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NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

arstechnica.com

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Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#91

Post by true_religion »

crhulls wrote: post #77
dinkblam wrote: post #9

i am unsure how AirTags can be recommended by anyone in any situation to prevent theft. their "anti-tracking" features make them completely useless in any situation where theft is involved (or theft happens after loosing the item). the thief is alerted to their presence automatically and can disable them quickly. perfect for thieves! AirTags can only be used for misplaced items, any utility for situations involving t…

I'm glad someone brought this up. I'm the CEO of Tile and we launched an anti-theft feature for this reason. We allow you to turn off anti-stalking features if you agree to strict penalties for misuse and verify yourself with a real ID. https://chrishulls.medium.com/tile-is-taking-a-different-app...

Apple in most cases already has our real ID. And stalkers are already determined to commit crimes. Agreeing to civil penalties isn’t going to deter someone who already doesn’t fear criminal imprisonment.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#92

Post by Arch-TK »

catiopatio wrote: post #66
circuit10 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's your main concern you'd be better off with a "degoogled" OS on an Android phone with an unlocked bootloader. iOS is locked down and you can't really see or control what information is being sent. Here are some other reasons why you or other people might choose Android phones: - Generally cheaper/better value, especially on the low end - Less locked down (e.g. you can actually choose what browser engine you…

I’m sure someone running a custom Android image with an unlocked bootloader can figure out an Android-compatible alternative to AirTag.

There is no alternative to AirTags which doesn't take up additional space or come with major downsides. The way AirTags work is by using low power ultra wideband communications to respond to what are effectively ping packets which get sent out by apple devices in the area. The devices get the AirTag's ID and the distance and submit it to Apple for processing. Apple uses the distance information to trilaterate the AirTags and sends this information to the owner of the tag.

As such, AirTags only work because of Apple's market position and extremely wide reach. Put simply, Apple is abusing their control over their devices and the trust their users have placed in them to perform a form of mass surveillance.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#93

Post by mataug »

stereo wrote: post #22
wskish wrote: post #16

I wish more hardware products supported the "embedded airtag" feature enabled by the Apple Find My program that enables 3rd party manufactures to effectively embed airtags into their products. https://mfi.apple.com

Do any hardware products support it at all?

Yea Vanmoof bikes and a few other products support this. TBH not enough products support it

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211331

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#95

Post by nomel »

paulddraper wrote: post #32
politelemon wrote: post #3

This article throws up many flags for me, not necessarily red, but of a worrying color. It first celebrates surveillance devices as a net positive and hand-waves away its problems. But most importantly, it is awfully shortsighted to allow a single company to entrench itself further into societal transactions. However, hearing it is inconvenient, so I am often dismissed for saying so. > They're made by Apple, which me…

> this level of ignorance and short-sightedness It was a joke. Maybe an off-color, inappropriate, unfunny, bad taste, etc. But it was a joke, not ignorance. Speaking of too much time on HN (:

This is why politicians try not to say anything at all whenever they talk.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#96

Post by m463 »

politelemon wrote: post #3

This article throws up many flags for me, not necessarily red, but of a worrying color. It first celebrates surveillance devices as a net positive and hand-waves away its problems. But most importantly, it is awfully shortsighted to allow a single company to entrench itself further into societal transactions. However, hearing it is inconvenient, so I am often dismissed for saying so. > They're made by Apple, which me…

I think there's another dimension here...

He's also talking to car thieves.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#97

Post by mxuribe »

politelemon wrote: post #3

This article throws up many flags for me, not necessarily red, but of a worrying color. It first celebrates surveillance devices as a net positive and hand-waves away its problems. But most importantly, it is awfully shortsighted to allow a single company to entrench itself further into societal transactions. However, hearing it is inconvenient, so I am often dismissed for saying so. > They're made by Apple, which me…

It seems the android comment was a bit of a joke from the mayor...at least per this youtube video from the mayor's office: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuw72THyXsQ&t=945s

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#98

Post by version_five »

politelemon wrote: post #3

This article throws up many flags for me, not necessarily red, but of a worrying color. It first celebrates surveillance devices as a net positive and hand-waves away its problems. But most importantly, it is awfully shortsighted to allow a single company to entrench itself further into societal transactions. However, hearing it is inconvenient, so I am often dismissed for saying so. > They're made by Apple, which me…

All that stupidity aside, how are AirTags actually supposed to help, even if we all had an iPhone and were happy to live under apple's benevolent rule? Most cars have a gps tracker now anyway. Mine was stolen last year, during the night. I was told it would have been put into a shipping container within an hour, where it wouldn't be accessible to radio waves anyway.

Maybe they work for casual joyriding. At least where I am, most car theft is organized crime shipping them overseas. Gimmicks like airtags will do nothing.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#99

Post by s1artibartfast »

WheatMillington wrote: post #43
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would anyone have one [an Android phone]?" Mayor Adams responded This is a New Yorker’s response to a stupid question. AirTags have a recognised brand. Messaging “buy AirTags” comes through cleanly in a way an inclusive statement would not. Given nobody is burning city funds for this, it’s literally a PSA, a reporter asking the mayor technical questions the answer to which they know is fine to be answered dismi…

Did you miss the part where the city is giving away 500 air tags? It's right at the start of the article. You did read the article, didn't you?

The city didnt even buy them. A non profit did.

>The Association for a Better New York (ABNY), a nonprofit founded by New York real estate developer Lewis Rudin in the 1970s and responsible for the "I <3 NY campaign," paid for the 500 AirTags.

Re: NYPD urges citizens to buy AirTags to fight surge in car thefts

#100

Post by sleepybrett »

Arch-TK wrote: post #92
catiopatio wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sure someone running a custom Android image with an unlocked bootloader can figure out an Android-compatible alternative to AirTag.

There is no alternative to AirTags which doesn't take up additional space or come with major downsides. The way AirTags work is by using low power ultra wideband communications to respond to what are effectively ping packets which get sent out by apple devices in the area. The devices get the AirTag's ID and the distance and submit it to Apple for processing. Apple uses the distance information to trilaterate the Air…

Tile works the same way but just with bluetooth. Any phone with a tile app on it is snitching on every tag it sees. Apple of course wins here because it's just every damn iphone, not just the ones that have an app installed.

As someone who has used both the airtag is just plain better when it comes to locating it, the uwb stuff is awesome. But the tile tags have some upsides as well. I love the button on the tile that you can use to ring your phone, helps solve ye olde.. i have my keys, where's my phone problem.

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