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from the look-for-people-in-trench-coats dept.
The BBC reports on a woman who was sent pictures of a penis via Apple AirDrop.
The victim received two pictures of an unknown man's penis on her phone via Apple's Airdrop sharing function.
Lorraine Crighton-Smith, 34, said she felt "violated" and reported it to the British Transport Police (BTP).
Supt Gill Murray said this particular crime was new to her force and urged people to report any other incidents.
Ms Crighton-Smith, who was travelling on a train in south London, told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme: "I had Airdrop switched on because I had been using it previously to send photos to another iPhone user - and a picture appeared on the screen of a man's penis, which I was quite shocked by.
The article later describes how to make sure that AirDrop is set to only allow pictured from known contacts.
Is this a major privacy issue or is it simply a case of a misconfigured device?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by e_armadillo on Tuesday August 18 2015, @04:22PM
You can set airdrop to accept only from your contacts. It has been a while since I have used it, but if I recall correctly, you don't have to accept something dropped to you. Kinda like not clicking that link in that suspicious email . . .
"How are we gonna get out of here?" ... "We'll dig our way out!" ... "No, no, dig UP stupid!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2015, @08:57AM
You'd be surprised how many people leave airdrop wide open because it's convenient. While you don't have to accept anything, it will show you a large thumbnail regardless - so in this case the damage is already done.
If I'm bored I sometimes I amuse myself by sending a picture of Nicholas Cage to anybody nearby with airdrop open. Trains, airport terminals, conferences...any situation where there's a dense group of people waiting for something and you'll find several open devices.
Not really a useful hobby but I like to think I've made their day a bit more interesting.