apple forcing Safari on iOS is the only reason the entire Web client space isn't completely dominated by Google and subject to that—omitting some words I might choose to describe them, for civility's sake—company's every whim (instead it's only mostly dominated by Google)

4) Conveniently for me, I also happen to have no interest in having other browser engines on my phone or tablets, since this one's pretty good, and in some ways best-available, anyway. I have zero clue why I'd want another browser engine on my i-devices, and I've been doing this whole Web thing a while, long enough that I happily adopted and evangelized Firefox back when it was still called Phoenix—normal users have even less reason than I might. As in, I can't think of a single reason being able to install other browser engines would make my time using the devices better. Better battery life? LOL no, it'd be worse. Features I want? Nope, but several I actively do not want developers to even have as an option. I'd rather keep those capabilities away so developers can't start depending on them, so start forcing me to choose between using sites I want to use and avoiding things I don't think browsers should be able to do in the first place (I'm sad Safari's given up as much ground on this as they have, frankly, but again, it's only because of their i-device browser engine monopoly that they have any leverage at all here).

5) Meanwhile, this doesn't get in the way of my using the actually-important features of other browsers, they'll just have Safari's engine under the hood. Not a big deal, or even a small one (to me).

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#198

Post by snoot »

gambiting wrote: post #168
snoot wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> tech people who learned to program because their 8088 was completely open and free to let you actually create things and learn about computing, so many of you will defend this terrible situation. There is nothing terrible about Apple making devices my 80+ year old mother can safely and easily use. I have a Mac, and I also have Linux machines. Nothing is stopping people learning about computers. Why would anyone spe…

>>There is nothing terrible about Apple making devices my 80+ year old mother can safely and easily use. I just don't understand this argument. Never did and I don't think I ever will. If apple allowed you to install custom apps, it would change NOTHING for your 80+ year old mother. Literally nothing. Her device would still be just as safe and secure as ever before.

Clearly not true. A lot of spyware and malware masquerades as legitimate software.

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#199

Post by buffington »

jackmott42 wrote: post #45
mhoad wrote: post #9

I don’t ever want to hear again how Apple is some champion of privacy and ethics. I’ve lost count of how many scandals have come out of their relationship with China from the suicide nets to the repeated investigations showing their supply chain was riddled with slave labor that they would later campaign against protections that would prevent it. Now this. They are fucked as a company, I can’t get out of their ecosys…

Their ethics are terrible. You pay $1000 for a computer, and you are only allowed to install software on it that Apple says you are allowed to. You can only pay for software on their own store. Complete bullshit, and it makes me sad that so many here on HN and elsehwere, tech people who learned to program because their 8088 was completely open and free to let you actually create things and learn about computing, so m…

> you are only allowed to install software on it that Apple says you are allowed to

This isn't accurate. macOS' default security settings (System > Security & Privacy) have "Allow apps downloaded from:" set to "App Store" by default. Selecting "App Store and identified developers" allows you to install anything from the App store, or anything that's been code signed.

If you want to execute unsigned code, you can disable SIP (System Integrity Protection) and relive all your 8088 glory days.

> You can only pay for software on their own store.

Also entirely inaccurate. Almost all of the macOS software I've purchased was done so outside of the App store, paying developers directly.

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#200

Post by blamazon »

baxtr wrote: post #157

Ok, so people jump directly to the conclusion that this was introduced because the CCP asked for it. Yet, if that was the case why limit it only? Why not ask for a complete stop? Is there a case where a protestor benefits from AirDrop but only if it’s more than 10 minutes?

It's pretty simple: sometimes people do want to receive airdrops from anybody in a state approved way - when someone is not your contact, but you want them to send you something. Your distant uncle took a photo at a family gathering, for example.

Thus, previously, users in China could set their phone to be able to receive airdrops from anybody, all the time.

But, problem! Now they can receive information antithetical to CCP propaganda, anywhere they go. On a bus, on a train, at the supermarket, at a grocery store, literally anywhere, they could be exposed to ad-hoc free thought via airdrop. Perhaps something like: "protest tonight at the grocery store! They can't arrest all of us!"

In response, now iPhone users in China can still choose to receive airdrops from anybody, preserving the valid use case, but only for 10 minutes after pressing the button. They are now safe from uncensored information for the rest of the day. Train, bus, supermarket, etc. The airdrop protest invite is now dead.

A complete ban of receiving airdrops from anyone would cause outrage - it would be removing a useful feature entirely. But the timer is a clever way to neuter its position as a social communication platform without taking the useful feature away.

This is how effective social control works - you can't just shackle everyone, you have to give them the impression of freedom.

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