Panic? I think the feature could be a privacy issue and it is good that parents are being informed about this so they can do their job and parent. This is an ideal moment to discuss privacy, privacy protection and security again with the kids.
I would venture a guess, but people on Lemmy are probably not the target audience for these kind of reminders as I read about Firefox users with unlock, raspberries or dockers with pihole etc.
Add some unhealthy US fetish with predators hunting your kids and you get “panic”.
It also requires accessing your contacts database, which is encrypted on iPhones…
Because it’s encrypted, it’s impossible to share contact details unless someone enters the device passcode (or else does a biometric unlock - which effectively stores your passcode temporarily in a secure location that is wiped whenever the device is powered off or left unused for several hours).
Panic? I think the feature could be a privacy issue and it is good that parents are being informed about this so they can do their job and parent. This is an ideal moment to discuss privacy, privacy protection and security again with the kids.
I would venture a guess, but people on Lemmy are probably not the target audience for these kind of reminders as I read about Firefox users with unlock, raspberries or dockers with pihole etc.
Add some unhealthy US fetish with predators hunting your kids and you get “panic”.
It absolutely cannot be a privacy issue.
It takes the same amount of work as manually sharing your number. It cannot happen without deliberate action.
You sure, the article reads as if it would either need to be cancelled or the devices separated.
I don’t use apple, but I would expect this to require user confirmation to share… but it reads as if it does not, hence the warning.
The feature does require confirmation.
It also requires accessing your contacts database, which is encrypted on iPhones…
Because it’s encrypted, it’s impossible to share contact details unless someone enters the device passcode (or else does a biometric unlock - which effectively stores your passcode temporarily in a secure location that is wiped whenever the device is powered off or left unused for several hours).
It only happens with airdrop from strangers enabled, which you cannot leave on permanently, and your devices have to effectively be touching.
There is genuinely not any meaningful risk involved.