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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

#291

Post by nicbou »

6510 wrote: post #115
acomjean wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Someone told me that by examining smart meter data by amount, time and duration different appliances could be identified. He was rather surprised himself by the level of detail.

Imagine a police force wanting to catch a hacker with his computer unlocked. They could wait for him to make tea to strike.

Or perhaps they could correlate a person's anonymous internet activity with their use of electricity.

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

#292

Post by nicbou »

Gigachad wrote: post #247
technothrasher wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Checking in constantly. Wondering and/or quizzing their child This behavior is rampant in my peer group. Most of my friends/neighbors are constantly monitoring their teen age children's location, reading their recent calls, texts, and emails, looking at internet usage logs, etc. One of my neighbors even calls her daughter every time she sees she's driving over the speed limit and yells at her. It all seems so creep…

My bf and I share location, I think its pretty useful. Just shortcuts the "how far away are you" conversation every time we need to meet up.

I just send it when asked through WhatsApp or Telegram. It's time-delimited, not a blanket permission.

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

#293

Post by nicbou »

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.

You can decide not to make the tools available.

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

#294

Post by nicbou »

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…

This sounds like it was typed by a department instead of a human being

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

#295

Post by chaircher »

crhulls wrote: post #206
latchkey wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in terms of actual reports of stalking via our devices it is essentially zero I'm confused, now you're admitting that stalking is an active part of the product and this has gone on for years.

We learned early on that people would very very occasionally use our APP for stalking .000001% of the time. That was easy to fix - we send regular push notifications, we let you know when someone is added to your group, we participate in subpoena's from law enforcement etc. We have had over 100 million downloads so we have heard it all, it is just the law of large numbers. I'm talking about Tile devices - that is whe…

How are you arriving at the .000001% statistic? What is your methodology here?

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

#296

Post by Terry_Roll »

pooper wrote: post #281
Dracophoenix wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Today smart phone's can tell if its you from the pressure of your finger, the surface area and shapes made by your finger as it moves around the screen. Again no need for login screens, but some people do know just how often women go through their partners smart phones! I'm surprised more women dont play poker! How exactly does one know of one's phone is being snooped on?

> How exactly does one know of one's phone is being snooped on? You will definitely know when they tell you.

LOL - That sounds like speaking from experience!

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

#297

Post by chaircher »

crhulls wrote: post #206
latchkey wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in terms of actual reports of stalking via our devices it is essentially zero I'm confused, now you're admitting that stalking is an active part of the product and this has gone on for years.

We learned early on that people would very very occasionally use our APP for stalking .000001% of the time. That was easy to fix - we send regular push notifications, we let you know when someone is added to your group, we participate in subpoena's from law enforcement etc. We have had over 100 million downloads so we have heard it all, it is just the law of large numbers. I'm talking about Tile devices - that is whe…

ID verification will help rule out a lot of casual stalkers but it won't help with the slightly more experienced ones who know how difficult it is to prosecute. "Oh they must have stolen the tracker to frame me!" "I accidentally dropped it in their bag" and similar WILL be a case's undoing in court. If you make people register what the tag is for as part of the verification process, actually have a human check the answer on the other end when they submit their answer that it's specific enough, and periodically make them re-verify this (eg every time they cange the battery, have a pop up "are you still using the tag for xxxxx") means only the most meticulous planner can use it to stalk. At which point the tracker is realistically no more of a vector than the victim's laptop.

You can't convince the police or a judge that you dropped the tag in someone's car if you're supposed to be using it on your cat's collar for example.

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

#298

Post by mackrevinack »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #223
technothrasher wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Checking in constantly. Wondering and/or quizzing their child This behavior is rampant in my peer group. Most of my friends/neighbors are constantly monitoring their teen age children's location, reading their recent calls, texts, and emails, looking at internet usage logs, etc. One of my neighbors even calls her daughter every time she sees she's driving over the speed limit and yells at her. It all seems so creep…

I want to let me kid (now 5) be more independent. These days, at least in the USA, kids aren't allowed out until they are 10 or even older, and even then they often don't get to take the bus alone (I started doing that when I was in 2nd grade, in the 80s when crime was much worse than it is today, I was biking on my own outside when I was in Kindergarten). But I thought...something like an air tag, cellphone, and may…

a bodycam would be mostly useless since if anything "unsafe" happens like falling down a hole, or being kidnapped, the bodycam is going with them. even if it was streaming live and you were watching every second of it you wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

honestly it just sounds nuts that your you are even considering any of this but maybe things are that bad in the US these days i dunno

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

#300

Post by hnlmorg »

tqi wrote: post #233
hnlmorg wrote: post #36

Can someone explain to me (because I cannot work it myself) why everyone is suddenly worried about AirTags yet these kinds of devices have been around for a while (eg the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag was released last year and little was talked about it). And GPS tracking isn't even a new thing either. So why is it most conversations focus on the AirTag? What is it that the AirTag does better/worse/differently to the othe…

Well, I think that no one talked about it until now doesn't mean these concerns are invalid. That said, I think these concerns are way overblown and coverage/conversation is largely driven by a larger narrative pushed by news outlets.

You're arguing a completely different point. I didn't ask if the concerns are valid, I asked why the argument is a hot topic right now with Apple at the centre of it when Apple are not the only ones (nor even the first) to make such technology.

The other comments (eg about Apple popularising the tech and discussing how AirTags differs from existing solutions) explains this situation.

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