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Apple Hobbled Protesters' Tool in China Weeks Before Widespread Protests

Monday November 28, 2022. 05:37 AM , from Slashdot
'China's control of the internet has become so strong that dissidents must cling to any crack in the so-called Great Firewall,' writes Qz.

But as anti-government protests sprung up on campuses and cities in China over the weekend, Qz reminds us that 'the country's most widespread show of public dissent in decades will have to manage without a crucial communication tool, because Apple restricted its use in China earlier this month.'

AirDrop, the file-sharing feature on iPhones and other Apple devices, has helped protestors in many authoritarian countries evade censorship. That's because AirDrop relies on direct connections between phones, forming a local network of devices that don't need the internet to communicate. People can opt into receiving AirDrops from anyone else with an iPhone nearby.

That changed on Nov. 9, when Apple released a new version of its mobile operating system, iOS 16.1.1, to customers worldwide. Rather than listing new features, as it often does, the company simply said, 'This update includes bug fixes and security updates and is recommended for all users.' Hidden in the update was a change that only applies to iPhones sold in mainland China: AirDrop can only be set to receive messages from everyone for 10 minutes, before switching off. There's no longer a way to keep the 'everyone' setting on permanently on Chinese iPhones.

The change, first noticed by Chinese readers of 9to5Mac, doesn't apply anywhere else.

Apple didn't respond to questions about the AirDrop change. It plans to make the 'Everyone for 10 Minutes' feature a global standard next year, according to Bloomberg.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/22/11/28/0234217/apple-hobbled-protesters-tool-in-china-weeks-befor...
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