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

Post by doublepg23 » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 6:07 AM UTC

mgh2 wrote: post #329

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…

Great for business' network effects: you have to have an iPhone 11 or above (U1 chip) to avoid being tracked Behind its "privacy" PR, Apple is secretly nudging people to buy more iPhones again... Past tricks to make people upgrade: 1. Slowing down: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724 2. "Other" storage: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/666721

Post by mgh2 » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 6:36 AM UTC

alphabettsy wrote: post #340

mgh2 wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great for business' network effects: you have to have an iPhone 11 or above (U1 chip) to avoid being tracked Behind its "privacy" PR, Apple is secretly nudging people to buy more iPhones again... Past tricks to make people upgrade: 1. Slowing down: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51413724 2. "Other" storage: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/666721

It’s doesn’t require the U1 chip.

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 6:53 AM UTC

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…

Post by chrismcb » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 7:07 AM UTC

johnnymonster wrote: post #181

godelski wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Post by estaseuropano » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 7:36 AM UTC

educaysean wrote: post #193

raldi wrote: post #24

The worst part of this is, if you don’t have an iPhone, you’ll never know if you’re being tracked. Edit: Yes, I know there’s an app. Do you think more than 1% of victims will have it installed?

If you already knew that there was an app out there, maybe don't use absolutist sounding phrases like "they'll never know" just to come back and make defensive edits about how nobody out there knows about its existence when you yourself obviously knew about it.