Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 322 posts

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

#161

Post by outworlder »

trinovantes wrote: post #68
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…

Only a matter of time before we start seeing news of couples fixing their marriage by sharing AirTags with each other. I say this with sarcasm but recent years have made me wonder what is reality anymore.

We should get them ankle bracelets while we are at it.

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

#162

Post by oneplane »

adolph wrote: post #97
jtbayly wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have thought I had to go to a phone store. Thx. Interesting.

A totally anonymous phone card would be a bit tougher. My guess is that the proliferation of iot devices like CPAPs using mobile data plan means that one could be stolen or dumpster-found without someone knowing the chip needs to be deactivated.

> A totally anonymous phone card would be a bit tougher Depends on where you buy them. The internet is big and you can have stuff delivered anywhere, including somewhere that doesn't have your name or address.

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

#163

Post by oneplane »

BeefWellington wrote: post #73
bradlys wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Likewise, compare sales of AirTags to the GPS Trackers on Amazon. You know one has a convenience factor to it, right? And it’s a known brand and has an ecosystem built up around it… These misc trackers on Amazon don’t have that… why would you ever consider comparing the sales as an argument?

This is exactly the point I am making -- Apple has made it EASIER -- which xoa was arguing against.

It always was this easy. Apple has't made it easier because it has built-in anti-stalking which you cannot disable. You can tamper with the speaker, but not with the BTLE or UWB radios (well, you technically can but at that point you can't use them to track anything either).

The only thing you could theoretically attribute to Apple is that it is now much more known that this can happen. That is both good (you can now look for it) and bad (dumb people will try to use this to stalk/steal, not realising that they are tied to their AppleID, and thus to their SIM, IMEI, MAC, and device serial number and thus to them).

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

#164

Post by outworlder »

ameminator wrote: post #64
fleetwoodsnack wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Yes, I will present my viewpoint You can, or, alternatively, you can simply acknowledge you’re not the intended audience for the article, and that you may have over-stepped rhetorically in declaring a complete absence of value with respect to insight or novelty in the article; which is there, and obviously so.

I didn't find any value, and I look forward to someone presenting some value other than "I don't like your critique". For example, I found this comment section much more enlightening than the article, because commenters here made better discussion than I found in the article.

This comment section would not exist without the article.

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

#165

Post by [deleted] »

acomjean wrote: post #86
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…

Yeah. I took my partners dog for the afternoon. It has an airtag (not an official supported use). I knew the dog had it but there was some comment made about our walk. Monitoring by proxy. When I worked at a power monitoring startup (we monitored home power use, by individual circuit) this passive monitoring came up. And our CEO mentioned to his wife that she was home early.. "how did you know?" He saw the garage doo…

[deleted]

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

#166

Post by crhulls »

dstaley wrote: post #118
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…

Hello, Tile owner here! I have a Tile on my house keys and my wallet, which are the two devices I misplace the most often. They've saved me countless times, primarily helping me find them when I leave them in my car, or put them someone in my house that they aren't supposed to be. I'm most excited for the upcoming UWB tracker, and especially for the work that Google and Tile are apparently doing to ensure devices wit…

Glad we have you as a customer. UWB is coming - I imagine there will be compatibility and chipset issues in the short run, in particular on Android, but over the long run it will be a game changer. I'm a couple degrees removed from this part of the business so sorry about the vague answer.

One thing to note - UWB is very short range now. Even now AirTags and Tile are primarily BLE. Upcoming chips and standards updates will be dramatically increasing range. I think that is when the magic happens.

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

#167

Post by pbhjpbhj »

McHankHenry wrote: post #160

Apple have reluctantly been in the surveilance industry for years, due the governments far-reaching and uncontestable court orders. Now it seems they've willingly jumped in with both feet.

I often wonder with USA whether TLA's have a bounty on certain tech, like implement a tracker we can piggyback on and we'll provide a $X00M bonus, implement an email parsing service, implement a street-facing webcam system, implement a household based microphone array with remote access, etc..

They'd be state level equivalents to a parent slipping a tracker in a kids bag, or reading their messages, or whatever.

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

#168

Post by outworlder »

ameminator wrote: post #31
bentcorner wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have that take at all. The husband knew he was being tracked, she got permission from him prior to putting any tracking devices on him. > It could have been "forgiven" (if this word even applies) had it contributed something meaningful Just because you are aware of the dangers of tracking and how these devices work it doesn't mean others are equally aware.

This is actually one of the side issues I had with the piece. The way it's written, you would think that she asked explicit permission to track him to the hospital. However, what seems to have happened in reality, is that they had previously played a harmless game of "find the Airtags". Then, some time later, possibly a large period, she uses those Airtags to track the husband. It's hard to say in either direction if…

The way I understood that was - she was going to write a piece about this subject. Asked for permission. What's implicit is that this experiment would have to last until she was done writing the piece.

Not just "let's find airtags today" and then "boohoo I've been tracking you without permission". Wouldn't make sense. He was not surprised when his phone notified him that a tag was tracking him after a day in Manhattan.

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

#169

Post by samatman »

kelnos wrote: post #105
tokamak-teapot wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it hard to buy a SIM card in much of the world? I can walk into one or about ten shops within 5km of here and buy one instantly. I think the price is ‘free’ but you pay something like EUR 10 to have credit on it. If you want to be anonymous, you can wear a hood and a mask and pay with cash.

In the US, it's very unusual to buy a SIM card outside of purchasing a phone and phone plan. And while we do have prepaid options, they're much less commonly used than in other countries. At a quick glance, the cheapest T-Mobile plan is $60/mo, or $45/mo if you're adding a second line to an existing plan. You can also get a SIM card intended for IoT usage, but this is probably not something your average non-technical…

> In the US, it's very unusual to buy a SIM card outside of

In your circles.

There are entire industries which rely on 'burners', wisely or not, for various logistics tasks involved in deriving tax free income from controlled substances.

Buying a SIM card with cash is as easy as wanting to and doing some searching, or just driving around and looking for dollar stores: the phone provider you want is in the same parking lot.

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

#170

Post by dylan604 »

adambyrtek wrote: post #131
dylan604 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

I'm not trying to do politics either, so I don't know how to respond without straying too far off topic. I will cede that I probably could have picked a less polarizing example. Just first to come to mind.

The example was meant to highlight that not everyone uses a product/device the same way as others. If one's use of an item does not bring harm, infringe upon, etc of anyone else, then why should they not be allowed to use it? Obviously, once you use an item to infringe upon, bring harm, etc, you should be the one punished NOT the others by trying to banish the item.

Post reply on HN