Eh. Sorta. The small form factor of pocket computers belies their functionality, and makes most people treat them as if they are much simpler devices than they really are.
The fact that there isn't a manual of operations included with it doesn't help - when was the last time a manual on settings and their ramifications was included with the device?
Reasonable defaults, I guess?
The lack of a manual feels like a red herring only a small fraction of user actually reads the manual. And among those that do they read it to find a specific thing (like wifi) not to understand the product as a whole.
I have to laugh about them making this out to be a teen thing. Messing with people who have insecure settings is a cornerstone of hacker culture. I'd do this all the time if I had an iPhone. I haven't been a teen for 20 years.
Hah, awesome. Well, you still have some options. Having a tethered WiFi hotspot open at all times with a silly name - it almost seems to have turned into a sort of contest on Caltrain who can have the most absurd hotspot name.
Haha that's pretty good. I also considered connecting to unsecured wifi and renaming it (since 99% of the time it uses default creds) to something like "Brother Tim's porn server" but that is probably too far.
Shortly after WiFi hotspots via mobile phones (or those stand alone devices) became a thing, I found that airports usually had the best collection of ad-hoc WiFi networks.
A usual citing on my network list was "Yell Penis for Password".
I've also had people, more deviously change their network name to "Galaxy Note 7" while in the airport or in-flight to stir frenzy after they were banned at airports.
I've heard SO many stories of people setting their ESSID to "FBI Surveillance Van #16" or something, and watching the reactions.
I used to attempt Bluetooth pairing around the office with my phone set to "TURN OFF YOUR DAMN BLUETOOTH". The number of visible devices did decrease after a while!
In the early days of coffee-shop wifi, I used to browse around Network Neighborhood looking for people's shared MP3 folders. If they had stuff I liked, and their share was writable, I'd leave 'em something in return, along with a little thanks.txt :)
I recently switched back to using an iphone and my friends told me about how people do this all the time on BART as a funny prank. In March I went to FLA for vacation and my flight was delayed and I was able to pass the time doing this.
It was harmless fun sending funny memes back and forth with strangers who were all trapped in an airline terminal. The hardest part was trying to keep a straight face when you saw some teenagers reaction when you sent them a sloth meme about leaving their airdrop open.
Many years ago (early 2000s maybe), I lived on the road for work and stayed at a lot of hotels.
I would find random shares open on people's machines, then fill their entire hard drive with cat pictures. I usually left a few GB so they could save documents or whatever because I wasn't that much of an asshole.
I've had friends AirDrop me stuff. I was pretty sure it was contacts only by default. Had to search in settings to find it though, sure enough, contacts only.
Sorry. You can get to it from the iOS Control Center more easily. Force/long touch the box with the wireless controls if you don’t already see the AirDrop icon in that box.
I figured it was something like that. I could picture it. The force touch actions are such a great idea but they need to be more intuitive for the 99% of people who don't RTFM and memorize what has an action. It can be so hit or miss.
I have experienced this first hand while chaperoning school field trips - it's an amazing ad-hoc local area social network! Definitely emerging cultural patterns via technology. Going to apply for grant money to study, brb.
An aside, this seems to be a recurring theme:
Kids don’t feel like they have anonymity/a way for something not to last anymore, so they are searching out ways to get it.
I recall this being something that came up as SnapChat being valuable for, letting stuff be ephemeral.
The good part of this is kids being kids, they find ways, but I am curious if anyone else have found different examples of this type of behavior?
The only other equivalent I have seen is the large “group texts” movement for connectivity (with associated Bitmoji/memes etc)
Edit: Replaced WhatsApp with SnapChat, thanks for the correction! (Shows how out of touch I am on this stuff)
Anonymous/pseudonymous media -- and sociopathic behavior in same -- was a thing well before dotcoms created the modern surveillance society.
Also, children are not good critical thinkers, and will be dragged along through a series of supposed disruptive media introductions that are mostly just different veneers on exploiting them in familiar ways.
This article is about teens pranking strangers (mostly) by sending them images via AirDrop. If you’re not familiar with AirDrop, it uses a combination of Bluetooth and WiFi to allow Apple users to easily share files between devices. AirDrop reception can be placed into three modes: send only, contacts only, everyone. If you don’t want to be pranked, don’t leave AirDrop reception set to everyone. Here’s an Apple article explaining it:
Reminds me of Bluejacking back in the day. Take a group picture of a bunch of random strangers in a store, then send it to as many open Bluetooth connections as you can find and watch people scratching their heads trying to figure out who was "watching them". CompUSA was always a good candidate store due to the volume of "techies" in one place.
With Bluetooth headphones being pretty widespread now it’ll probably be enabled most of the time for most people. Especially with the low energy version if doesn’t really matter any more too.
