Linked List: December 7, 2022

Wednesday, 7 December 2022

iOS 16.2 Limits AirDrop’s ‘Everyone’ Option to 10 Minutes ★

Chance Miller, 9to5Mac:

Last month, however, Apple made a change to this setting, starting with iPhone users in China. In iOS 16.1.1 and iOS 16.2 beta 2 in China, the “Everyone” option could only be enabled for 10 minutes. After that 10-minute period lapsed, the AirDrop setting would change back to “Contacts Only.”

Apple drew criticism for this change, as protesters in China had been using AirDrop to spread posters and other content in opposition to Xi Jinping and the Chinese government. The Chinese government is believed to have made the change request to Apple, and Apple complied with that request.

At the time, Apple also said it would expand this restriction for AirDrop globally starting in 2023. The company, however, appears to have expedited this timeline. Starting with iOS 16.2 RC today, the new restriction on the “Everyone” option for AirDrop is now in place globally.

I’ve had AirDrop set to accept drops from everyone for a while, and never encountered any weirdos, but stories like this one regarding nude photos being AirDropped anonymously on a Southwest flight are common. I wonder, though, whether “Everyone all the time” should have remained an option alongside “Everyone for 10 minutes” — it does seem like some people (schools for example) make good use of keep AirDrop open always.

Joanna Stern Interviews Craig Federighi Regarding New iCloud Security Features ★

At least two exclusive tidbits in this interview (News+ link):

The changes represent a new potential setback for law-enforcement officials. Last year, Apple proposed software for the iPhone that would identify child sexual-abuse material on the iPhone. Apple now says it has stopped development of the system, following criticism from privacy and security researchers who worried that the software could be misused by governments or hackers to gain access to sensitive information on the phone.

Mr. Federighi said Apple’s focus related to protecting children has been on areas like communication and giving parents tools to protect children in iMessage. “Child sexual abuse can be headed off before it occurs,” he said. “That’s where we’re putting our energy going forward.”

Through its parental-controls software, Apple can notify parents who opt in if nude photos are sent or received on a child’s device.

So the controversial CSAM fingerprint-hashing project for iCloud Photos has been shelved. A lot of us saw that project as a precursor to offering end-to-end encryption for iCloud Photos. It is very good news that Apple forged ahead with E2E encyption for Photos without it.

The new encryption system, which will be tested by early users starting Wednesday, will roll out as an option in the U.S. by year’s end, and then worldwide including China in 2023, Mr. Federighi said.

In the video — which is also available on YouTube — Federighi is slightly circumspect about China, saying only that Apple expects it to roll out to all customers around the world next year, but quips that he hasn’t personally heard from the Chinese government about it.

Apple Announces Advanced Data Protection for iCloud – E2E Encryption for Backups, Photos, and More ★

Apple Newsroom:

Apple today introduced three advanced security features focused on protecting against threats to user data in the cloud, representing the next step in its ongoing effort to provide users with even stronger ways to protect their data. With iMessage Contact Key Verification, users can verify they are communicating only with whom they intend. With Security Keys for Apple ID, users have the choice to require a physical security key to sign in to their Apple ID account. And with Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, which uses end-to-end encryption to provide Apple’s highest level of cloud data security, users have the choice to further protect important iCloud data, including iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes, and more.

All three announcements are noteworthy and good news, but to me, Advanced Data Protection for iCloud is the big one. Users who opt in will now get end-to-end encryption for backups, Photos, and Notes — everything in iCloud other than email, contacts, and calendars (the open standards for which preclude end-to-end encryption).

Says Apple:

For users who opt in, Advanced Data Protection keeps most iCloud data protected even in the case of a data breach in the cloud.

Unmentioned is that Advanced Data Protection will also preclude Apple from handing over unencrypted backups to law enforcement. Turn on Advanced Data Protection and Apple will no longer hold keys to that data. It’s off by default, primarily, I believe, for customer support reasons. With standard iCloud data protection, customer data is encrypted in transit and in storage on iCloud’s servers, but Apple holds keys that can be used for recovery in case a customer loses access to their account. Those same keys held by Apple can also be used to comply with search warrants.

This has been a long time coming.

MarsEdit 5.0 ★

Daniel Jalkut, writing for the Red Sweater Software blog:

MarsEdit 5 features a beautiful new icon, a “Microposting” feature for streamlined short-form blogging, enhanced plain-text editing with built-in Markdown syntax highlighting, a completely rebuilt rich text editor based on Apple’s latest WebKit2 technologies, and a variety of nuanced improvements to make your blogging workflow smoother, and more enjoyable than ever.

MarsEdit is one of the few apps I consider essential for my work. I’ve posted over 32,000 items to Daring Fireball in the 20 years I’ve been writing it, and I’d wager nearly 30,000 of them have gone through MarsEdit. Yet MarsEdit hasn’t offered Markdown syntax highlighting until now. That sounds weird, perhaps, but one of my primary design goals when creating Markdown way back when was to stick to syntax that looked good and remained utterly readable as good old-fashioned plain text. (Jason Snell and I discussed this at length during my guest appearance on Upgrade last week.)

That said, I’m delighted by MarsEdit 5’s Markdown support, which includes not just syntax coloring but syntax styling — italicized text is rendered in italic, bold text in bold. Worth the wait to see MarsEdit support Markdown so well.

China Abandons Key Parts of Zero-COVID Strategy After Protests ★

Frances Mao, reporting for BBC News:

China is lifting its most severe Covid policies — including forcing people into quarantine camps — just a week after landmark protests against the strict controls.

People with Covid can now isolate at home rather than in state facilities if they have mild or no symptoms. They also no longer need to show tests for most venues, and can travel more freely inside the country.

Seems undeniable that these recent protests worked. So will more protests start happening in China, or were these COVID restrictions a unique situation?