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AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

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Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#731
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…

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Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#732
post #709

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide examples where Apple has taken a stand (at their own personal cost) against China? Doesn't seem to be such a "complex power dynamic" at all maybe? Maybe some "dumbing down" might be useful to a crowd that is disconnected from reality and likes to hide behind language?

> Can you provide examples where Apple has taken a stand (at their own personal cost) against China? / Doesn't seem to be such a "complex power dynamic" at all maybe? I don't need to provide examples in order for my point to stand: the power dynamics between China and Apple are not about blind obedience. What I mean by power dynamics is well understood. It applies to geopolitics, economics, as well as personal relati…

China does not need Apple, in fact there would be significant benefit to Apple exiting China. More power, more control for the CCP. China has the capacity to do very serious damage to Apple, potentially even put the company at risk if they acted quickly and with malice. This is a completely one-sided relationship. "the parties are aware of their relative power and influence and act accordingly..." Agreed. In China Apple does what the CCP wants. Not a "complex power dynamic" IMO.

I may be "expressing dismay in a way that is too blunt to be useful to many people here". In return I think you are expressing very little beyond obsfucation and misdirection which I don't find particularly useful either.

Lastly I'd like to offer you some unsolicited advice in return. Please try not to be so condescending when dealing with others if you want them to respond positively.

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#733
post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it being rolled out in China first?

Because China told them to after protests last month or so. This did not just happen in the last two days. This is arguably a good setting too, as there are plenty of stories of people in other parts of the world who AirDrop lewd/violent/disgusting pictures to anyone around with their phone set to “allow anyone”. It’s happened on planes, for example. But this is a tool people figured out they could use for a differen…

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Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#734

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please read the full sentence. > If Apple is complying with a Chinese government orders, then it has an ethical duty to make that public, and again, we have, as of yet, no reason to assume there are gag orders related to this. I am saying that if there's no gag order, they have an ethical duty to reveal why they're doing this.

Oh, I see. This makes even less sense to me now! Considering we live in a world of constantly updating SaaS, where is the ethical obligation to explain changes? I'm happy to receive a change log that says 10% of what has changed, and generally expect to not get a reason. How many entire products has Google killed with no explanation? I have a feeling this is only become a question of "ethics" because this change tang…

It's not "tangential". It was only rolled out in China. My phone outside of China, with latest iOS update, still has no time limit on Airdrop. Protesters in China as of now have a time limit. (It depends on the country in which the phone was purchased, like with missing Taiwan flag emoji.)

These pro-freedom protests are the event in China and there is simply no way Apple flipped this change just now just for China by accident for completely unrelated reasons.

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#735
post #709

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you provide examples where Apple has taken a stand (at their own personal cost) against China? / Doesn't seem to be such a "complex power dynamic" at all maybe? I don't need to provide examples in order for my point to stand: the power dynamics between China and Apple are not about blind obedience. What I mean by power dynamics is well understood. It applies to geopolitics, economics, as well as personal relati…

China does not need Apple, in fact there would be significant benefit to Apple exiting China. More power, more control for the CCP. China has the capacity to do very serious damage to Apple, potentially even put the company at risk if they acted quickly and with malice. This is a completely one-sided relationship. "the parties are aware of their relative power and influence and act accordingly..." Agreed. In China Ap…

I'm sorry if I sounded condescending. What part(s) bothered you? How would you suggest I offer my particular feedback in a way that is not condescending?

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#736
post #709

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you provide examples where Apple has taken a stand (at their own personal cost) against China? / Doesn't seem to be such a "complex power dynamic" at all maybe? I don't need to provide examples in order for my point to stand: the power dynamics between China and Apple are not about blind obedience. What I mean by power dynamics is well understood. It applies to geopolitics, economics, as well as personal relati…

China does not need Apple, in fact there would be significant benefit to Apple exiting China. More power, more control for the CCP. China has the capacity to do very serious damage to Apple, potentially even put the company at risk if they acted quickly and with malice. This is a completely one-sided relationship. "the parties are aware of their relative power and influence and act accordingly..." Agreed. In China Ap…

I was offering some feedback in response to your complaint about downvotes. I didn't want to replicate the same debates had in other threads on this topic.

Generally, this kind of interaction -- relatively positive, to your credit -- is illustrative of why, I think. What I mean is this: I don't think either of us feel particularly satisfied with it, do we?

This seems like a lost opportunity. I feel like you and I could easily have a productive conversation with another medium, such as in person or perhaps some platform with a different interaction pattern.

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#737
post #678
post #564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. You can inspect the hardware. If you can verify that the switch disables the radio, you don't have to worry about software do you? ... unless there is some other way to exfiltrate data, such as: 1. alternative antennae, chipsets? 2. some kind of filtering + buffer + delayed send 3. something else...? Whatever the case, such techniques are not free of cost and increase the chance of exfil detection. So, killswitch…

> hardware. If you can verify that the switch disables the radio, you don't have to worry about software do you? Until the next time you turn radio on, when it could just send out anything, anywhere if the software stack is untrusted, so we are back at square one.

I'm aware. You apparently did not notice my point #2 above:

> 2. some kind of filtering + buffer + delayed send

Resources (compute, storage) are needed for filtering, buffering, sending. However, these actions are not "free": (1) they increase the chance of detection later; (2) they require electrical power; (3) they require additional design and testing for the device using them. Isn't raising the cost of breaching security the basic idea?

So my point stands: A hardware kill switch serves as a security layer. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it is not (in general) simply security theater (your point above).

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#738
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 100% true, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Not only did it go to court, Apple admitted doing it and paid over $100M in damages. https://www.npr.org/2020/11/18/936268845/apple-agrees-to-pay...

This article states that Apple did that to increase battery life. Do you have other sources to back your claims?

They LITERALLY lost a court verdict that said they did it to screw customers.

I don't care what Apple's PR said, the court found that the AG complaint of "Many consumers decided that the only way to get improved performance was to purchase a newer-model iPhone from Apple, ... Apple, of course, fully understood such effects on sales." was correct and that Apple had to pay up.

Re: AirDrop is now limited to 10 minutes

#740

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So in this case where someone has for some special event to enable this feature they can get a few options. I was asking because Apple and GNOME fanboys claim that the average user is incapable to choose for themselves. But honestly in this case they needed to release it globally, then designers would be happy they removed a feature, Apple could continue selling the idea that they respect human rights and privacy.

There simply isnt a need to "Set the feature" for any kind of event. It's not like you can turn this on, put your phone in your pocket and then have people send unsolicited files to your phone all day long. Airdrop only works when your phone is unlocked and in use. You already have to interact with it to receive something, and you can put a shortcut button in control center for it. Making the privacy-preserving setti…

> Making the privacy-preserving setting the default is the right call. Whether or not China had anything to do with it is honestly irrelevant.

One of us is wrong, here, my understanding is not that Apple changed a default , but Apple removed/wiped the default option . You claim that you can change the default back to what it was before ?

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