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Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

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Re: Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

#31

Post by lostlogin »

dinkblam wrote: post #21
hollow-moe wrote: post #6

[flagged]

> These devices should be outright illegal why should protecting my belongings from thieves be illegal? > You shouldn't go get back your belongings from a thief anyways. you can also send the police to the thieves if you know where they are seriously, there are like 10 stalkers worldwide but 2 billion thieves. most likely any stalking story was made up by thieves because they hate if people get their stuff back...

> seriously, there are like 10 stalkers worldwide

In the UK 1 in 7 has been stalked. Usually the victims are women or young people. The second link says that in the western world 2-15% of the population have been stalked.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeand...

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10515444/

Re: Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

#32

Post by ops »

1propionyl wrote: post #17
Ajedi32 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You shouldn't go get back your belongings from a thief anyways. And the police shouldn't either? Seems like knowing the location of your stolen property would help with getting it back in most cases.

In practice it does not. If you have had something with FindMy tracking stolen you may know what apartment block it's in, but not what unit. Police won't or can't do anything if it could be in multiple units or would require any kind of warrant for the building as well as the specific unit you think it's in. If you're "lucky" some might chaperone you knocking yourself, which itself is not something most want to enter…

This depends on where you are. In Florida, the police will absolutely go get your stolen property if you give them an AirTag location.

Re: Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

#34

Post by hangonhn »

pompidoo wrote: post #9
wanderer2323 wrote: post #3

You have also developed a device that allows people to use AirTags for stalking.

As it's 4 hours off / 1 hour on, the device is not very suitable for stalking someone. Also once the AirTag is back on and the person starts moving, they will be alerted that the AirTag is tracking them.

That's not true in all scenarios.

I once donated an infant car seat to a coworker but forgot I had put an AirTag on it. After she had taken it home, her iPhone told there was an unknown AirTag and she texted me. I apologized profusely and she wasn't bothered by it. Nonetheless had I been nefarious, I would have been able to get her home address.

Re: Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

#35

Post by fn-mote »

schmichael wrote: post #29
pompidoo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As it's 4 hours off / 1 hour on, the device is not very suitable for stalking someone. Also once the AirTag is back on and the person starts moving, they will be alerted that the AirTag is tracking them.

That’s perfect for finding out where someone lives. Drop it in their bag or jacket at a concert/bar/work/whatever-in-the-evening, and the place they’re likely at in 4 hours is their home. Not trying to be creepy, I’m just trying to demonstrate how we all need to think like adversaries (eg creeps) when designing products.

You can probably find out where they live from knowing their name. This application is not a high level of stalking.

Re: Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

#36

Post by pompidoo »

wepple wrote: post #25

Problems: if the thief steals your item while the AirTag is on, they can find and disable it. Have you experimented with a setup (more complicated to package) where you have two AirTags and alternately power one at a time? Could that bypass apples detection whilst also broadcasting location? Edit: at sufficiently small time durations to run under apples detection radar, but for long enough to be picked up as a locati…

Yes I think having 2 is a good strategy. I'm also considering offering different timings in the future.

Re: Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

#37

Post by lostlogin »

mulmen wrote: post #23

AirTags aren’t meant to get stolen items back. That just isn’t the use case. How does this compare to actual GPS trackers like https://monimoto.com/ ?

That device you link to is more expensive but would never alert the person being stalked, so I suppose that might justify the price.

Re: Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

#39

Post by schmichael »

fn-mote wrote: post #35
schmichael wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s perfect for finding out where someone lives. Drop it in their bag or jacket at a concert/bar/work/whatever-in-the-evening, and the place they’re likely at in 4 hours is their home. Not trying to be creepy, I’m just trying to demonstrate how we all need to think like adversaries (eg creeps) when designing products.

You can probably find out where they live from knowing their name. This application is not a high level of stalking.

The concert/bar example allows stalking without knowing someone’s name.

Re: Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

#40

Post by atoav »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #16
_QrE wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Normal AirTags are just fine for tracking your stuff. > "(thiefs use apps to locate AirTags around, and AirTags will warn the thief if an unknown AirTag is travelling with them, for example if they steal your car)" The reason this was introduced is exactly because people used AirTags to stalk others. Advertising that your product turns that off is basically targeting that specific demographic.

That's true. But the advertised use case (tracking stolen items) is perfectly valid.

[flagged]
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