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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

#431

Post by xp84 »

schmorptron wrote: post #388
asveikau wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anything about the trade of stolen vehicles and the people who do it, but i imagine advertising that will let smart thieves and chop shop types know what to look for and quickly remove. From that perspective it's probably better for people to not know you have lojack, conceal it, and make them work harder to check for it.

Or just put the sticker on it but not have the actual thing in there so they can't find it?

Your alignment is 'Chaotic neutral'

"Warning: Small active tracker device hidden somewhere in the car. Good luck!"

thieves spend 3 hours literally tearing the car apart and then give up but your car is ruined anyway

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

#432

Post by kyboren »

HWR_14 wrote: post #421
kyboren wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So we're back to, "carry a tracking device if you don't want to get tracked." Even if I had a phone, or could afford one, then I will still be carrying a tracking device. Do you really think airplane mode will prevent tracking? Apple's AirTag fuckery works even when devices present as in the "off" state! And of course there's no longer any easy way to remove phone batteries now. I don't want to be tracked by the AirT…

I respect your desire not to be tracked. But you are just wrong about a lot of the technology you are talking about. AirTags can be read using Apple software for either Apple or Google hardware, you don't have to opt into Apple's ecosystem at all. Airplane mode prevents tracking by carriers the most passive method and what most people object to when they call phones tracking devices. It of course also prevents any ot…

> it can be disabled when your device is off

If you trust Apple's software, and the firmware of every discrete SoC/IP core to be truthful and bug-free. And obviously this does not require cellular tracking, which is frankly unlikely to be prevented in airplane mode. Once again, regardless of your justifications: I refuse to carry a tracking device, so stop arguing that I should because "It'll totally be fine, trust me bro."

> Tile and GPS receivers with 4G transmitters

I'm aware of Tile and the physical and power footprint of other trackers. The AirTag is a substantial leap in capability. If you disagree: Why do so many people prefer AirTag over Tile or these other devices? But again: All these surreptitious trackers should be banned from commercial sale. The risks far outweigh the benefits, and the risks are entirely externalized to the rest of society.

> The number of things like parking that seems to require a phone is growing. While I dislike that as a societal arc, this is within that arc.

So, just straight up, "Fuck your human dignity. Carry a tracking device or GTFO and forget your right to a normal life in society." Human rights are apparently not important to you; I should just bend over and accept my lot, because that's the "societal arc".

Once again: Unacceptable. And moreover: A miserable and weaselly dismissal not only of my human dignity but also of your own.

> Yes, you don't want to be tracked. But I own things and I want to track them. So do companies. Outlawing trackers imposes a very large cost on them.

I disagree with that frankly ridiculous characterization. Legal surreptitious trackers impose a very large cost to other members of society.

But this entire issue would go away overnight if Apple designed their system only to detect and find lost items instead of as a generalized surreptitious global tracking system.

Simply only report beacons back to the mothership if the user of the tracking device (the "phone") has previously manually added the tracking device ("AirTag"). Allow up to 10 devices to add an AirTag, so everyone in your family/friend group can help find your lost property. No more snitching back to Apple when the tracking device sees any beacon at all.

This will satisfy the vast majority of use cases where you lose a physical possession ("where are my keys?") while preventing the vast majority of stalking and targeted muggings, rape, and burglaries, etc.

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

#433

Post by howinteresting »

prepend wrote: post #270
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By far the biggest barrier is group chats with others who are on iphone. Not only is the experience pretty broken for you, it essentially ends up breaking the experience for everyone else. This AirTags example just highlights that to a large portion of the US populace, Android is essentially a joke.

The worst is that group chats aren’t reliable in that some messages won’t go to all participants. But if everyone is iMessage everything goes through. I’m sure it’s an iPhone bug, but it means that mentally I can count on iMessage chats to go through and mixed chats I’m frequently wondering and having to check with each member, “did you get that.” So it means that mixed chats are extra chatty with people confirming w…

I'm not going to make apologies for SMS and MMS group chats, but in my close and extended circles (US, SF bay area) every single person has either Signal or WhatsApp. These aren't all tech people either, just people who are conscientious about privacy.

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

#434

Post by howinteresting »

martinjacobd wrote: post #227
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By far the biggest barrier is group chats with others who are on iphone. Not only is the experience pretty broken for you, it essentially ends up breaking the experience for everyone else. This AirTags example just highlights that to a large portion of the US populace, Android is essentially a joke.

How is the experience broken for anybody? I've been on group chats with my wife and parents (all iPhoners) for years and it's totally fine. I recently got a Pixel and now even the stupid emotes display properly (though it was easy to know what they meant before). I had an iphone forever ago (when my parents were paying for it), and I don't recall the experience of group chats being notably better or worse. It's more…

SMS and MMS group chats are pretty unreliable compared to basically every modern platform.

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

#435

Post by swalling »

Flimm wrote: post #429
swalling wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Used cars are actually much more likely to be stolen, especially if lack modern features like chip keys, immobilizers, and GPS tracking services. In US cities, the most stolen cars are all 15-20+ year old models. If you buy a new Toyota for instance, you don’t need an AirTag because it comes with location tracking services built in. https://www.thezebra.com/resources/driving/most-stolen-cars/ https://wblk.com/most-st…

Just because most stolen cars are used, that does not necessarily mean that a used car is more likely to be stolen than a new car. You've got to consider the base rate, otherwise, you're committing the base rate fallacy. Since most cars are used, of course it's not surprising or meaningful that most stolen cars are used.

It doesn't take comprehensive statistical analysis to conclude that a brand new car that comes with an electronic immobilizer, alarm system, and remote GPS-based location monitoring is less likely to be stolen than your 1999 Honda Accord, 2001 Subaru Forester, or 2020 Kia Soul that comes with none of those features. The advice to buy a used car to avoid theft is demonstrably stupid.

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

#436

Post by porkbeer »

koito17 wrote: post #30
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 assume it was mostly humor, albeit poorly timed humor. The lack of elaboration to the question shows that there wasn't much thought put into this idea IMO. While a majority of Americans use iPhones, there is still a significant portion of Android users. It's unfortunate that an interoperable solution was not promoted, but I assume this suggestion attempts catering to the majority and puts little thought into what w…

Pretty sure android is a larger uzwrbase than ios by far. You may be in a social technological bubble.

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

#437

Post by zzzeek »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #405
zzzeek wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there's a solution to the NYPD being awful? I wasn't aware ? dont say "give them more money" because that's certainly not it

> there's a solution to the NYPD being awful? I wasn't aware That's my point. I'm don't know what the solution is. But dismissing good cops the way you did certainly isn't one. > dont say "give them more money" because that's certainly not it Nobody did. In this entire thread. You made an incorrect assumption and are doubling down on it.

"good cops" look the other way regarding all the "bad cops" around them so to the degree they are "good" while protecting corruption is not very compelling. The "good cops" that actually have a problem with things tend to not stay cops for long.

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

#438

Post by mikrotikker »

kevviiinn wrote: post #159
npsomaratna wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, alon…

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

My his and hers pair of S5s lasted 6 years despite a fun competitive game we would play where we would try to smack the phone out of others hand which often sent it flying comedically through the air. (good training for phone theives we both have iron grips of our phones now)

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

#439

Post by ewoodrich »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #315
scarface74 wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

My iPhone does the same with Siri as far as power button.
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