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posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday August 18 2015, @03:10PM   Printer-friendly
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?


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18 2015, @07:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18 2015, @07:20PM (#224556)

    I kinda see your argument, but this is quickly dissolving into splitting hairs. If I leave my front door ajar it doesn't mean you should piss in my living room. I suppose the thing that needs to be worked out is the acceptable social etiquette around such things. 17 years ago someone left their AOL account signed on at a school computer I was using. Likewise there was no etiquette at the time for such incidents, but switching him from unlimited plan to hourly billing would have be a total dick move.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18 2015, @11:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18 2015, @11:07PM (#224652)

    The only hairs being split are being split by you, to support your argument. The device was left wide open: just like a mailbox, if she didn't want stuff put it in, don't leave it open.

    Here's where you say "But if I open my mouth..." no, that's irrelevant. We're not talking about mouths, pockets, or front doors. What would be closer to the position would be someone jumping around shouting "Hey, I'm here for you to talk to and give me absolutely any photos!" and then complaining when someone hands over photos you don't want.

    It's not a front door.

    It's not a pocket.

    It's not a mouth.

    It is a device that has been left open for the delivery of images and automatically accepts them. She understood the behaviour when she turned it on, she understood that it was on and didn't turn it off.

    Quit splitting hairs.

    She knew precisely what she was doing. Her failure to turn it off is her responsibility.

    Now, if you want to argue that the sharing of lewd images without permission is unacceptable, I concur, but the person who is the subject of the privacy issue - the man with that particular penis - almost certainly gave his permission for those images to be transmitted, and she accepted them by having her phone turned on.

    Don't want stuff put on your phone? Don't have your phone available for access. Just ask anybody who stores cookies on your computer, spams your email inbox, turns in your driveway, sends out advertising material, or has headlights that shine in your open window while driving by.