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Dad says glitch in ‘Find My iPhone’ app directs angry strangers to his home

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Re: Dad says glitch in ‘Find My iPhone’ app directs angry strangers to his home

#11

Post by miloignis »

metadat wrote: post #9

I recall a similar phenomenon some years before the pandemic, where Google Maps (?) continually led streams of angry humans to a particular person's residence. I've not succeeded in pulling up the reference, unfortunately. I can only imagine how much it must suck to be at the blunt end of such MegaCorp oversights.

It's pretty similar to this Reply-All episode:

#53: In the Desert: Strangers keep coming to Mike and Christina’s house looking for their stolen cell phones. Nobody knows why. We travel to Atlanta to find out what’s going on, in our thorniest Super Tech Support yet.

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/n8hodm/

Re: Dad says glitch in ‘Find My iPhone’ app directs angry strangers to his home

#12

Post by SllX »

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #5

Apple may not be directly responsible or capable of rectifying this. It could be a third-party database. See also: geolocation database errors. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/09/maxmind-m...

They’re responsible for the final product no matter what databases they use.

Re: Dad says glitch in ‘Find My iPhone’ app directs angry strangers to his home

#13

Post by klyrs »

augment001 wrote: post #10
klyrs wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expecting this random guy to deeply understand the technicalities of why Apple is directing angry people to his house, in a state where it's legal to kill people for stealing your stuff, is not terribly reasonable. If techies are interested, they could help by figuring out the reason for this.

Expecting journalists to have an answer before writing a piece is very reasonable.

> The Post reached out to Apple on Thursday seeking comment on Schuster’s predicament, and the company’s efforts to resolve it, and was awaiting a reply.

Re: Dad says glitch in ‘Find My iPhone’ app directs angry strangers to his home

#16

Post by augment001 »

klyrs wrote: post #13
augment001 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expecting journalists to have an answer before writing a piece is very reasonable.

> The Post reached out to Apple on Thursday seeking comment on Schuster’s predicament, and the company’s efforts to resolve it, and was awaiting a reply.

There are technologists other than Apple who could help them understand.

Re: Dad says glitch in ‘Find My iPhone’ app directs angry strangers to his home

#17

Post by throw-4e451c8 »

> A supposed glitch in the popular “Found My iPhone” app has been directing random strangers to the home of an unsuspecting Texas dad at all hours of the day, falsely accusing him of stealing their electronic devices. [...] he’s been visited by close to a dozen irate people over the past few years, telling him that their missing phone had last pinged at his address.

He wouldn't be the first dad to be totally unaware of what his shithead kid(s) is/are up to.

Re: Dad says glitch in ‘Find My iPhone’ app directs angry strangers to his home

#18

Post by RHSeeger »

SebastienWae wrote: post #15

This reminded me of the MaxMind story a few years ago, when they used some family farm in Kansas as the default location when they couldn't find a match for an IP. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/09/maxmind-m...

If I recall correctly, it was a case of "we can tell this is in the US, but not where... so we return the center of the US with a _radius of error_ that encompasses the entire country"... and then a bunch of people who look at the location but not the radius. I seem to recall it happened with law enforcement more than once; which could lead to dangerous results.

Re: Dad says glitch in ‘Find My iPhone’ app directs angry strangers to his home

#20

Post by Mike_12345 »

crazygringo wrote: post #7

> "Scott Schuster told the local news station KTRK that he’s been visited by close to a dozen irate people over the past few years, telling him that their missing phone had last pinged at his address." So like... a couple people a year? As far as annoyances go, not exactly a big one. Still, I'm happy he has this article now. He can just show it to the couple new visitors who arrive each year. Heck, frame it and put i…

> But also, the solution is maybe as easy as replacing your Wi-Fi router?

GPS coordinates have nothing to do with Wi-Fi routers. He could bulldoze his house and people would still show up to that location because the GPS system does not know or care what is at that location.

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