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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

#131

Post by npsomaratna »

surgical_fire wrote: post #108
acchow wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Again... this level of ignorance and short-sightedness is surprising coming from someone in such a position of authority He was making a joke, playing into the Android vs iPhone eternal war. But as someone who spent years on iPhone, then switched fully to Android for 5 devices across 4 years, and now back to iPhone..... I actually think the ignorance is the other way (Android users who have never tried iPhone as th…

> But as someone who spent years on iPhone, then switched fully to Android for 5 devices across 4 years Perhaps you don't know how to pick phones? My last Android device lasted 4 years (in fact it is still going strong after I installed DivestOS, became my backup phone), and my new device will probably last a long time too. Each for a fraction of the price charged by Apple.

Might be luck of the draw, but my experience with Android has been similar to OP. Each of my (at the time top of the line) Samsung phones stopped working due to various reasons after a time period ranging from just under an year, to a couple of years.

In comparison, my secondhand iPhone 3G worked for several years—until I left it in a plane by mistake. My iPhone 7plus I used for ~7 years; in fact I still use it, along with my new iPhone 13.

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

#132

Post by AustinDev »

asdff wrote: post #128
rootusrootus wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah after buying a few AirTags early on, I've largely given up on them. Too much of a hassle as it tries not to be usable to stalk, so I can't use it for the other handy use cases.

Good for checked luggage or bags you might leave behind somewhere.

Best use-case by far. I was traveling internationally, and the airline left my luggage back in Europe. The airline had no idea where my bags were but, I was able to tell them exactly which terminal my bags got loaded onto. (where they lost signal) They looked up which flight departed that terminal at that time and were then able to route my bags to my final location and I had them within 24 hours.

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

#133

Post by jcrawfordor »

One of the big practical problems in automotive tracking for anti-theft reasons is concealment. Some thieves know to check for common, especially factory-fit trackers, and so will take precautionary actions like storing vehicles under metal cover until they can disable the tracker. How effective this is depends on the tracker and the thief's knowledge level, but there is a cat-and-mouse game here where you want to prevent the thief knowing a tracker is fitted.

With AirTags this is rather difficult because of the anti-stalking feature, but on the upside they are easy to conceal places so you will get a time window of good functionality. With more conventional GPS trackers a good way to install them is often under the dashboard plastics below the windshield, which offers a clear sky view and is a fair amount of work to get to in a lot of vehicles. Of course the labor on that installation method drives up price so it's not unusual for them to be somewhere far less discrete like in the engine compartment with an external antenna or glued to the bottom of the rear deck in sedans.

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

#134

Post by asldkfjaslkdj »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #54
WheatMillington wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

> Did you miss the part where the city is giving away 500 air tags? That’s a publicity stunt, not a crime-fighting measure. I do not count five hundred AirTags as “burning city funds.”

[flagged]

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

#135

Post by 1-more »

zzzeek wrote: post #11

who here can already see clearly the NYPD officer's completely blank stare when you show them exactly where the car thief took your car. "did you see them do it? otherwise it's not our problem"

I know it's a nearby city but when I used Orbicule Undercover to find my laptop's thieves the Newark fuzz had it back to me very fast. They of course did not chase down anything else that was stolen and fenced elsewhere because the crime was solved with my thing. Crazy.

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

#136

Post by AustinDev »

rootusrootus wrote: post #117
tssva wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A thief can use the Apple provided app to discover if there is a tag, but I don't know that I would say it notifies them since unlike on an iPhone it would require the thief to actively open the app and perform a manual scan for the tag.

That's a distinction that doesn't really matter, because a thief is going to have that app installed and open after they've stolen something.

You're vastly overestimating the competency of the majority of thieves.

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

#137

Post by comex »

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…

AirTags encrypt the location data end-to-end between the finding device and the Find My app on the owner’s devices. There’s no mass surveillance, unless you count masses of individual users surveilling their own AirTags.

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

#138

Post by yamtaddle »

surgical_fire wrote: post #108
acchow wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Again... this level of ignorance and short-sightedness is surprising coming from someone in such a position of authority He was making a joke, playing into the Android vs iPhone eternal war. But as someone who spent years on iPhone, then switched fully to Android for 5 devices across 4 years, and now back to iPhone..... I actually think the ignorance is the other way (Android users who have never tried iPhone as th…

> But as someone who spent years on iPhone, then switched fully to Android for 5 devices across 4 years Perhaps you don't know how to pick phones? My last Android device lasted 4 years (in fact it is still going strong after I installed DivestOS, became my backup phone), and my new device will probably last a long time too. Each for a fraction of the price charged by Apple.

> Perhaps you don't know how to pick phones? My last Android device lasted 4 years (in fact it is still going strong after I installed DivestOS, became my backup phone), and my new device will probably last a long time too.

They might just replace their phone a lot. Some people do that.

Actually, despite the common wisdom that Apple users are always getting the latest thing and just can't wait to give Apple more money at every opportunity, every person I've known who replaced their phone about annually to chase whatever the just-released flagship phone was so they can always have the shiniest thing, has been an Android user. Though, to be fair, I've also known plenty of Android users who don't do that. I've just not yet seen an Apple user behave that way (but I'm sure some do). I think this has something to do with Android fans having more overlap with computer hardware enthusiasts in general, than Apple fans do.

I've also known a few Android users who get a new phone every year because they think the next $200 phone won't suck just as much as the last one did. And that, sure, is kinda their own fault.

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

#139

Post by alfalfasprout »

I gave up on Airtags. Under the guise of "protecting against stalking" Apple has removed all of its useful functionality.

For starters, any family that shares keys can forget about using airtags. You'll get spammed with alerts about an airtag following you and even if you mute them (for 1 day max) you can't use the airtag to find the keys. This also happens if the person next to you has an airtag and is riding in the car with you.

If a thief steals your car they'll be alerted about the airtag too.

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

#140

Post by alfalfasprout »

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...

Thank you for this. We switched back to Tile specifically because Apple's anti-stalking features make it impossible to eg; share keys. For any household with several cars this is an obvious must-have.

Not to mention most people want to, you know, be able to track something that got stolen.

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