Sharing Dickpic made it harder for the online pencil peddler

• Carmen Dorlo

  online editor

Your phone vibrates in your pocket. “Jochem wants to share a photo” is on the screen. Jochem? You don’t know Jochem. Your curiosity wins and you click accept. Suddenly Jochem’s genitals appear on the screen.

Sexual harassment via AirDrop, such as sending pictures of dicks to strangers, is a common problem abroad and also happens in the Netherlands. Apple is now offering users the ability in a new software update to adjust the settings of the feature to prevent spam or even sexual harassment.

AirDrop is a feature on Apple devices that uses Bluetooth to find devices within 30 feet. Pictures or files can be sent to all found devices, including devices belonging to people who are not in someone’s contact list.

The recipient can then choose to accept the request. A sender with bad intentions often doesn’t know who they are sending images to. It can also happen that a (nude) photo ends up with a child with a smartphone. In the new iOS 16.2 update, there will be a 10 minute limit for users to AirDrop files with “everyone”. After that, the setting is automatically changed to “contacts only”.

The question is whether the fix will solve the intimidation problem.

18-year-old Romy lived it. She was playing on her phone at the Zwolle train station when she accepted an AirDrop file from an unknown person. “Before I knew it, I was watching a video of a sexually active kid with a chicken. It was very sad to see.”

Abroad there is a lot of attention for this and laws are even being passed to prevent this so-called cyberflash counter, but this is not the case in the Netherlands. Interest groups say they know about the problem, but no official reports are coming. Maybe because people don’t know which hotline to contact or don’t perceive the harassment as serious.

There may also be uncertainty about what should be done with the report. That’s how it came recent criticisms of the NS why a traveler on the train was not helped after reporting AirDrop harassment.

Organizations such as Fier and Rutgers Competence Centers and Victim Support indicate they are available to help with these experiences.

More is known in the UK. Plan International did there last year Research to harassment and spoke to 1,515 girls and young women between the ages of 12 and 21. 15 percent of them reported having been a victim of cyberflash. Only 16 percent reported it to the police, and 30 percent of that group were told there was nothing the police could do because it’s not a crime.

As far as is known, no research has been done in the Netherlands, but Plan International wants to do it. The reports have not yet come from the Dutch police.

Romy also never found out who sent the video. She found it annoying. “Not only was I ashamed of the people around me who also watched the video, but I also quickly looked around to see who sent me this. If anyone would watch me. You’ll think about it.”

She didn’t report it. “Eventually I was able to let go, but I think there are a lot of people who can’t.”

Still, it’s important to talk about it, says sexologist Yuri Ohlrichs of the Rutgers Expertise Center. The negative effects of this unwanted behavior can be as great as the effects of physical sexual harassment: from stress disorders to trauma. “And the author’s anonymity also plays a role here. He comes unexpectedly and you’re shocked. He’s actually an online pencil peddler.”

Harassing someone is of all time, Ohlrichs continues. “Before you had the flinch, now people are being harassed via AirDrop. Intimidation fits the possibilities. If new media is invented in the future, that too will develop further.”

Therefore, as a victim, know that it is not your fault, says the sexologist. “You don’t provoke it. Why people do is a varied story. From teasing to frustration or getting a certain kick, but it has nothing to do with you.”