Apple Introduces AirTag

Post by katbyte » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 8:08 PM UTC

thatguy0900 wrote: post #318

paxys wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many of these third party devices can use every iPhone, iPad and more in the world as a beacon?

Tile uses everyone with the tile app installed. It's not the same by sheer numbers, but it's more than enough that if someone slips a tile tracker on you they will know where you're at. Or, if someone wants to spend a bit more money, not even much more, they can buy a full GPS tracker that doesn't need anything to report on it. Apple isn't coming out with some groundbreaking spy tech here, this is very routine stuff…

Post by smiley1437 » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 8:17 PM UTC

p49k wrote: post #69

koolba wrote: post #37

In a week you’ll see wrist bands or underwear with a slot to insert these and paranoid parents will buy them by the thousands. Ditto for jealous spouses (secret tracer in the trunk anyone?).

No they won’t - read the article. Numerous protections against it being used as a “secret tracer”

Post by shuckles » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 8:19 PM UTC

function_seven wrote: post #209

gruez wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how long is the suffix? I can't see it being effective for both anti-stalking (ie. someone placing a tag on you without your consent) and anti-tracking (ie. shops/malls using your tag to follow you around).

I don't know the answer to that, but thinking about it generally: If the suffix was just a single hex digit, it would work to detect a persistent tag. After, say 5 key rotations, if the last digit is still "E", then it's highly likely that the tag that's constantly in range is the same physical thing. Meanwhile, if you're trying to use these things to track visitors to your store, you're only getting 16 bins of peopl…

Post by adrr » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 8:29 PM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #103

ehsankia wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As pointed out above, this is already the status quo (replacable battery, 1 year life, etc). Tile has had it for years. I'm curious if it would've been technically feasible to have wireless charging on these instead of replaceable battery. Or would that greatly increase the price?

To be fair, replaceable batteries in laptops and phones also used to be the status quo and Apple successfully changed that. Just because it’s the status quo wouldn’t prevent Apple from “thinking different”.

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 8:43 PM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #240

crazygringo wrote: post #71

I thought one of the big use cases for this was to track stolen items, like a backpack or maybe even a bicycle. But the "anti-stalking" feature will notify someone if an AirTag they don't own appears to be traveling with them. Does this render it useless for anti-theft, then? Since it will just notify a thief that the bike they just stole is being tracked, and they can look for the AirTag and throw it in the nearest…

This is a good question. I wonder what the period of time is required before it notifies you about potential stalking. If it is more time than would typically take for someone to realize that the item is stolen, then perhaps it’s not such a big deal. But if it’s only 30 minutes or so, a thief could be notified that they’ve stolen a bicycle that’s being tracked before you come out of the grocery store, movie theater,…