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

theguardian.com

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

#51

Post by syrrim »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #44
alex_duf wrote: post #38

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?

Apple integrates it into their network of phones, such that they can reliably track someone everywhere they go. I don't think other market players are capable of that.

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

#52

Post by notyourday »

forgingahead wrote: post #20

It's insane to me that technology that is very likely used for stalkerware or other dystopian purposes, like AirTags, Google Homes, Alexas, Ring Cameras, Boston Dynamics Spot and related models, and the like, have been embraced unquestioningly by the vast majority of people because of flimsy weak reasons of "convenience" or whatever. Maybe I've just been in our industry for too long....

Spare me the "embraced unquestioningly by the vast majority of people because of flimsy weak reasons"

There were hundreds of engineers at Apple that worked on AirTags. Not a single one of them stood up and said "No". Not a single one of them went to the press and screamed about it before the launch. Not a single one said that Cook and his high up lackeys and their wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, whoever they have one night stands with, their children should be forced to be carrying publicly accessible airtags just to ensure that they still think they still think it is a great idea when then and their their wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, whoever they have one night stands with, their children are the targets. Oh no, the enlightened technorati prefers $$$ just like Joe who knows exactly nothing about what this can be used for.

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

#53

Post by immibis »

sodkmfkwegw wrote: post #32
conk wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

What a dumb-ass comment. If we had normalized guns and everyone was carrying a gun everywhere, a few beers would likely result in many gunfights lol.

in fact, one famous country did normalize them and does have many gunfights

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

#54

Post by Jtsummers »

syrrim wrote: post #51
diffeomorphism wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Apple integrates it into their network of phones, such that they can reliably track someone everywhere they go. I don't think other market players are capable of that.

Tile has "Tile Network" which is similar: https://www.thetileapp.com/en-us/blog/what-is-tile-network-c...

That blog is from 2020, prior to the release (maybe not the announcement, though) of AirTags. It's also probably nowhere near as widespread as Apple's device network, but it does exist.

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

#56

Post by Operyl »

antihero wrote: post #42
dhosek wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

We can see each others devices, but not each others "Items" which AirTags are categorized under.

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

#57

Post by AlexandrB »

mrpf1ster wrote: post #50
jmkb wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

This is as bad as (or worse than) having to stick _nomap onto your WiFi SSID to stop Google from collecting WiFi location data. A silent, passive "feature" that can violate your privacy unless you take specific, active steps to stop it.

I wonder how many people are aware this even exists. I doubt Apple will be running a flashy marketing campaign for this app any time soon.

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

#58

Post by AlexandrB »

aomix wrote: 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.

I had the same experience when my friend hid one (with my knowledge) in my car. It took me a few days to cotton on that the beeping was the AirTag and not my car making squeaking noises of some sort. And I knew that the AirTag was there. I imagine someone unaware could fail to notice it for months.

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

#59

Post by olliej »

alkonaut wrote: post #12

I’m stalking my whole family - with daily warnings to everyone - because apparently Apple hasn’t realized it can be useful to have keys shared within a family. We do all have iPhones connected to the same family account. This is a glaring omission.

This is the most confounding thing for me as well. There are plenty of times having a single shared tag is what you want. But you either have one person able to find the item and one person getting stalker alerts, or both people getting both.

[edit: expand “both” as necessary to include the entire family :) ]

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

#60

Post by olliej »

cptskippy wrote: post #41
dhosek wrote: 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.

I suspect it hasn’t changed too much. Maybe there were some people on the edge and the ease pushes them over it, but stalker behaviour isn’t a sudden rush.

It seems more likely that someone who is already a stalker adopts something that makes it easier. There was an article a few weeks/months back where a mother was unhappy that her daughter was angry when she found that the mother has planted an AirTag. The mother was point blank saying stuff like “I’m not stalking her I just want to know where she is”. Iirc the daughter was an adult who didn’t live at home.

In other words stalker/possessive behavior isn’t a trivial thing, and like most behaviors of this sort isn’t something that can appear out of nowhere.

That said, I do think it would be nice if apple could provide a mechanism for other manufacturers to integrate stalker protection directly, because the current app based solution is far from ideal.

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