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‘I was just scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints

theguardian.com

41–50 of 75 posts

Re: ‘I was just scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints

#41
post #17

How many people were being stalked before AirTags with no way of realizing that it was happening?

Are you suggested that the number of people being stalked has remained constant but the now a subset of those people now know they're being stalked?

I would expect the number of people being stalked to starkly rise. I'd be more curious about the number of people being stalked with AirTags who don't realized it.

Re: ‘I was just scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints

#42
post #22
post #11

I found the beep on lost (in this case, "lost" but not in a malicious way) tags to be pretty quiet or just not distinctive. While taking care of a friends cat with an airtag in the collar I kept thinking I was hearing a car down the block or maybe my PC was making a strange sound. Even knowing about the behavior and expecting to hear a beep I didn't pick up on it for several days.

We have an AirTag in our dog's collar which is registered to my wife's AppleID¹ The first walk I took with the dog after she put it on the dog, I got a notification about an unidentified AirTag (which included her email address and I think phone number) following me. ⸻⸻⸻ 1. My single big complaint about AirTags is that they can't be shared between Apple IDs. Presumably that will be changed in a future software upgrad…

> can't be shared between Apple IDs.

Even with Apple family? In Find My app, my partner and I can see all of each others' devices.

Re: ‘I was just scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints

#43
I wonder how much of this problem is of Apple’s own making. As far as I know AirTag competitors, find my phone, etc never included these “anti-stalking” features. Hell, if you have an Android Google has probably tricked you into letting them stalk you by the hour for years. Yet Apple makes it really easy to tell if there’s an AirTag close by and now anyone with that notification thinks they’re the hapless victim in a Liam Neeson film.

Re: ‘I was just scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints

#44

> “If you really are nefarious and evil and you really want to find someone, there are things that are much better than an AirTag” (...) While it's true that there are better ways to stalk people, I think an AirTag brings something to the table that wasn't there before: the normalization of having stalking hardware at hand. Buying a "stalker kit" requires me to think long and hard about stalking someone. I need to ma…

Also it makes the justification of buying such a product much easier. "I need to track my backpack" is better accepted than "I need a GPS tracker to follow my ex partner". I do believe Apple opened a can of worms they shouldn't have, and that it's going to cause great distress to many people.

Apple opened? Weren't these trackers popular long before that, e.g. tile?

Re: ‘I was just scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints

#45
In thinking aloud about this issue, I'm uncertain whether there's a solution other than to make AirTags costly or single-use:

A. I lose my AirTag-equipped item in/on your bag/car/person.

B. I “lose” my AirTag-equipped item in/on your bag/car/person.

These are indistinguishable from one another without outside intervention. By making them expensive, Apple could raise the barrier to entry but would not stop someone from pursuing a “high value” stalking subject.

Conversely, by making them single-use (e.g., I can only activate “lost mode” once and when I do, both Apple and the person who finds it are given my information to facilitate a return), it might deter would-be stalkers.

Re: ‘I was just scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints

#46
post #11

I found the beep on lost (in this case, "lost" but not in a malicious way) tags to be pretty quiet or just not distinctive. While taking care of a friends cat with an airtag in the collar I kept thinking I was hearing a car down the block or maybe my PC was making a strange sound. Even knowing about the behavior and expecting to hear a beep I didn't pick up on it for several days.

How many people will hear the beep and just ignore it? It just occurred to me that I've replaced smoke detector batteries for people who didn't know what the beeping was and had just accepted it into their lives. How many people will do the same for AirTags?

I'm the kind of neurotic person who found a loose cable harness on the underside of my fridge because the hum it made changed one day, but that's not everyone. How many people will just accept and AirTag alert as something new they have no control over?

Re: ‘I was just scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also it makes the justification of buying such a product much easier. "I need to track my backpack" is better accepted than "I need a GPS tracker to follow my ex partner". I do believe Apple opened a can of worms they shouldn't have, and that it's going to cause great distress to many people.

Apple opened? Weren't these trackers popular long before that, e.g. tile?

No post body was provided.

Re: ‘I was just scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints

#48

A month ago, almost everyone in my family received "unknown accessory detected with you" alert on our iPhones. It was scary, and we spent hours looking for an Airtag in every crevice of the car, and checking every bag we had. Couldn't find anything. After extensive googling, we found numerous reports online about AirPods Pro most likely having a bug alerting their owners about "unknown accessory". If it's true, and f…

It sounds like carrying Apple hardware may be the only decent way to detect an unwelcome Airtag.

Are there any Android apps that monitor bluetooth traffic for possible stowaways?

Re: ‘I was just scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints

#50
post #48

A month ago, almost everyone in my family received "unknown accessory detected with you" alert on our iPhones. It was scary, and we spent hours looking for an Airtag in every crevice of the car, and checking every bag we had. Couldn't find anything. After extensive googling, we found numerous reports online about AirPods Pro most likely having a bug alerting their owners about "unknown accessory". If it's true, and f…

It sounds like carrying Apple hardware may be the only decent way to detect an unwelcome Airtag. Are there any Android apps that monitor bluetooth traffic for possible stowaways?

From the article:

> Near the end of 2021, the company released a new Android app called Tracker Detect, which was designed to help people who own Androids discover suspicious AirTags near them

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