• NameDrop is safe

    From JAB@21:1/5 to All on Tue Nov 28 09:44:21 2023
    NameDrop is safe. The fearmongering about it is not.

    Some police departments have said the new iPhone feature is risky.
    Don't worry about it.

    Some police departments and news organizations have been warning
    people about what they say are safety risks of a new iPhone feature
    called NameDrop that you can use to share contact information
    wirelessly.

    The truth: NameDrop is quite safe. The warnings about this technology
    are wildly exaggerated.

    Chester Wisniewski, a digital security specialist at Sophos, called
    the warnings about NameDrop "hysteria" and "nonsense."

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/27/namedrop-iphone-ios17-safety/

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  • From Retrograde@21:1/5 to rdh on Tue Nov 28 16:53:47 2023
    On 2023-11-28, rdh <rdh@tilde.institute> wrote:
    On 11/28/23 09:44, JAB wrote:
    The biggest risk is that there might be some NFC exploit, but your
    iPhone will be using NFC anyway.

    And FWIW, I recall Samsung having a similar feature about a decade ago.
    Don't remember if it was an Android thing or a Samsung thing, but it was neat, the few times I could convince anyone else to try it with me.

    I've got a Samsung. There's one thing called Quick Share and another
    called Nearby Share. I've used both with family members and it works
    pretty well.

    Remember back in like 2008 or so when AirDrop was more 'generous' and
    lads were airdropping dick pics on women they met in the subway. You'd
    just look for a target with a female name (device called Ashley's
    Iphone) and send her something to look at. Everyone freaked out of
    course and Apple had to scramble to fix it.

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  • From rdh@21:1/5 to JAB on Tue Nov 28 10:17:25 2023
    On 11/28/23 09:44, JAB wrote:
    NameDrop is safe. The fearmongering about it is not.

    Some police departments have said the new iPhone feature is risky.
    Don't worry about it.

    Some police departments and news organizations have been warning
    people about what they say are safety risks of a new iPhone feature
    called NameDrop that you can use to share contact information
    wirelessly.

    The truth: NameDrop is quite safe. The warnings about this technology
    are wildly exaggerated.

    Chester Wisniewski, a digital security specialist at Sophos, called
    the warnings about NameDrop "hysteria" and "nonsense."

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/11/27/namedrop-iphone-ios17-safety/

    It's pretty safe. You have to choose to send your info, and I assume
    it's using similar technology to AirDrop, which you could already use to
    share your contact info. The big difference is if you hold your phone
    near another phone/watch, it gives you the option to do so easily.

    The biggest risk is that there might be some NFC exploit, but your
    iPhone will be using NFC anyway.

    And FWIW, I recall Samsung having a similar feature about a decade ago.
    Don't remember if it was an Android thing or a Samsung thing, but it was
    neat, the few times I could convince anyone else to try it with me.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to fungus@amongus.com.invalid on Tue Nov 28 11:26:09 2023
    On Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:53:47 GMT, Retrograde
    <fungus@amongus.com.invalid> wrote:

    Apple had to scramble to fix it.

    Sidenote - Microsoft/Apple/etc have made billions via new features and
    fixing their OSs/Programs from Version 1.0

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  • From JAB@21:1/5 to All on Wed Nov 29 10:17:19 2023
    Local police should not be your go-to source for iPhone safety news

    A warning about the NameDrop feature on iOS 17 is just the latest in a
    long history of misleading Facebook posts from law enforcement.

    Warnings about NameDrop, a feature on Apple's iOS 17 that allows users
    to share contact information, have spread like an annoying chain
    letter across police department Facebook pages over the past few days.
    These warnings were misleading, but social media posts about online
    threats to kids don't have to be true to get views.

    https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/11/29/23980247/iphone-namedrop-ios-17-police

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