Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar • Hacker News Board

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#181

Post by johnnymonster » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 8:14 PM UTC

godelski wrote: post #154

kemayo wrote: post #86

This is news just because it's an Apple device being used for something that was already trivially possible. GPS trackers designed to be magnet-attached to a car which report their location via cell signal cost ~$20 on Amazon. You then tend to need to pay for either a SIM card or a subscription to the device maker's service -- bringing you up to about the cost of an AirTag. These are much harder to detect, as you mig…

While you're correct, I think there is something to be said about the popularization of the technology. Most people aren't aware of GPS trackers other than movies and think they are much harder to come by. AirTags are also less nefarious by nature. If you get caught with a GPS tracker on your person that's pretty suspicious. If you're caught placing an AirTag on someone's car it's easier to pretend you dropped it and…

Security by obscurity is not security at all. Thinking you were safe because “people didn’t know about it” is not safety at all! Bad people are going to be bad. They don’t need AirTags for that. Knowing it can happen is far better for everyone to know about than living in a false sense of security.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#182

Post by josho » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 8:15 PM UTC

newaccount74 wrote: post #131

It's baffling how Apple on the one hand claims that user privacy is the most important thing to them, but on the other hand they built an anonymous tracking network that can be abused for many nefarious purposes, and everyone who has an iPhone was made a part of the network whether they like it or not. There are so many things that are questionable about Airtags. Another way to abuse it would be for example, you coul…

How is this is any way an anonymous tracker?

The police could get a subpoena for Apple to divulge the iCloud account, credit card, and phone number of the owner of this AirTag. Using air tags to conduct illegal activity is stupid.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#183

Post by mortenjorck » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 8:16 PM UTC

InTheArena wrote: post #172

The interesting thing is that I have seen multiple reports of this ( think this is is the third), but in every case, they have destroyed it, lost it, or thrown it away before hand - not given it to the police. Apple can't tell who the devices is from signals in the wild, but they can figure out who it is if someone gives them the physical device. (Apple tracks the serial number of the device, and from what I understa…

I have a feeling the interaction with the police in a lot of jurisdictions would go something like:

“This person at this address tried to track me without my consent! Here’s the documentation from Apple!”

“Ma’am, has the person at this address murdered you?”

“No.”

“I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do right now. If this person does murder you, please call 911 immediately.”

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#184

Post by kadoban » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 8:17 PM UTC

drekk wrote: post #163

kadoban wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did the bare minimum so that once in a while creepy stalkers will get noticed. Should we give them an award?

Nah, just recognize that the tech already was out there, for a lower cost, in a form factor that won't notify you you're being tailed This isn't a new thing and Apple takes steps that, for example, Tile doesn't to prevent their products from being used for nefarious purposes

I do recongnize that. Does only the first person selling a dangerous product deserve scorn? "X did it first!" is the excuse of a toddler.

They've also made it easier than gps trackers (no sim card needed), probably safer for stalkers (does Apple have a way to report AirTags used for crime and/or find out who owns it?) and it's more effective than Tile.

It also favors their own ecosystem, because only iphone owners get warned. (no I don't consider beeping enough, finding something that beeps intermittently is notoriously difficult).

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#185

Post by seadan83 » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 8:21 PM UTC

323 wrote: post #151

seadan83 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they do. It's more, which should you fear more: your bath tub or someone rampaging in the street with a knife? The statistics say you should be far more afraid of your bath tub, there is a decent chance it will be your cause of death. The 'stranger' in the street is about as likely as lottery odds. So when it comes to children, abuse at home is several (if not many) magnitudes more likely than a stranger tryi…

Depends on the street. If you are in downtown San Francisco for example, all bets are off...

At the risk of being offensive, it does not matter if you are in downtown SF - stop being afraid of the homeless and black people and assuming that they are more likely to harm you than someone you know. That statistics are not with you there.

But let's look at some statistics:

https://danger.mongabay.com/injury_death.htm Bathtub: 341 Assault by sharp object: 1,805

From that, assuming their data is correct, for every one person that falls in a bathtub and then drowns, there are 5 that are killed via assault with sharp object. The latter includes premediated and not, the number of those from a 'rampage' would be a fraction.

So, if you change the side of street you are walking on to avoid walking near someone homeless out of fear they would go on a random stabbing rampage, and if you do not also have traction stickers attached to your bathtub, then you are exhibiting rational irrational fear.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#186

Post by educaysean » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 8:22 PM UTC

godelski wrote: post #169

yawaramin wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're caught placing an AirTag on someone's car it's easier to pretend you dropped it and are looking for it. That doesn't make any sense. If someone catches me placing an AirTag in the undercarriage of a car, it's pretty difficult to pretend that I dropped it there.

Depends how you were caught. On your back reaching up? No. On your knees? Yeah. Consider that this tag was placed in the wheel well, which doesn't require getting on your back and would only take a few seconds. It isn't like someone is there for a significant period of time. Especially since you can then produce said AirTag after inquiry and people will generally believe the claim even if suspicious. All you have to…

Your argument isn't very convincing. AirTags are one of the few location tracker that the public can recognize by sight and identify its use. This makes AirTags much less effective for use by malicious actors than other generic black-plastic case electronics.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#187

Post by unbanned » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 8:22 PM UTC

InTheArena wrote: post #172

The interesting thing is that I have seen multiple reports of this ( think this is is the third), but in every case, they have destroyed it, lost it, or thrown it away before hand - not given it to the police. Apple can't tell who the devices is from signals in the wild, but they can figure out who it is if someone gives them the physical device. (Apple tracks the serial number of the device, and from what I understa…

Probably because it's a made up story.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#188

Post by ghaff » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 8:26 PM UTC

pengaru wrote: post #168

Can someone just put any random AirTag on someone's car and have it trigger alerts on nearby iphones? Does one have to do something to activate it first? Curious if all one needs to do is get one and stick it on a randos car to cause psychological distress without even pairing with a phone or otherwise registering/activating the thing.

I'm pretty sure it needs to be activated to an Apple account.

But seriously, people here way overthink things. If a random sicko wants to cause someone psychological distress there are a million ways that they can unfortunately do so that don't involve elaborate technology.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#189

Post by diebeforei485 » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 8:27 PM UTC

pengaru wrote: post #175

kemayo wrote: post #86

This is news just because it's an Apple device being used for something that was already trivially possible. GPS trackers designed to be magnet-attached to a car which report their location via cell signal cost ~$20 on Amazon. You then tend to need to pay for either a SIM card or a subscription to the device maker's service -- bringing you up to about the cost of an AirTag. These are much harder to detect, as you mig…

> This is news just because it's an Apple device being used for something that was already trivially possible. Or it's news because unlike GPS trackers, AirTags create the ability to be psychologically abusive to victims by attaching them to cars or dropping them in purses at little cost, risk, or effort. Wanna take a guess as to how many assholes out there just want to make a mouthy cunt from the bar lose sleep vs.…

Why exactly is it lower effort than a cellular GPS tracker from Amazon? They're around the same size, and roughly the same cost.

Re: Someone attached an AirTag to my car while I was in a bar

#190

Post by higginsc » Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 8:28 PM UTC

Number of times I've had a true positive alert from Apple's new device tracking notifications: 0 Number of times I've had false positives due to intermittent connectivity issues with my airpods or from my partner using mine: over a dozen. I'm this close to disabling all of these features