I have (and love) Tile Bluetooth locators on my keys and in my wallet. I never loose phone/wallet/keys anymore (or I lose all three simultaneously, in which case I have to log into my laptop or ask my wife to use her Tile app to alarm my phone for me).
And my car starts music over my Bluetooth when I turn on the radio. I can answer calls hands-free by pushing a button on the dash. I don't have to touch my phone at all for these things to happen, just to keep it in my pocket or bag.
Both of these highly useful functions mean that my Bluetooth is on perpetually. Enabling it only when I wanted to use these features would be a major reduction in functionality for me.
I have a basket that I put stuff in when I walk in the door, those things never get lost. My whole music collection is in flac on a thumbdrive in my car. I don't need to do anything else.
Reminds me of PictoChat on the Nintendo DS. Chat on one of four available channels with nearby users over local wireless, by exchanging text and hand-drawn pictures.
At about the peak of its popularity—right before smartphones became truly prevalent among kids my age—I was doing middle school science fairs. This involved lots of standing around waiting in front of your trifold posterboard while judges slowly worked their way along the rows and rows of other projects. We weren't supposed to leave our own stations in the meantime, and they were spaced out enough to make talking with your neighbors inconvenient. Instead, the whole room was on PictoChat, filling up all four channels with streams of chatter and doodles and mutual commiseration on our anxieties over presenting to the judges.
Note that AirDrop is available on most macOS and iOS devices, so if you’re worried about this at all, make sure to fix it on any device you use in public - not just phones.
I mean it's using bluetooth. There are known vulnerabilities but if you keep your phone up to date those have been patched. We try doing it in places with crowds: arenas, restaurants, airports, and buses. It can be a nice ice breaker if the receive isn't paranoid, or socially awkward.
I don't know if it's just teens. Unfortunately it's pervs too.
First time I ever got a random AirDrop was a dick pic while I riding the subway in NYC. Somebody just sending dick pics to strangers on the subway.
I hadn't realized Apple had created a whole new avenue for sexual harassment. Great. Apparently at some point in the past I'd changed from the default "contacts only" to "everyone" without realizing what it would open me up to.
Obviously it seems like technologically there ought to be a way to identify the sending phone and pass it to the police to find the perp and charge them with a hefty fine at a minimum... but I'd already deleted it (of course) and didn't have the time.
Still, seems like Apple ought to provide a kind of "report abuse" mechanism that would disable it from your Apple ID, or something.
Also, maybe when an image is from someone not in your contacts... don't show a preview??? Or make it super-super blurry, so you can reject it without being subjected to it?
Considering the consequences for that person had they displayed their penis on the subway unbidden, it's pretty surprising no legislatures have championed the case for Apple to implement reporting features to airdrop.
You would want to press criminal charges for a dick pic? I never really understood who that hurt, especially when it is adult to adult. I've had them sent to me before and it never really bothered me.
It is sexual assault to expose someone to unwanted sexual advances. It's the same thing as flashing. Why should someone be exposed to a picture of another's genitals when it's unwanted? It's forcing someone else to engage in a sexual way without consent, even if the only reaction is to block the sender, or look away.
I'm a guy and I'd definitely press charges. Especially if that person close in proximity to me, I'd prefer to NOT be sexually harassed. Pressing charges hopefully would suppress this behavior.
You can already press criminal charges for someone exposing themselves to you sexually in public.
How is it any different whether it's in person or in pixels?
Do you honestly think you should be able to go up to anyone in public and wave your genitals in their face, that that should be legal? Because I don't see a big difference.
I believe that it's right and proper to maintain a certain level of public decency and enforce that by criminal law. And today in 2019 in New York City (where I live), that means being topless or dressing risque in public is OK... but that exposing yourself or having sex in public is not. That seems like a pretty reasonable line.
Yes, that is a reasonable line. The big difference that I see is, if someone is waving his genitals in my face I may fear he may come unto me, rub his penis against me or whatever else.
A dick pic is just that, a picture of a penis. I'm not sure what we're enforcing when we ban other people from exposing themselves to others is 'showing genitals to others' but rather 'behaving very sexually aggressive towards someone else'. And you can't really argue that with an anonymous dick pic.
Of course dick pics are rude, but arguing they are just the same as exposing yourself in public seems ingenuous
Everything about sending a women a dick pic from the other side of a subway ride is threatening. Since she will have to step off the subway and walk to her destination alone, I consider it a serious offense.
Ha, nice one! :)
Sure he would be punished, but who'd call him out for it? I guess it'd rather be the people coming into the subway station after the train has left than the ones in the train.
