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Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

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Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

#141

Post by jjeaff »

tharne wrote: post #106
errcorrectcode wrote: post #71

Anecdotal regional issue: I had an AirTag on my AirPod Pro's case that was stolen. I immediately notified Austin's police (APD) as I could see where it was going. Unfortunately, due to understaffing of 100-200 police officers and detectives, most calls unrelated to imminent threats of injury or death aren't being handle for days or ever. So, it's open-season on packages and property because APD can't or won't do its…

Quoted post unavailable.

Hopefully, this time, we won't overcorrect. We need to clamp down on crime without crushing the underprivileged under the fist of heavy handed policing.

Policies like stop and frisk really do work at reducing crime. But they also increase the abuse of civil liberties. Especially in those who don't have the resources to fight back in court.

And who pays when people do fight back and get huge settlements for trampling on their rights? No, it's not the cops that perpetrated the abuse. It's the tax payers.

Countries like China and Singapore have very low crime rates. But I don't think we should emulate all their practices. In Singapore, you can get lashed with a cane for grafitti. So, they don't have much graffiti.

We need smarter policing, not necessarily more police. Even in my area, I keep hearing about a shortage of police, and yet, I keep seeing police here just sitting in their same little speed trap hiding places waiting to catch someone and write a ticket.

Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

#142

Post by [deleted] »

iso1631 wrote: post #63
rootusrootus wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have to link every Airtag to a real identity Isn't it already linked to your Apple account? Take the AirTag to the cops, they ask Apple who it belongs to.

Not sure why you're being downvoted, valid question. I don't know how they work, but I assume they are linked to an account. Why even involve the cops - if you have an airtag, you should be able to scan it's code and it reveals the account holder's name.

[deleted]

Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

#143

Post by jedberg »

post_break wrote: post #4

Taping them together tightly silences it. Airtags have to be the most nerfed product I've bought. Day one, they were fantastic. Then they lowered the beeping and rogue alerts to a threshold my wife gets them from my keys or wallet all the time. Then they just beep randomly. I regret buying them to be honest. Tile never really got harped on for stalking. The samsung trackers work just as well as Apple and don't have a…

If you have a family Apple account you can avoid having your keys beep at your wife.

Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

#144

Post by JohnTHaller »

post_break wrote: post #4

Taping them together tightly silences it. Airtags have to be the most nerfed product I've bought. Day one, they were fantastic. Then they lowered the beeping and rogue alerts to a threshold my wife gets them from my keys or wallet all the time. Then they just beep randomly. I regret buying them to be honest. Tile never really got harped on for stalking. The samsung trackers work just as well as Apple and don't have a…

Apple has over a hundred million iPhones all across the US and opted them into helping track Airtags without asking for permission (I'm sure it was buried in the middle of pages of terms of service). The only way to opt your iDevice out of tracking is to turn off Find My, so you can't find your phone if you lose it. Nice bit of artificial tying there. Tile and Samsung devices are more for personal use and won't really work outside your own location.

Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

#145

Post by TuringNYC »

ribosometronome wrote: post #111
TuringNYC wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you name some alternatives with a decent network? If the item has its own mobile network, i'm expecting an extra $20/mo for a phone plan (at which point, comparing to a fixed cost of an AirTag isnt valid.) If it doesnt have a mobile network and relies on the mesh, then, is there any mesh available? Apple's mesh is global and pervasive. And if it provides neither mobile support nor mesh, it isnt useful for anythin…

Yeah, looking on Amazon now, the ones referenced that are $29.99 or lower all seem to require an additional subscription. Obviously, AirTags require an Apple device, but still function with phones as old as the 6s, which can be had for under $100. So even assuming you want an AirTag and need to acquire a phone, the AirTags come out considerably cheaper after just a few months.

Well, i'm not counting the phone (pretty much ANY tracker requires a phone/computer to view results) which I assume is a given. I'm specifically speaking about the phone PLAN which is where the real money goes. A phone service plan will cost $20/mo in the US easily, so thats $250/yr forever. At this point, tracking luggage/bicycles isnt cost effective...the tracker starts to become more expensive than the tracked.

The AirTags are awesome because ANY phone creates a mesh for them to broadcast.

UPDATE: per sister comment, see https://www.hologram.io/pricing/flexible-data

Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

#146

Post by nomel »

pinot wrote: post #53
nomel wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the thief has an iPhone, they'll still be alerted that the tracker is following them. If they move their phone around on your bike, they'll be able to find it, within several inches, with the NFC identification feature that gives the last four digits of the owners phone number. Maybe Apple's campaign is working: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/26/apple-doe...

Yeah but at least when I loan my bicycle to my friend it won’t beep constantly.

Absolutely. With all the air tags in my family, I think I'm completely desensitized to the beeping and notifications. I really doubt I would notice if I was being stalked.

Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

#147

Post by myself248 »

post_break wrote: post #4

Taping them together tightly silences it. Airtags have to be the most nerfed product I've bought. Day one, they were fantastic. Then they lowered the beeping and rogue alerts to a threshold my wife gets them from my keys or wallet all the time. Then they just beep randomly. I regret buying them to be honest. Tile never really got harped on for stalking. The samsung trackers work just as well as Apple and don't have a…

Tile didn't work well enough for stalking.

I bought some Tiles and Trackrs and gave them to friends who agreed to help me test their usefulness, pretending that they had "stolen" these items from me. I would see if I could locate them a few days later when I "noticed them missing".

I got one ping from a Tile once when the friend had apparently stopped for gas, but none from their house. And zero at all from the Trackr. Apparently there just aren't enough users in my area for the networks to accomplish much?

By stealing battery from every iphone user and data from their cellular plan, Apple has built a find-me network that actually works. Therefore it also works for stalking. Therefore Apple is getting the criticism.

Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

#148

Post by BiteCode_dev »

rolobio wrote: post #140
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Rather than ban the device, punish the behavior. Apple has made it quite easy for anyone with an Apple device to notice if they are being tracked. Why punish someone tracking their scooter as if they were tracking some "daughter"? GPS tracking of cars is legal in many place. Those devices don't report their existence to the owner. Perhaps we should start there?

That didn't seem to work well for guns in the US.

Besides, this tech is opening a tracking pandora box with social and political consequences that we can't predict.

I'm for banning without a licence on this one.

Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

#149

Post by iqanq »

errcorrectcode wrote: post #71

Anecdotal regional issue: I had an AirTag on my AirPod Pro's case that was stolen. I immediately notified Austin's police (APD) as I could see where it was going. Unfortunately, due to understaffing of 100-200 police officers and detectives, most calls unrelated to imminent threats of injury or death aren't being handle for days or ever. So, it's open-season on packages and property because APD can't or won't do its…

No post body was provided.

Re: Silenced AirTags with disabled speakers are popping up for sale online

#150

Post by jjeaff »

panzagl wrote: post #93
errcorrectcode wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which? Where?

Every city in the US. Between 'are we the baddies' and relatively meh pay most municipalities are short of officers. I'd link an article, but googling 'police shortage' would seem to do the trick.

Is "are we the baddies" really a reason? Because many other industries are having a shortage of workers right now.
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