A tracking device made by Apple is showing up in suspected crimes

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/apple-airtag-showing-up-crimes-rcna9416

by MilnerRoute • 5 years ago

31 29 5 years ago

The one change I would like to see made is for tracker detection to be an open and universal standard.

dado3212• 5 years ago

I think they’ve done a pretty admirable job in trying to solve the privacy issues. The same thing that makes the product so effective is the same thing that makes it problematic, and I don’t really see a way to solve it. The TILE has the same issues with none of the best effort solutions, it’s just less of an abuse vector because it’s a worse product. These articles of “this can be misused” feels like really low hanging fruit.

Are there any solutions or ideas that are actually being suggested here?

colechristensen2• 5 years ago

I’m just not so sure the power should exist to be available for abuse, regardless of how you try to “solve” it.

sombremesa2• 5 years ago

By this logic we should surrender our arms and legs as well, and really just die.

withinboredom• 5 years ago

In what way have they made an actual attempt to solve the privacy issues?

If they were actually trying to solve the privacy issues, the precise location would get more and more vague depending how far you are from the tag. If they were actually trying to solve the privacy issues they’d delay/throttle position updates.

These things don’t solve any real problems, short of losing your keys/purse. If it’s attached to a stolen item, the police probably don’t care and confronting the thief is probably a great way to get killed or end up getting yourself arrested until the cops can sort out the he-said-she-said.

upbeat_general• 5 years ago

They made it notify users when they are in the presence of an AirTag as they move around (that isn’t their own AirTag).

These things don’t solve any real problems, short of losing your keys/purse

In other words a very common and frustrating occurrence for many many people.

faeriechangling2• 5 years ago

While I’m not super keen on this myself, if somebody stole something valuable enough to make or break my quality of life I would take a stab at repossessing it. If the police don’t care about the stolen item in the first place why would they care about me stealing it back? The thief thought it would be worth it to take the risk of stealing so why can’t I come to the same conclusion?

People can lose things like their vehicle and consequently their jobs and consequently their families.

NicoJuicy2• 5 years ago

It's not possible while only tracking the airtag.

Here are some ideas, perhaps someone can improve it:

- There's no reason for an airtag to be on the move + the iPhone owner in a separate location. A lost device is almost always are a desk/table/... Problem is the edge case when stolen. I'm not sure yet how to identify different behavior between stolen/stalking.

- "stalking behavior" should be different from "lost device" behavior. Eg. Constantly looking to the app and following the airtag early

Perhaps differentiating between state: stolen/lost.

Where stolen should be redirected to an authority figure and lost is a signal beeping when you're nearby.

But yeah, it's probably too much work.

netizen-9368244• 5 years ago

Too much work for one of the largest tech companies? I have my doubts. They could solve this if they wanted to.

iamleppert2• 5 years ago

I had a crazy ex use an Airtag to stalk me. I went to the Apple store to complain, and was told by the aggressive 20-something Apple employee I “probably deserved it”, that she has people come in every day to make complaints about Airtags and that if I didn’t leave or buy something, she’d call security.

syspec• 5 years ago

"And then everyone clapped"

btgeekboy• 5 years ago

Besides the obvious (e.g. "not to be talked to rudely"), what positive outcomes did you expect to get out of this encounter?

iamleppert2• 5 years ago

I was there to find out if there was a way to find and disable the Airtag without buying an Apple product. It turns out there is no way, you are literally forced to pay Apple money to get someone to stop stalking you. I found out because my ex sent me screenshots of the Airtag location using Apple’s app admitting to using it to track my location.

Apparently, this is not even enough for Apple or the aggressive employees that work there. Incredibly, this seems like a common occurrence and one they have used to exploit and funnel into getting people to buy more Apple products. The whole thing felt like a shakedown, and went from 0 to “I’ll call security” very fast. I maintained my calm and cool, but once she realized I wasn’t there to buy something, the situation quickly escalated.

It’s sinister and surreal, looking up at the floating glass staircase I couldn’t help feel like I was in the fortress of some kind of supervillain, a faceless corporation who has run out of ways to monetize, before I was quickly escorted out by an aggressive security guard.

Apple will gladly help you disable the tags (and sell you some of your own to perpetuate the cycle), but you’ll need the latest iDevice, and a subscription to iCloud with an active credit card on file to do it.

A tracking device made by Apple is showing up in suspected crimes

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