Most people can tell the difference between actions taking place in the real world and pictures. European law does too, I believe all sexual crimes involving pictures are punished less severely compared to real
world abuse.
Saying there's no difference reads like an anthropological report of a visit to an isolated tribe which is amazed by the people living in the little TV box.
Of course, if someone physically shows their genitals, the situation is about the same.
That does not mean that it's a light situation. In Canada, that is a criminal offence.
Indecent acts
173. (1) Everyone who wilfully does an indecent act in a public place in the presence of one or more persons, or in any place with intent to insult or offend any person,
(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or
(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months.
Reacting strongly to receiving the genitals of a stranger who is statistically likely to be stronger than you and probably able to pin you down without too much trouble is not paranoia.
It's one thing to send empty death threats online. It's another to push your genitals on someone who's within 30 feet of you (AirDrop's range). This is the last thing that I'd want to receive at night while commuting in a dirty bus or while walking back home in the dark alone.
Yes, disabling the feature is a solution. However, I'll bet that most people are not aware that they have it on or don't suspect that it can be a vector of attack.
The problem here is people abusing of the system. Don't blame the victim for it. If anything, blame Apple for not explaining the feature better or for a not allowing to keep the feature to "everyone" and disable image previews.
There is no victim, these are made up horror scenarios.
The likely scenario is trolling by sending pictures, not a rapist mentally torturing their next victim before pouncing on her.
Criminalizing this will stop neither trolls nor rapists. The former because it's almost impossible to tell who did it, the latter because they're rapists.
You would probably get less of that if the military wasn't as much of a boys club as it is today - which is what you would get if everyone had to serve. I'm curious if countries with required service like Israel or South Korea have less dick drawing because their gender ratio is closer to 50/50 than 80/20
Airdrop is pretty much why I'll never get an android, and believe me those android phones are looking pretty sexy these days!
Still, its a serious social handicap. At least the emojis ALMOST translate to the same things on a lot of non-Apple devices now
Nobody:
Android users: BUT ACTUALLY there's this convoluted way to do it for a whole decade that never works, and look at all this control I have over my device
AirDrop is one of a few iOS-only technologies I really wish Android and Windows would adopt. I hate having to upload files from my Android phone to Google Drive, open the Google Drive web app (which isn't a quick loader mind you), find the file, and then download it to my computer. Android Beam (may it rest in peace) was a close alternative, but even then it only worked Android-to-Android, and both devices required NFC.
92 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 123 ms ] threadTechnical writing in print-form is a lost art today.
Phones these days aren't visible by default so it's rarely possibly anymore.
A usual citing on my network list was "Yell Penis for Password".
I've also had people, more deviously change their network name to "Galaxy Note 7" while in the airport or in-flight to stir frenzy after they were banned at airports.
I used to attempt Bluetooth pairing around the office with my phone set to "TURN OFF YOUR DAMN BLUETOOTH". The number of visible devices did decrease after a while!
In the early days of coffee-shop wifi, I used to browse around Network Neighborhood looking for people's shared MP3 folders. If they had stuff I liked, and their share was writable, I'd leave 'em something in return, along with a little thanks.txt :)
I wonder what reaction you'd get making your ESSID a penis 𓂸
https://boingboing.net/2018/10/31/can-you-see-the-penis-char...
It was harmless fun sending funny memes back and forth with strangers who were all trapped in an airline terminal. The hardest part was trying to keep a straight face when you saw some teenagers reaction when you sent them a sloth meme about leaving their airdrop open.
I would find random shares open on people's machines, then fill their entire hard drive with cat pictures. I usually left a few GB so they could save documents or whatever because I wasn't that much of an asshole.
At least that's how I presume Airdrop works.
I'm surprised they mention getting lots of requests can crash or slow down the phone.
I've had friends AirDrop me stuff. I was pretty sure it was contacts only by default. Had to search in settings to find it though, sure enough, contacts only.
I recall this being something that came up as SnapChat being valuable for, letting stuff be ephemeral.
The good part of this is kids being kids, they find ways, but I am curious if anyone else have found different examples of this type of behavior?
The only other equivalent I have seen is the large “group texts” movement for connectivity (with associated Bitmoji/memes etc)
Edit: Replaced WhatsApp with SnapChat, thanks for the correction! (Shows how out of touch I am on this stuff)
I still see the majority of college-aged and younger using it consistently.
That is older adults, 22+.
Their userbase is getting older.
Also, children are not good critical thinkers, and will be dragged along through a series of supposed disruptive media introductions that are mostly just different veneers on exploiting them in familiar ways.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204144
I’ve never had AirDrop work reliably much farther than about 10-15 feet.
(Apparently Bluetooth has some valiant defenders, but I stand by my assertion on security grounds.)
