This is something Litchi app has offered since its inception on the phantom 2, ive asked DJI loads of times on the forums for the auto record feature but it never got implemented, yet as you say the Neo and Avata has the function.
You can see the wifi network and join it via the wifi on your laptop, then you can try to telnet into it, this was how powermagic worked for the phantom 3 standard and how us old folks used to investigate issues with the older phantom 2 vision units
Once you login the controller is bound to the quad, if the quad flys away and is found it can only be used with a new controller 5 times before you have to login and change it which requires the original login details
as for being bound, anyone...
Its a security aspect, if the drone is stolen then it stops the thief from using the drone once the login expires, which in itself is a good idea,
And if they get stolen then they can be sold on.