The Beijing bigwigs cracked the code and can now snoop on your Coldplay and U2 collection, private photos, videos, documents, contacts, passwords, and anything else you send or receive via AirDrop. They can even see your phone number and email address.

They used a clever trick called a "rainbow table", which turns encrypted information into plain text. They then matched the text with the AirDrop users who were sharing "undesirable content" - whatever that means.

The Chinese censors claim this is a "technological breakthrough" that helps them catch criminals and stop bad influences. But we all know it is more likely to be used to spy on innocent people and silence dissent.

What is more alarming is that Jobs Mob knew about this security hole for years and did nothing to fix it. The outfit bragged about how secure AirDrop was, using fancy words like "Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption" which was supposed to be a security cure for cancer.

However, in 2021 some German boffins found out that AirDrop could leak your private information to anyone nearby. They told Apple about it, but Jobs’ Mob ignored them.

Apple limited the use of AirDrop on devices in China in November 2022 after anti-government activists used the function to spread political leaflets. AirDrop became restricted by default to Contacts Only, and the option to turn on AirDrop for "Everyone" was limited to 10 minutes.

With the launch of iOS 16.2, Apple expanded the AirDrop limitation it introduced in China to all users globally, but Apple claimed that the feature was introduced to cut down on spam content spread in crowded areas like malls and airports.