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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

#311

Post by crhulls »

Fatnino wrote: post #302
crhulls wrote: post #236

I'm the CEO of Life360, Tile's parent company. I chimed in on another comment but adding to the conversation directly here. I'm biased, but I am surprised how little pushback this is getting as AirTags explicitly are NOT meant to deter theft - to combat stalking (which is exceedingly rare) Apple notifies you if a tag you do not own is near you. That goes for thieves - they will be told an AirTag is nearby. At Tile we…

There are third party apps that will see right through your "secret stalking mode". Basically, since apple doesn't give a damn about android users, they just unleashed airtags on the world with no way to be alerted you are being stalked if you only have android. Months later apple did release some half assed android app that doesn't do automatic scanning. So android users need to use something like airguard and that…

It is all about deterrence levels. Thieves aren't completely dumb but they also take the path of least resistance. We are going to do things like rotating MACs that will make it harder for generic apps to be useful and further make thieves have to be more intentional.

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

#312

Post by catiopatio »

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…

I fail to see any abuse or mass surveillance. “Find my” is end-to-end encrypted, and Apple does not have access to the device location or anyone’s identity:

https://support.apple.com/guide/security/find-my-security-se...

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

#313

Post by crhulls »

nradov wrote: post #293
crhulls wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a terms of service you opt in to. Unclear how well it holds up in court but I dare anyone to try! We will go all out making an example out of people who abuse the system. So far we have not had a single report of misuse of the anti-theft feature.

I am not a stalker, but that agreement is almost certainly unenforceable in civil court. It violates the basic principles of consideration and equity. There is extensive case law on those areas, which you might want to look into before wasting people's time making empty threats and bullshiting about subjects you clearly don't understand.

We are a public company with an audit and risk committee, multiple in-house lawyers, and external counsel. This was heavily discussed.

Perhaps a court would limit the fine, but liquidated damages are a commonly used concept, and I don't think most people will tempt fate.

Aggressive stalkers will buy dedicated GPS devices - this is a real roadblock.

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

#314

Post by [deleted] »

crhulls wrote: post #276
schwartzworld wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a bunch of Tiles, and after a year the non-replaceable batteries failed and I got an offer to replace them at 15% off. Talk about garbage. Your product isn't good for anything if it just stops working after a year and needs a full replacement.

We have updated all models to have either replaceable batteries or a 3-year life. Given how beaten up devices on things like keys get we are getting very good feedback on the 3 year models. We are also giving away free tiles to paid Life360 members, which is probably not as relevant to the hacker news crowd but we do have over 20% of US families using our service. We think tiles should be free with membership, includ…

[deleted]

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

#315

Post by seanp2k2 »

scarface74 wrote: post #202
kevviiinn wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You used Samsung products, that was your problem. Every Samsung I've had or used has been absolute trash

So the largest Android phone manufacturer is “trash”? Who do you recommend?

I think it's pretty hard to argue that the undefeatable dedicated Bixby button was a good idea, or that Galaxy Folds are awesome. They release basically the same thing constantly to give people FOMO on upgrades because the new Galaxy+ S MegaUltraGigaSuper GigaProPixel 97 with 18 cameras is out. They fake detail on the moon to impress the non-tech-savvy who don't understand how it's just a trick. They're also run by a family that is above the law in Korea and has a large influence on the government because they're such a large part of the economy. Their appliances are also trash quality and not made to be repaired, there have been class action lawsuits about this.

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

#316

Post by [deleted] »

crhulls wrote: post #236

I'm the CEO of Life360, Tile's parent company. I chimed in on another comment but adding to the conversation directly here. I'm biased, but I am surprised how little pushback this is getting as AirTags explicitly are NOT meant to deter theft - to combat stalking (which is exceedingly rare) Apple notifies you if a tag you do not own is near you. That goes for thieves - they will be told an AirTag is nearby. At Tile we…

[deleted]

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

#317

Post by renewiltord »

thedougd wrote: post #304
skzv wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The system wouldn't work without location permission.

It works fine to find your own devices by giving it permission 'while using the app'.

The primary use case for these things requires other participants in the network. It doesn't look like this is a good product for you, yeah.

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

#318

Post by s1artibartfast »

dheera wrote: post #232
s1artibartfast wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the cost of the city, if they stopped going after car theft it would simply become more prevalent. We don't need to decriminalize and make safe cities for car thieves. Regarding your second point, many modern cars have kill switches the police can access. This might be a better solution if these can't easily bypass them. That said, I don't personally want a car with a kill switch.

I don't advocate for decriminalizing it at all. But it shouldn't take 5 figures to catch a car thief with some minimal technology. It the very least it should be a fundamental axiom of a society that {catching a thief of an item, fixing an item} should cost less than or equal to replacing the item, and I believe that to be largely true if technology is maximally utilized.

I don't think that's a reasonable Axiom because thieves rarely steal a single item over a lifetime. There's also the deterrent effect which is very important. If you didn't catch at least some car thieves, you couldn't have a society with cars.

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

#319

Post by sgtnoodle »

linooma_ wrote: post #298
minhazm wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you're seeing but you're definitely not seeing genuine AirTags 5 for $13. More likely you're seeing the AirTag holders for that price.

>> No need to buy Apple > you're definitely not seeing genuine AirTags 5 for $13 I didn't see anything in the comment which suggested they were. It is specifically points out there are devices not produced by Apple. Third parties can create compatible devices: https://developer.apple.com/find-my/

The off-brand ones lack a sufficiently large network to be used for tracking. They're only good for finding stuff in range of your own phone.

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

#320

Post by hot_gril »

j-bos wrote: post #305
hot_gril wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you're probably missing out on some group chats others are in.

Isn't this always the case in life? There are people having fun without you.

Yeah, but it's because I don't know them, not because I'll only use a particular chat app.
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