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I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

nytimes.com

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Re: I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

#131

Post by adambyrtek »

dylan604 wrote: post #82
kbos87 wrote: post #32

My comment isn’t specific to AirTags, but there’s a much larger conversation that needs to be had about this gray area of stalking capabilities that are now built into many mainstream products. Here’s a pattern I’ve seen play out more than once among friends and family - they share their location willingly and for seemingly benign reasons. It’s helpful to know when you’ll be getting home so I can start dinner! Just i…

Essentially, this is why we can't have nice things. Human nature will always have someone take something to the dark places. Does that mean the rest of us can't use the things in non-creepy ways just because some will? After all, if you don't build it, someone else will, so why not you? These are all valid questions. Some people choose to do violence with weapons, so nobody should have weapons? These questions are al…

I'm not sure this is a good metaphor since weapons are designed for violence, regardless of whether that violence is legally justified or not. Just to be clear, I'm not trying to make a political stand, this is simply the dictionary definition: "weapon /ˈwɛp(ə)n/ a thing designed or used for inflicting bodily harm or physical damage".

Re: I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

#132

Post by nostromo »

ameminator wrote: post #3

Look, I usually try to be charitable. However, this article offered no new insight on Apple Airtags. If you don't want to waste your time, allow me to summarize: Woman puts Airtags in a car. Her husband isn't able to find them, even using Apple's "anti-stalk" features. Ergo, Apple needs to do more. I ask - what new insight did this article offer on Airtags? I don't think anyone can conclude either way on the effectiv…

Yes, this isn’t good journalism.

“I drove over my husband with an F150 for journalism. Ford clearly needs to do more.”

Re: I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

#133

Post by hedgehog »

crhulls wrote: post #107
latchkey wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stalking hasn't been much of an issue for us How would you know?

We get I think something on the order of 10,000 customer service tickets a week, and we regularly get subpoenas. We've heard almost every story you can think of. Although we are getting inquiries with this recent press, in terms of actual reports of stalking via our devices it is essentially zero. AirTags has a much broader network than us as of now. Part of why we bought Tile is because we can expand their network.…

I think your best bet is to fund a study group to do an independent public report on the risks around these products and recommendations for mitigating them. Put domestic abuse survivors, parents, infosec people, lawyers, etc on there. Stakeholders and people good at reasoning about risk. You might not like all of the conclusions but to the extent you adopt them it will give you the most credit for having done the right things.

Re: I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

#134

Post by nostromo »

rootusrootus wrote: post #127
crhulls wrote: post #88

Hi All, I'm the cofounder and CEO of Life360, which is the relatively new owner of Tile. Stalking hasn't been much of an issue for us, but we are in the process expanding the finding network via our 35 million+ active user base (will require opt-in consent) and we also do offer a location device for kids and pets (Jiobit) that has its own cell connection which is actually meant for finding people in real-time. We hav…

I am a mostly happy user of Life360, not currently paying (but I have in the past). I would be more likely to pay real money for the service if it came with a contractual guarantee that by paying for it, my data would never get sold. Not even in aggregate, 'anonymized'. I like the service, I'm willing to be a customer, but I hate the privacy leak.

Consider just using AirTags then if you can. It’s built such that Apple can’t even read the location data, and it’s a onetime cost. The value prop is much nicer for someone that cares about privacy.

Re: I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

#135

Post by alistairSH »

And, if I'm reading the documentation correctly, for the only use case I personally care about (theft recovery for expensive bicycles), it's useless because the thief can utilize the anti-stalk features to locate/disable the tag?

Re: I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

#136

Post by kelnos »

Osiris wrote: post #77

My wife and I have Google maps location sharing turned on all the time. It's not stepping because we agreed to it. Last night I got home from a motorcycle ride and the garage door opened as I pulled up because my wife knew I was coming home from a movie and saw I was almost home.

I have friends who do this too, but it always just feels icky to me. Yes, I know that my mobile carrier knows more or less where I am at all times, and Google knows with even greater precision. But I don't want people I know, even my partner, to have that kind of access (and I don't want to be able to track my partner, either).

Another poster mentioned their wife went to a doctor's appointment, but it was in the same building as a divorce lawyer. Having forgotten about the appointment, they panicked. That sort of thing tells me that this sort of thing isn't harmless, even if there's nothing nefarious going on. There are enough reasons in life for miscommunications and misunderstandings to pop up; adding extra ways for that to happen by accident is not something I'm interested in.

I think targeted, time-limited, explicit sharing can be useful. I used to use Glympse sometimes, when I was on my way somewhere, to make it easy for other people I'd be meeting to know where I was and how long they'd expect to be waiting for me. That let me share with specific people, on demand, and only for a certain amount of time that I specify up-front. But blanket, always-on sharing? No thanks.

Re: I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

#137

Post by andrewstuart »

Whenever I open the front door my cat tries to zip out and run away.

He doesn't go far, and generally stops running from me after a few meters and gives up. But I am concerned what might happen if he's away a few hours before I discover.

So I put an airtag on his collar. It's already paid off once when I found the front door open I just looked up where he was and went and got him.

Re: I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

#138

Post by causi »

protomyth wrote: post #125
908B64B197 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One great use case of passive monitoring is detecting water leaks, especially for vacation homes. > It has an airtag (not an official supported use) I'm surprised. That sounds like a great use for it, especially for a larger breed that runs fast.

That is one use for monitoring, with the related use of doing so to your own home, that I think is really worth doing. Especially, if you live in the northland where freezing is a problem. I often wonder about these services and if we can wrap them in enough privacy to make them feel safe to advanced users?

The only way I see this ending is splitting airtags into two populations: remote-tracking enabled and remote-tracking disabled where they act like a regular bluetooth tag. Enabling the remote-tracking feature will probably require you to register with Apple with photo ID and have your identity visible to anyone within range of the airtag.

Which is fine by me. I'm just excited to have a way to get my cat back if she ever escapes outside.

Re: I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

#139

Post by AtlasBarfed »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #54
kbos87 wrote: post #32

My comment isn’t specific to AirTags, but there’s a much larger conversation that needs to be had about this gray area of stalking capabilities that are now built into many mainstream products. Here’s a pattern I’ve seen play out more than once among friends and family - they share their location willingly and for seemingly benign reasons. It’s helpful to know when you’ll be getting home so I can start dinner! Just i…

You can’t fix a lack of emotional fortitude and insecurities with technology. These are mental health challenges exacerbated by the tools available.

We live in a society with total propaganda immersion designed to keep you insecure so you consume consume consume.

So basically everyone is like this in some way, or will be.

Re: I used Apple AirTags, Tiles and a GPS tracker to watch my husband’s every move

#140

Post by underwater »

kbos87 wrote: post #32

My comment isn’t specific to AirTags, but there’s a much larger conversation that needs to be had about this gray area of stalking capabilities that are now built into many mainstream products. Here’s a pattern I’ve seen play out more than once among friends and family - they share their location willingly and for seemingly benign reasons. It’s helpful to know when you’ll be getting home so I can start dinner! Just i…

Facebook Messenger implements this as "send location" which lets the other party track you for the next hour. I've found this useful without being creepy. I can share my location contextually, like if I'm picking someone up or meeting them somewhere.
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