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An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

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Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#271

Post by samatman »

moogly wrote: post #174
concinds wrote: post #119

Android users are still vulnerable, and these announcements do nothing to reduce that. All a stalker needs to do, is remove the speaker. To detect a rogue AirTag, an Android owner needs to: 1) know AirTags exist (many obviously don't) 2) go out of their way to install Apple's Android AirTag scanner app (only 100k-500k worldwide have done so according to Google Play stats) 3) manually open the scanner app and scan, si…

> I remember seeing a chills-down-your-spine Apple Watch Series 7 TV ad, that featured beautiful remote nature landscapes, with the audio of 911 calls made from people's Apple Watches whose lives were saved by their Watch. Probably one of Apple's best and most impactful ad in the past decade. One could argue it's pretty distasteful to try to cash in on people's fears.

One could indeed argue!

I was personally eager to pay for the cellular-equipped Watch as long as I was getting one, because even without an explicit data plan, if you fall off a bike, it will call 911 for you automatically unless you tell it not to.

That's insurance of a kind I couldn't purchase prior to that, in a form I would actually use and have on me if this actually happened. Fine by me.

The older you get, the more ways to fall down and need 911 start to exist. I'm okay with Apple "cashing in" on that.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#272

Post by catlifeonmars »

concinds wrote: post #119

Android users are still vulnerable, and these announcements do nothing to reduce that. All a stalker needs to do, is remove the speaker. To detect a rogue AirTag, an Android owner needs to: 1) know AirTags exist (many obviously don't) 2) go out of their way to install Apple's Android AirTag scanner app (only 100k-500k worldwide have done so according to Google Play stats) 3) manually open the scanner app and scan, si…

> And since most lost items turn into stolen items after a few hours

Source?

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#273

Post by TimTheTinker »

gambiting wrote: post #160
thomasguide wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knife purchases are controlled in the U.K.[1] Persons under 18 are not allowed to buy knives, but in practice this means most people are showing an ID to purchase a knife. [1] https://www.gov.uk/buying-carrying-knives

In addition, carrying a knife on you without a good reason is a crime in itself - and yes going home with a knife you just purchased is a perfectly valid reason. But having a knife on you "just in case" is not, unless you live in the middle of nowhere or are a farmer or something. Get stopped in the middle of London with a knife and that's a serious crime.

My father-in-law (from the US) always carries a small utility/hunting knife, which he packed in his checked luggage when taking a leisure trip to England.

I believe it was at a museum or another public attraction that a police officer saw the knife in its holder on his belt, stopped him, demanded he surrender the knife, and told him he'd be arrested if he didn't.

He was very upset - he'd had that knife for decades.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#274

Post by m1keil »

charcircuit wrote: post #269
concinds wrote: post #119

Android users are still vulnerable, and these announcements do nothing to reduce that. All a stalker needs to do, is remove the speaker. To detect a rogue AirTag, an Android owner needs to: 1) know AirTags exist (many obviously don't) 2) go out of their way to install Apple's Android AirTag scanner app (only 100k-500k worldwide have done so according to Google Play stats) 3) manually open the scanner app and scan, si…

>Android users are still vulnerable You misunderstand how airtags work. Airtags can't track an android user. It can only track people with iPhones (and possibly other apple devices).

Airtags leverage the popularity of iPhone devices and use that, not a single phone. Given there's a high probability of someone in the surrounding with an iPhone, you don't have to have an iPhone so that an Airtag will track your movements accurately enough.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#275

Post by phire »

oxplot wrote: post #251

This is a great response - very happy to hear Apple's involvement with various groups to make things better. Some noteworthy bits: > we innovated with the first-ever proactive system to alert you of unwanted tracking If that's true, then Apple just raised the privacy bar and now Tile and other small players need to up their game to stay relevant. There is also lesson to learn here: whoever makes a tech/product popula…

> The UWB chip on the Airtag can only help iPhone know how far away it is from the tag.

I thought the MMIO antenna array would have indicated a rough direction of the signal.

But perhaps that isn't accurate enough to be useful? Since the distance is accurate to a few cm and the iphone is moving, it can use it's own calculated position from the computer vision data to apply multilateration to multiple UWB distance samples over time.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#276

Post by presentation »

Schiendelman wrote: post #237
closetohome wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to share AirTags via a family iCloud account seems to be a pretty commonly requested feature. It does seem a little silly that I can track every device attached to the account but not AirTags.

That feature already exists. If you are sharing your device locations with your iCloud family members you won’t get the complaint notifications.

I get them pretty much everyday for my wife's Airpods despite us being on iCloud Family Sharing. Guess something's buggy.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#277

Post by barake »

oxplot wrote: post #251

This is a great response - very happy to hear Apple's involvement with various groups to make things better. Some noteworthy bits: > we innovated with the first-ever proactive system to alert you of unwanted tracking If that's true, then Apple just raised the privacy bar and now Tile and other small players need to up their game to stay relevant. There is also lesson to learn here: whoever makes a tech/product popula…

UWB can measure distance within 10 cm/4 inches. In ideal scenarios it doesn't take much movement to locate a target, even without a vision component.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#278

Post by sixothree »

todd8 wrote: post #48

I like the functionality of the AirTags so I don't want them nerfed, but I can think of no way to fix their fundamental problem of being such easy to use stalking devices. Chefs knives are great for cooking and are inexpensive and easy to purchase; they can be very dangerous weapons in the wrong hands so we make it against the law to use them in that manner. Maybe that's the best we can do with AirTags.

What's different from a thief stealing my bag and carrying it around in their car versus me putting an airtag in the exact same location without them knowing?

If a thief has my bag I definitely don't want them knowing they're being tracked. Maybe I don't quite understand something about this announcement.

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#279

Post by up6w6 »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #240

> Every AirTag has a unique serial number, and paired AirTags are associated with an Apple ID. Apple can provide the paired account details in response to a subpoena or valid request from law enforcement. We have successfully partnered with them on cases where information we provided has been used to trace an AirTag back to the perpetrator, who was then apprehended and charged. This makes me wonder, could Apple go fu…

If I understood correctly, this still doesn't protect you against custom Airtags using embedded boards[1]. You could just use any serial number you want and maybe even incriminate other people by using the serial number of their authentic Airtag?

[1] https://github.com/seemoo-lab/openhaystack/

Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking

#280

Post by mdoms »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #240

> Every AirTag has a unique serial number, and paired AirTags are associated with an Apple ID. Apple can provide the paired account details in response to a subpoena or valid request from law enforcement. We have successfully partnered with them on cases where information we provided has been used to trace an AirTag back to the perpetrator, who was then apprehended and charged. This makes me wonder, could Apple go fu…

I honestly can't tell if you're being sarcastic but this is horrifying.
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