Cyberflashing, sharing unsolicited sexual image via social media, could soon be a crime in the U.K. That specifically includes using Apple’s AirDrop to send a nearby stranger a picture of your junk.
Just… don’t do it. For a lot of reasons. Including the fact that you don’t want to spend up to two years in prison.
AirDrop someone a 🍆, get 2 years in prison for cyberflashing
A statement from the UK government (first covered by The Apple Post) describes cyberflashing as “sending an unsolicited sexual image to people via social media or dating apps, but can also be over data sharing services such as Bluetooth and AirDrop.”
Unfortunately, this is all too common. Research shows that 76% of girls aged 12 through 18 had been sent unsolicited nude images of boys or men.
But it will soon become a new criminal offence with perpetrators facing up to two years behind bars. It is being included in the U.K. government’s Online Safety Bill, along with reforms intended to keep people safe on the internet.
“Making cyberflashing a specific crime is the latest step — sending a clear message to perpetrators that they will face jail time,” said Dominic Raab, the U.K. Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.
How to turn off AirDrop
AirDrop is a convenient way to wirelessly send images or other files to nearby friends without texting or emailing them. But if it’s left wide open AirDrop allows pervs to abuse it by cyberflashing.
Fortunately, turning AirDrop off is easy. And people who don’t want to deactivate it because they use it regularly can set their iPhone and Mac so only people they know can send them images this way. Read Cult of Mac’s simple guide on how to quickly activate or deactivate AirDrop.
Source: Gov.UK
