Don’t set your AirDrop settings to ‘public’ — here’s why

Police in the capital are investigating a case of cyber flashing after a woman received images of a man’s penis via the Airdrop function of her iPhone. Crighton-Smith, who told the BBC she felt “violated” by the hi-tech equivalent of flashing, reported the offence to the British Transport Police.

Superintendent Gill Murray of the BTP said that the use of AirDrop to send obscene pictures was “new to us”.

Maya Kosoff/ScreenshotIf you own an iPhone, you may have used AirDrop, Apple’s clever file-sharing system that lets you share anything on your phone to a nearby Apple device super quickly.

Crighton-Smith explained how she received the images.

The horrified 34-year-old, who was on the train on her way to work, had no sooner declined the photo before a second appeared – triggering fears the “flasher” may be in the same carriage. “And a picture appeared on the screen of a man’s penis, which I was quite shocked by”, she told BBC.

‘I felt violated, it was a very unpleasant thing to have forced upon my screen, ‘ she added.

“I was also anxious about who else might have been a recipient, it might have been a child, someone more vulnerable than me”. My name on Airdrop just says Lorraine’s iPhone so the person sending it wouldve known they were sending it to a woman. “The images were of a sexual nature and it was distressing”.

Crighton-Smith reported the incident to the British Transport Police, but it’s unclear how law enforcement can hope to keep up with rapidly changing mobile technologies.

“Receiving an indecent image from someone you don’t know must be very distressing and something we would take very seriously”.

‘By linking this to physical evidence, such as CCTV footage or witness statements, we can catch offenders and bring them to justice through the courts.

If AirDrop has been left on and you do happen to receive a photo, you have to accept it before it actually landing on your phone, although you will see a preview. “To block receiving files from complete strangers, iPhone users would be wise to change their AirDrop settings to receive from no one or just those people listed in the Contacts list”.