Live data from Hacker News

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

nypost.com

51–60 of 61 posts

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

#51
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.

In what state is it legal to kill people for stealing your stuff?

That may be slightly overstated, but use of lethal force to protect one's property is legal in Texas. Very recently somebody in Texas did kill somebody for stealing their truck, using airtags to find to track them down. Legally speaking, somebody showing up at your door with a gun to recover their phone may not be okay. Realistically, the law doesn't act until you're dead.

https://globalnews.ca/news/9590520/truck-thief-airtag-shot-d...

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

#52
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what state is it legal to kill people for stealing your stuff?

That may be slightly overstated, but use of lethal force to protect one's property is legal in Texas. Very recently somebody in Texas did kill somebody for stealing their truck, using airtags to find to track them down. Legally speaking, somebody showing up at your door with a gun to recover their phone may not be okay. Realistically, the law doesn't act until you're dead. https://globalnews.ca/news/9590520/truck-thi…

It’s more than slightly overstated. It’s a total lie.

Showing up at someone’s house and killing someone because they have your phone is always illegal in every US state.

I don’t know why people are trying to defend this. It’s complete misinformation.

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

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it probably wouldn’t apply in this specific case, in Texas the Castle Doctrine describes circumstances where one could apply lethal force to defend one’s property

Can you explain how this has any relevance at all to going to someone else’s house and killing them because you wrongly think your cellphone is somewhere nearby? As far as I can see the person who I was replying to is simply making this up.

Please mind the site guidelines. You're being super aggro in this thread.

> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine.

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

#54
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be slightly overstated, but use of lethal force to protect one's property is legal in Texas. Very recently somebody in Texas did kill somebody for stealing their truck, using airtags to find to track them down. Legally speaking, somebody showing up at your door with a gun to recover their phone may not be okay. Realistically, the law doesn't act until you're dead. https://globalnews.ca/news/9590520/truck-thi…

It’s more than slightly overstated. It’s a total lie. Showing up at someone’s house and killing someone because they have your phone is always illegal in every US state. I don’t know why people are trying to defend this. It’s complete misinformation.

Showing up while in real time pursuit is not in Texas. If you followed the thief all the way, the worst you get is a trespassing charge.

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

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You said "Expecting journalists to have an answer before writing a piece is very reasonable.", implying it was reasonable to ask journalists to have an answer to the Q in the article. Sangeeth disagrees with you.

I don’t think so. Can you quote something that Sangeeth wrote that indicates how they disagree with me?

Yeah sure, expecting journalists to find a cause + fix for the trillion-dollar company's buggy software and _only_ call-out and amplify a commoner's struggle _after_ they figure it out [EDITOR: OPEN TAG ADDED BY REFULGENTIS]sounds super reasonable. Totally.[EDITER:CLOSE TAG ADDED BY REFULGENTIS]

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

#57
post #6
post #2

This article is missing so many technical details. Would have been so interesting to dig into the "why" and "how".

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.

I don't expect a random guy to deeply understand the technicalities, but I do expect a journalist to do more investigation than reaching out to a large corporation for comment.

Regardless of what is "expected" I stand by that it would have been interesting to dig in to the details. Hopefully somebody does. I doubt apple will, but I think there can be lessons learned from understanding how it happened if someone were to research it.

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

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it probably wouldn’t apply in this specific case, in Texas the Castle Doctrine describes circumstances where one could apply lethal force to defend one’s property

Can you explain how this has any relevance at all to going to someone else’s house and killing them because you wrongly think your cellphone is somewhere nearby? As far as I can see the person who I was replying to is simply making this up.

Your question was:

> In what state is it legal to kill people for stealing your stuff?

In Texas, under certain circumstances, it is legal to kill people for stealing your stuff. This might be very different than the laws in the state that you live in (it certainly is for me in New Jersey) but it is the reality.

As I mentioned it likely wouldn't apply in this case.

As a side note, the Castle Doctrine does apply within one's vehicle. Presumably an argument could be made that if someone stayed within their vehicle while confronting the home owner the Castle Doctrine may apply. Admittedly that is quite a stretch and I have no idea if something like that has ever been tried in Texas courts.

Post reply on HN