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

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211–220 of 439 posts

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

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple does not spy on me Apple can be compelled to spy on you[0]. > and does not sell my information to advertisers Apple is an advertiser. [0] https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/us.html

> Apple can be compelled to spy on you[0]. It’s dishonest to equate lawful warrants with Google’s targeted advertising and exploitation of our information. Furthermore, Apple is clear about what information they have access to, and what information they don’t, and have consistently, year-over-year, reduced the information they actually have access to. > Apple is an advertiser. This is another disingenuous false equiv…

> It’s dishonest to equate lawful warrants with Google’s targeted advertising and exploitation of our information.

Is it?

Google has not suffocated the AOSP. If you don't want their advertising or services, you can remove it. No such option exists on iOS, so you're effectively locked into an inherently insecure product. You can claim that you trust the parties with the backdoor key, but that doesn't change the fact that the key exists.

In mainland China, that puts Apple in the awkward situation of complying with lawful warrants that are complicit in human rights violations. Trusting wholesome, benevolent government collaboration is not enough. Apple has to design a transparent and accountable security system if they want their privacy stance to look like something other than a theater scripted on whitepapers.

> This is another disingenuous false equivalency.

Apple is an advertiser, though. You cannot pretend like they don't also have a conflict of interest here. Not to mention, they're equally capricious on the service upsell - the in-OS advertising was one of the reasons I left their ecosystem in the first place.

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

#212

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"owning an Android actually makes it more difficult to interact with friends" I'd get new friends before switching to an apple product. Actually if my friends switched to apple products, I might get new friends.

Your attitude exactly highlights why I'm considering switching. I'm pissed at Apple, but it's not like I have any particularly affinity to Google. In the end, life is short. So I can stomp my feet and say "this sucks" and live alone in my basement (yes, I'm exaggerating), or, if I go on vacation with a group of friends and I want to share in their experiences, photos, etc., then I can get an iPhone.

I guess I'm misunderstanding how Apple prevents you from sharing in their experiences. Did Apple create a walled garden around experiences, which I wouldn't put past them? This is an honest question. I heard something in a stand-up bit, from which I gathered sms from non-Apple users are flagged a certain way in Apple users' conversations. Is there something else?

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

#213
post #70
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They will also notify an Android phone if they have installed the app which Apple created for this purpose. I have to imagine thieves would know about this.

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 true for Apple's Tracker Detect app, but any thief or other user could simply use the free and open source AirGuard app on Android, which has more functionality than both Tracker Detect and the AirTag anti-tracking features built into iOS:

https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard

For example, AirGuard lets the user activate the alarm on any AirTag in range immediately without waiting any period of time. iOS and Tracker Detect only let the user do this if they determine that the AirTag is following the user, and Tracker Detect adds another 10 minute waiting period for no good reason.

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

#214
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a thought here... Why not just write a simple script that collects GPS location, host it on a private server, point an old Android phone at that page, and wire the phone under the dashboard?

Don't even need to write a script, just provide the storage. Eg https://www.gpswox.com/en/mobile-apps/android-gps-tracking-a...

Those apps appear to share your location data with the company.

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

#215
post #148

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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…

How are degoogled phones nowadays? Last time I tried that, it was very limited. No paying by phone, no banking apps (and most banks require app as second factor), no proper maps with navigation and routing, no streaming music, no "work" apps like Teams or Slack, no utility apps like taxis or public transport. Even messaging apps wouldn't work well due to lack of push notifications. Degoogled Android was basically tou…

Grapheneos is pretty solid

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

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have zero issues with running an Android, and I honestly see iPhones as being disadvantaged, personally. There's not a single thing I can't do on an Android that I could on an iPhone.

Then you have never tried to join a group chat where the other members of the group all have iPhones and use iMessage.

all the group chats im in use signal

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

#217

I mean you can also go low tech with stuff like a hidden kill switch and all sorts of things that would actually prevent the theft.

For real, I used to just take off an ignition cable (vehicle rarely driven). Good luck driving that one lol

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

#218
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how the notification stops the thief. If you're half decent at hiding things they won't be able to find it in less than half an hour, so they either stop and look during which time you can catch them or they abandon the car and you get it back since it's still being tracked.

I don’t recommend going and confronting a car thief. And I doubt the police will be there in half an hour. You’ll be lucky to convince them you have the location sometime the next day, when it’s far too late.

If everyone chooses not to confront car thieves, then car thieves have successful careers stealing everyone's cars. If everyone chooses to confront car thieves (preferably with friends, preferably armed), then car thieves quickly choose another career.

Getting the police to do their job would be ideal, but that won't happen so we only have these two options.

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

#219
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you verify the government ID used belongs to the person disabling the anti-stalker feature? There's a huge market for fake state IDs and stolen/leaked photos of various gov't IDs

Seems like a pretty unrealistic bar to set. You can use government ID to empty a bank account and air and tile stocking seems way lower Stakes.

Checking an ID in person is a bit different than uploading a picture of it. US IDs are designed for in person verification with security features like holograms, laser perforations and microprinting. Also don't think it's a high bar if they're allowed to use one ID to unlock multiple tiles

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

#220

How is car theft in 2023 still a problem? What happens to a stolen car? It doesn't seem feasible or realistic to try to sell it for parts (where are you going to store all these cars before/after parting them out), and there's no way you can just sell the car and expect it not to get flagged. WTF is going on?

On the contrary, pulling apart a car and selling it for parts is frequently worth more than the car itself on the used market. It's especially profitable when you've stolen the car. The hardest part is probably getting rid of the parts of the shell that have VINs stamped into them.

Used to be that they would drive it somewhere quiet, pull parts off, and leave the carcas on the side of the road. At least, that's what happened to my cars a few times in the early 2000's.
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