Despite leading iPhone maker Apple making plenty of changes to its highly popular AirDrop feature, it appears that Chinese officials are still not happy or satisfied with the endeavor.
Apple has reportedly worked hard and even given into the mighty pressure of making this feature a much more difficult modality so it cannot be utilized by protestors. Still, whatever it does isn’t good enough, it appears.
China’s Cyberspace Administration ended up putting out new drafts to crack down on the use of Apple’s feature and other features that could be passed on through Bluetooth technology. So what we are seeing now is a possibility that Apple would be forced to make people use real names for their identities across their smartphone devices.
But why is China’s government actually so scared of Apple’s much sought-after feature? Well, for starters, in case you were not already aware, the country’s government regulates all things taking place online in the nation.
This means data gets scanned across various Cloud Services and even puts a ban on E2E encryption for texting platforms such as Telegram and even WhatsApp. But iPhone maker Apple has shockingly avoided having the same situation for other apps like its FaceTime or its iMessage.
In the same way, we’re hearing news about international platforms also receiving a ban in the Chinese nation. This entails Twitter, Reddit, and even Instagram among so many others. And if that was not daunting enough, there’s news about VPN platforms getting a ban as well.
AirDrop functions in a manner where it’s very short-ranged which means you’ve got a certain radius around which you are required to function. But most importantly, it similarly means you cannot regulate what is being shared through such a platform too.
This is how and why China got worried that just like Hong Kong’s protestors using this technology to cover and pass on details from the protests forward to others in the country, Chinese citizens would be able to do that too.
The current political situation involves protestors showing opposition against Xi Jinping and government officials in China and that’s not something the country would like to be aired for obvious and controversial reasons.
So what did the Cupertino giant do to make China’s Government happy and to try and ward off their claims of a huge threat related to the AirDrop? Well, the company laid down a new time-out setting comprising ten minutes. So after that period of time elapsed, everyone could re-activate it through manual means, every ten minutes.
But the change seemed to be restricted solely to devices that were bought in the nation’s mainland region. Interestingly, when other countries and citizens heard about this change, they wanted it. So the tech giant was forced to make the amendment on a global basis.
Now, the latest on this front has to do with China making plans to introduce new laws that are going to make it even harder to use the AirDrop feature. And we could soon see that being rolled out.
Read next: OpenAI CEO Says AI Will Take Human Quality of Life to the Next Level
Apple has reportedly worked hard and even given into the mighty pressure of making this feature a much more difficult modality so it cannot be utilized by protestors. Still, whatever it does isn’t good enough, it appears.
China’s Cyberspace Administration ended up putting out new drafts to crack down on the use of Apple’s feature and other features that could be passed on through Bluetooth technology. So what we are seeing now is a possibility that Apple would be forced to make people use real names for their identities across their smartphone devices.
But why is China’s government actually so scared of Apple’s much sought-after feature? Well, for starters, in case you were not already aware, the country’s government regulates all things taking place online in the nation.
This means data gets scanned across various Cloud Services and even puts a ban on E2E encryption for texting platforms such as Telegram and even WhatsApp. But iPhone maker Apple has shockingly avoided having the same situation for other apps like its FaceTime or its iMessage.
In the same way, we’re hearing news about international platforms also receiving a ban in the Chinese nation. This entails Twitter, Reddit, and even Instagram among so many others. And if that was not daunting enough, there’s news about VPN platforms getting a ban as well.
AirDrop functions in a manner where it’s very short-ranged which means you’ve got a certain radius around which you are required to function. But most importantly, it similarly means you cannot regulate what is being shared through such a platform too.
This is how and why China got worried that just like Hong Kong’s protestors using this technology to cover and pass on details from the protests forward to others in the country, Chinese citizens would be able to do that too.
The current political situation involves protestors showing opposition against Xi Jinping and government officials in China and that’s not something the country would like to be aired for obvious and controversial reasons.
So what did the Cupertino giant do to make China’s Government happy and to try and ward off their claims of a huge threat related to the AirDrop? Well, the company laid down a new time-out setting comprising ten minutes. So after that period of time elapsed, everyone could re-activate it through manual means, every ten minutes.
But the change seemed to be restricted solely to devices that were bought in the nation’s mainland region. Interestingly, when other countries and citizens heard about this change, they wanted it. So the tech giant was forced to make the amendment on a global basis.
Now, the latest on this front has to do with China making plans to introduce new laws that are going to make it even harder to use the AirDrop feature. And we could soon see that being rolled out.
Read next: OpenAI CEO Says AI Will Take Human Quality of Life to the Next Level