And my car starts music over my Bluetooth when I turn on the radio. I can answer calls hands-free by pushing a button on the dash. I don't have to touch my phone at all for these things to happen, just to keep it in my pocket or bag.
Both of these highly useful functions mean that my Bluetooth is on perpetually. Enabling it only when I wanted to use these features would be a major reduction in functionality for me.
Different people do different things, of course.
At about the peak of its popularity—right before smartphones became truly prevalent among kids my age—I was doing middle school science fairs. This involved lots of standing around waiting in front of your trifold posterboard while judges slowly worked their way along the rows and rows of other projects. We weren't supposed to leave our own stations in the meantime, and they were spaced out enough to make talking with your neighbors inconvenient. Instead, the whole room was on PictoChat, filling up all four channels with streams of chatter and doodles and mutual commiseration on our anxieties over presenting to the judges.
First time I ever got a random AirDrop was a dick pic while I riding the subway in NYC. Somebody just sending dick pics to strangers on the subway.
I hadn't realized Apple had created a whole new avenue for sexual harassment. Great. Apparently at some point in the past I'd changed from the default "contacts only" to "everyone" without realizing what it would open me up to.
Obviously it seems like technologically there ought to be a way to identify the sending phone and pass it to the police to find the perp and charge them with a hefty fine at a minimum... but I'd already deleted it (of course) and didn't have the time.
Still, seems like Apple ought to provide a kind of "report abuse" mechanism that would disable it from your Apple ID, or something.
Also, maybe when an image is from someone not in your contacts... don't show a preview??? Or make it super-super blurry, so you can reject it without being subjected to it?
Apple likely assumes that adults don't need a nanny. Parents can disable AirDrop for children.
How is it any different whether it's in person or in pixels?
Do you honestly think you should be able to go up to anyone in public and wave your genitals in their face, that that should be legal? Because I don't see a big difference.
I believe that it's right and proper to maintain a certain level of public decency and enforce that by criminal law. And today in 2019 in New York City (where I live), that means being topless or dressing risque in public is OK... but that exposing yourself or having sex in public is not. That seems like a pretty reasonable line.
A dick pic is just that, a picture of a penis. I'm not sure what we're enforcing when we ban other people from exposing themselves to others is 'showing genitals to others' but rather 'behaving very sexually aggressive towards someone else'. And you can't really argue that with an anonymous dick pic.
Of course dick pics are rude, but arguing they are just the same as exposing yourself in public seems ingenuous
A knife?
A baseball bat?
... carried by a little leaguer in his team photo?
Where is that line drawn?
</rhetorical>
Those people have no realistic fear that he could get into the train or get in anyones face at that point.
Saying there's no difference reads like an anthropological report of a visit to an isolated tribe which is amazed by the people living in the little TV box.
You start wondering which passenger sent you the picture.
"Is this person looking for a reaction in order to identify me?"
"Will they follow me outside?"
"Should I be worried about being attacked"?
"Is it me? Should I not wear this shirt anymore? Do I look like I'm asking for it?"
"Perhaps I should call the police just in case? What if the police laugh at me?"
"Should I skip my station in case I'm followed and that person wants to find out where I live?"
"Is it that person who sent it? I commute with them daily. Should I be worried? Should I change my commute schedule?"
Overall, not an experience that you want forced upon you.
That does not mean that it's a light situation. In Canada, that is a criminal offence.
Maybe not even use messaging or E-Mail and stay at home just in case.
It's one thing to send empty death threats online. It's another to push your genitals on someone who's within 30 feet of you (AirDrop's range). This is the last thing that I'd want to receive at night while commuting in a dirty bus or while walking back home in the dark alone.
Yes, disabling the feature is a solution. However, I'll bet that most people are not aware that they have it on or don't suspect that it can be a vector of attack.
The problem here is people abusing of the system. Don't blame the victim for it. If anything, blame Apple for not explaining the feature better or for a not allowing to keep the feature to "everyone" and disable image previews.
The likely scenario is trolling by sending pictures, not a rapist mentally torturing their next victim before pouncing on her.
Criminalizing this will stop neither trolls nor rapists. The former because it's almost impossible to tell who did it, the latter because they're rapists.
If you didn't have the time, the police certainly don't either.
For the police it literally is their job. By definition they should have the time. Enforcing the law is certainly what the police have time for.
What do the two have to do with each other at all?
If the recipient is a child that is covered by the law, at least in some European countries, if not all.
Still, its a serious social handicap. At least the emojis ALMOST translate to the same things on a lot of non-Apple devices now
Nobody:
Android users: BUT ACTUALLY there's this convoluted way to do it for a whole decade that never works, and look at all this control I have over my device
Because this was a thing even during the Nokia times.