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An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

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Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#451

Post by koyote »

simondotau wrote: post #338
oxplot wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$50-ish — but that's not the point. I value my belongings because I spend great deal of time researching and finding products that I love using day in day out (unlike most people who constantly curse at stuff they have). I also modify things I buy to fine tune it to my needs. So even a $50 umbrella is more like $1000 in terms of time I've spent on it and I have no intention of doing it again. This particular umbrella…

The notion of an umbrella lasting 20 years boggles my mind. I've never had one last more than 2–3 years and I don't use them much. I've looked for premium umbrellas before but every time I find one that isn't ridiculously priced, there's always a contingent of reviewers who insist that it fell apart in heavy wind or frequent use. Normally I buy $10 umbrellas from Australia's big hardware store chain. They aren't grea…

My last Fulton umbrella lasted me nearly a decade of London drizzle and Sydney torrential rain until I left it on a plane a couple of months ago.

Sports direct (of all places) ships them to Australia and they are around half of your budget (https://au.sportsdirect.com/fulton).

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#452

Post by 0xdeadb00f »

cush wrote: post #380

I’m curious why they don’t add a way to report and kill the AirTag’s signal if you’re being followed by one

Because then it becomes useless for it's intended use.

Say someone put a tag inside their backpack, their backpack gets stolen. The person stealing it can then just open their App, see there's an airtag in the bag, report it and kill its signal.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#454

Post by mehdix »

oxplot wrote: post #330
anormaluser wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How expensive is your umbrella? Just curious.

$50-ish — but that's not the point. I value my belongings because I spend great deal of time researching and finding products that I love using day in day out (unlike most people who constantly curse at stuff they have). I also modify things I buy to fine tune it to my needs. So even a $50 umbrella is more like $1000 in terms of time I've spent on it and I have no intention of doing it again. This particular umbrella…

I have a bike, with a lock more expensive than the bike itself. Since I value the time that would be necessary to replace the stolen item, not to mention the disturbance caused upon loss.

Totally agree with your point.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#455

Post by nosianu »

gambiting wrote: post #423
swiftcoder wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean, increase from 0.00001% to 0.0001% is still significant and yet I still wouldn't worry about it in the slightest. I think there's probably a little gender bias at play in your risk estimation. I too am not particularly worried about someone stalking my 6ft ass - but I'd say a majority of my female friends have experiences with stalking at some point in their life.

Yes, you are right of course. But I suspect even when taking gender into account, the risk of being stalked AND tracked by an AirTag is absolutely miniscule and not worth worrying about. But I'm talking completely out of my ass, would love to see some data behind it.

The people getting stalked have a 100% risk. You don't care because for you it's all just statistics.

With statistical arguments, why do we spend so many resources on prevention of anything, e.g. cancer, when it only impacts a small number of people?

This kind of argument always comes down to choice. You care or you don't. Hard to argue. If you don't care about the fate of those "few", mostly women, well... there is no law of physics that I could throw at you, my negative judgement of your argument is not based on anything hard. Which is the case for a huge amount of such choices. You can have a society based on and steered by pure statistics and benefits, but what you will miss is that the very nature of such a society changes because you cannot put that into numbers.

The core of the argument is qualitative, which does not lend itself well to number-based reasoning.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#456

Post by rekoil »

bombcar wrote: post #327
matteotom wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your car has a smart key, it can be over $100 to replace and another $100 to have a dealer or locksmith re-program it. Edit, more things that are expensive: - if you live in an apartment with nfc entry, they might charge an arm and a leg to replace it, even if the actual device is only a few dollars - IDK how much it costs to replace an apartment mailbox key, but I've been warned that if you lose one they need to…

And the AirTag is another $30!

Don't forget the $349 Hermès AirTag holder

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMN73AM/A/airtag-herm%C3%...

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#457

Post by reaperducer »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #355
reaperducer wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do hardware stores charge more than a few dollars per key in your area? A replacement key for my wife's car costs $1,200. And it's not even a newer, or expensive car. It's been a long time since you could get many car keys done at a hardware store. And it's not even the electronics anymore. One locksmith I called said it's about the fancy engraving. They can't afford the tools to do that kind of work, and they just r…

Curious which manufacturer... Porsche or Audi?

Neither. As I said, it's not an expensive car. It's actually quite ordinary.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#458

Post by jfk13 »

girvo wrote: post #437
simondotau wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Approximately twice what I was hoping to pay, but damn those are some wild guarantees.

Yeah same. Seems worth it though. I’ve spent more than $200 over the last 5-10 years on umbrellas easily.

You should get Sam Vimes to tell you about his boots.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#459

Post by multjoy »

dylan604 wrote: post #225
phil21 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So for stolen items, it is also useless. It's not. I've recovered my phone after it was stolen by simply showing up to the house it wandered off to the next morning. I've done this a number of times for friends (perhaps not really the brightest idea in retrospect) and you'd be surprised at how many folks simply apologize and hand it over when confronted. If they refuse, at least you tried. Plenty of folks will take…

I wonder what the %s are of people that lose a device and do not immediately lock it? Is there a large enough market for buying stolen phones that are locked to make them useable again? Do these people expect to extort a finder's fee? I just don't think "criminal" enough to understand the value of a stolen phone. > Plenty of folks will take matters into their own hands for a $1,000 device I was once mugged at gun poi…

Yes.

I work on a busy robbery squad in London and iPhones are absolutely the target, whether they're locked or unlocked.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#460

Post by adeelk93 »

johnwalkr wrote: post #362
jtc331 wrote: post #312

Notably they hint at one of the problems but don’t discuss fixing it at all: it’s bizarre that AirTags can’t be shared with a family account. It’s irritating that if I grab my wife’s copy of the car key I get alerts about being tracked, and, conversely, it’s frustrating that she can’t locate my copy of the key when that’s the one that’s closest.

Probably deliberate since unconsented spouse tracking is probably the most common type of tracking. Maybe an icon and periodic notifications, similar to how the location service works could be a way to allow.

Then it could be tied to the option on sharing location with a family member
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