Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

411–420 of 439 posts

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

#411

Post by sgtnoodle »

mrb wrote: post #389
sgtnoodle wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? Airtags only work because Apple uses any iPhone with BLE support as a detector, whether or not an app is installed. An off-brand BLE beacon would require an app to work at all, and I highly doubt Apple would make it easy for a third party app to run all the time in the background.

According to https://developer.apple.com/find-my/ manufacturers of third party hardware CAN leverage the iPhone BLE network to connect to the FindMy network.

That's pretty neat. I wonder, is the user experience any worse than using airtags? Or is it functionally the same?

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

#412

Post by Fatnino »

crhulls wrote: post #311
Fatnino wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Airguard can still see devices with rotating MACs. They just pollute the detection list a bit and draw attention to themselves.

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

#413

Post by jollyllama »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #158

I wanted to try to understand more context behind the "'Why would anyone have one [an Android phone]?' Mayor Adams responded." quote. Here is the relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuw72THyXsQ&t=949s So, I get that he's making a joke, but given that everyone just laughs and there is no follow up, it's clear to me it's one of those "The reason this joke is funny is because I actually think it's true" joke…

Why is it socially acceptable for those with cheap phones to be laughed at but not for those with cheap cars (the easily stolen Hyundais and Kias) to be laughed at?

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

#414

Post by schwartzworld »

crhulls wrote: post #333
schwartzworld wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was the justification for the original 1 year with no replaceable? It was so shady.

That was a vestige of the business well before I was involved. I don't think there was anything nefarious. These are devices that get beaten up quite a bit and the idea was they were cheap enough that it made sense to replace annually. We have now moved to either 3 year disposable units or replaceable batteries. 3 years feels like a reasonable lifespan. And, our plan is to give them away for free to Life360 members (…

> the idea was they were cheap enough that it made sense to replace annually.

I can assure you the original packaging didn't make this explicit.

It was absolutely nefarious. The only reason the device stopped working was because the $2 coin cell battery died, and it was explicitly designed NOT to be replaceable. It's beyond wasteful and I would guess I'm not the only former customer left with a bad taste in their mouth.

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

#415

Post by kevviiinn »

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?

Just because a manufacturer makes a lot of things doesn't make them good, their software is some of the worst and most bloated I've ever experienced

Google pixel running grapheneos

Also no, I have never owned an apple device and I never will

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

#416

Post by Reubachi »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #390
jl6 wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might work for opportunistic thieves, but not for modern steal-to-order gangs.

>but not for modern steal-to-order gangs Then get a second hand Shit-Box 2000 like I do. Nobody will ever steal it, as no self respecting thief will want to be seen driving that, and it costs me less to buy and own. Win-win I'd say. I'm struggling to understand why people who aren't Bezos wealthy buy expensive cars. The depreciation is insane and you're always anxious someone will steal it or ding it in a parking lot…

It ain't about $$$ value. Your shitbox could* be stolen if at any point that platform or it's parts become desirable for any context whatsoever.

for example, the fabled acura integra. While not cheap, it's certainly not going to make a thief rich. At the end of the day it's a vtec honda civic with 2 doors and standard transmission.(I'd argue that a 97 Acura Integra IS your definition of a shitbox.)

Because of that desirable engine, they are still the most GTA vehicle in US.

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

#417

Post by crhulls »

usernew wrote: post #395
sidewndr46 wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you claim 20% of US families, or about 25 million use your service. Your website is showing me "502 Bad Gateway" right now.

he, and his company, are blatantly lying. they are simple scammers - much like the emails you get about penis pills. 20% of US families haven't even heard of his service. heck, not even 2%, not even 2% of the families who work in tech. US-wide, Maybe 20% know what an airtag is. go to walmart, ask anyone there if they've heard of.. well, I forgot what his service is called already. best leave it at that. something abo…

I'm editing this comment to be more of a question.

I'd like the understand the reflex to immediately assume this is a lie. The information is readily verifiable as we are a public company and 3rd party sites like data.ai will verify this.

What is your impetus to make such strong accusations from what in my view can only be your intuition? I don't think you have taken the time to try to diligence your claims.

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

#418

Post by crhulls »

hitekker wrote: post #396
crhulls wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire premise of "found" is a bit nuts as we are a public company and disclosed this regularly and consistently, including how we used the data. The coverage we got in the MarkUp was the most unethical I have seen in my life with reporters literally cutting/pasting parts of quotes to make a point. We had a data platform for targeted ads. I realize that isn't popular, but we were always transparent. We exited the…

Can you link those filings for us? The article indicated that it was much larger slice of revenue than your comments here suggested.

Sure. You can go back all the way to our IPO. It is all in there, including the % of our revenue. https://investors.life360.com/investor-relations/

Once you have been covered in the press you start to realize how blatantly they lie. I'm not sure if it has always been this way but I encourage everyone to have an extremely skeptical eye to any news org that has advocacy as their mission

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

#419

Post by crhulls »

iamleppert wrote: post #404
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.

Real stalkers aren't going to care about a ToS -- they are already intent on violating criminal law. This will likely just push people to use fake/stolen ID and payment information, making it even harder to track and unravel. Your exposure to various fraud comorbidity as a result of this policy is ever likely. Additionally, most stalkers know their victims, so you are entering into a vast grey area that civil courts…

The irony of that article is that the traffickers were sent to jail because of our app. We are unapologetic about working with law enforcement.

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

#420

Post by kevviiinn »

jandrese wrote: post #340
kevviiinn wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's probably the only solution because from the stories I've seen, when someone has something stolen that's airtagged and they tell police, the police basically just tell them to fuck off

Police will take more notice if they get to charge someone with Grand Theft. Tracking down a thief for a low-mid dollar item is seen as a waste of time because they'll be back out on the street in no time.

Definitely not, I've heard the same thing about car thefts. The person who has their car stolen is basically told "good luck with that"
Post reply on HN