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  • apple disables airdrop in china

    From badgolferman@21:1/5 to All on Tue Nov 29 22:40:13 2022
    Earlier this month, Apple restricted the use of AirDrop in China. The file-sharing tool for iOS was used by protesters to communicate freely
    without the risk of censorship, because the tool uses direct
    connections between devices, creating a local network that cannot be
    monitored by government internet regulators.

    Initially, people could choose to receive AirDrops from everyone
    nearby. However, a recent iOS update has made that impossible. The
    update made a change to AirDrop’s usage that only applies in mainland
    China, while the rest of the world can still use it to communicate as
    before.

    Users in China can only receive from everyone nearby for only ten
    minutes, putting restrictions on how it’s used.

    AirDrop has been used by protesters in Hong Kong to communicate with
    other protesters and bystanders, as well as send messages to tourists
    from mainland China. On the mainland, protesters have used AirDrop to
    spread protest literature.

    According to Bloomberg, Apple will roll out the “Everyone for 10
    minutes” feature globally next year. But it is not clear why the
    feature was first suddenly rolled out in China, especially during a
    time of such upheaval and the biggest protests China has seen in over
    30 years.

    Apple has helped Beijing to suppress public dissent multiple times,
    mostly by complying with its requests to remove apps used by protestors
    for information and communication. Apple also helps the Chinese
    Communist Party prevent users from remaining private by banning VPNs in
    the region.

    https://reclaimthenet.org/apple-air-drop-china/

    --
    "We need not worry so much about what man descends from - it's what he
    descends to that shames the human race." ~ Mark Twain

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andy Burnelli@21:1/5 to badgolferman on Wed Nov 30 02:23:45 2022
    badgolferman wrote:

    According to Bloomberg, Apple will roll out the "Everyone for 10
    minutes" feature globally next year. But it is not clear why the
    feature was first suddenly rolled out in China

    Thank you badgolferman for letting us know, as I didn't know this myself.

    It's clear from the article's header lines that "Protesters were using
    Apple's AirDrop feature to directly share uncensored messages" where we
    will need to watch for the (usually exceedingly clever) response from
    Apple's Joseph Goebbels "Ministry of Public Enlightenment" as to why.

    Like you, and like any sensible sentient adult, I have to wonder a whole
    bunch of logical things such as why Apple did this and why in China, and
    why 10 minutes, and whether it can be turned off or time settable, etc.

    The "problem" is obvious, as all bad things well designed are always rolled
    out to "someone else" first (ask Steve about raising taxes on the wealthy)
    and then they end up ensnaring all of us (which was their real goal).

    Remember when Apple rolled out too much bad stuff at once (two pots of
    boiling water to boil we frogs in) where Apple had to immediately rescind
    both only to add them back later (we can look up the details).

    Even Apple, as deviously clever as it is, is capable of learning how to
    roll out bad news slowly such that people think it only affects someone
    else.

    BTW, being a logical person, it seems to me, as it does for you I'm sure, without knowing more than what the article said, the "correct" 'solution'
    would be to give the user the option of setting the time period from
    nothing to something with reasonable detent in between.

    Whether Apple does _that_ will be the proof of the taste of the pudding.

    I can't imagine _why_ at the moment anyone would want to restrict AirDrop
    who also wants to use AirDrop, but if they do want to restrict it, they
    should have the basic options, for example:
    (o) Please keep AirDrop on until I shut it off myself
    (_) Automatically shut AirDrop off in (settable) minutes

    But I have nothing against that setting above, if it's not too complex for Apple coders to figure out how to create the GUI & the settable time slots.

    Even Apple is capable of that level of code complexity - don't you think?
    --
    Posted out of the goodness of my heart to disseminate useful information
    which, in this case, is to intelligently uncover what's going on here.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From sms@21:1/5 to badgolferman on Wed Nov 30 11:52:34 2022
    On 11/29/2022 2:40 PM, badgolferman wrote:

    <snip>

    Apple has helped Beijing to suppress public dissent multiple times,
    mostly by complying with its requests to remove apps used by protestors
    for information and communication. Apple also helps the Chinese
    Communist Party prevent users from remaining private by banning VPNs in
    the region.

    iOS has such a small market share in China that the loss of Airdrop is
    not a big deal.

    There are several Android apps that are the equivalent of Airdrop and
    that can be installed on any Android phone, whether direct from an app
    store or via side-loading.

    There's an article explaining how protesters are getting around the
    issue of censored WeChat <https://whtc.com/2022/11/29/dating-apps-and-telegram-how-china-protesters-are-defying-authorities/>.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andy Burnelli@21:1/5 to nospam on Wed Nov 30 21:08:20 2022
    nospam wrote:

    There are several Android apps that are the equivalent of Airdrop and
    that can be installed on any Android phone, whether direct from an app
    store or via side-loading.

    as always, android tries to catch up.

    also, equivalent is a stretch. you've clearly not used it on either
    platform.


    I've never used AirDrop but people who have iPhones and iPads keep seeing
    it and they ask me over the phone what it means when it's on their screen
    and I tell 'em I don't know.

    Given I'm all about interoperability, and assuming nospam can act like an
    adult when he responds and assuming nospam doesn't give his classic
    child-like "yup,nope,ftfy" type response of negative value, what would be interesting to learn from Steve and nospam is the answer to this question.

    Q: Can iOS AirDrop communicate with what nospam terms Android "equivalents"
    and vice versa, can what nospam calls Android's "catch up" communicate with Apple's AirDrop?

    If yes, then that would be wonderful.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From nospam@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Nov 30 15:37:00 2022
    In article <tm8ca3$2j88v$[email protected]>, sms
    <[email protected]> wrote:


    iOS has such a small market share in China that the loss of Airdrop is
    not a big deal.

    first of all, overall market share does not matter. apple does not
    chase it, for very good reasons.

    second, the people protesting are employed at the iphone factories.
    guess what phones they have? take as much time as you need.

    but even ignoring that, your 'such a small market share', is actually
    *nearly* *half* of premium smartphones (apple doesn't bother with the
    low end):

    <https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3190120/apples-iphone-sales- make-half-chinas-high-end-smartphone-market>
    Apple's iPhones made up half of all smartphones sold for more
    than US$400 in China in the second quarter, solidifying the US tech
    giants's lead as the top premium handset vendor in the country, as
    domestic brands vie to replace Huawei Technologies Co.

    or perhaps by 'such a small market share', you meant 'number one' and record-breaking growth:

    <https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/27/apple-china-iphone-maker-hits-record-ma rket-share-claims-nopoint1-spot.html>
    Apple's smartphone market share in China hit a record high in the
    fourth quarter of 2021, with the iPhone maker reclaiming the number
    one spot in the country for the first time in six years.

    The Cupertino giant had 23% of the market and sales grew 32%
    year-on-year in the December quarter, according to market analysts
    Counterpoint Research.

    There are several Android apps that are the equivalent of Airdrop and
    that can be installed on any Android phone, whether direct from an app
    store or via side-loading.

    as always, android tries to catch up.

    also, equivalent is a stretch. you've clearly not used it on either
    platform.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)