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Apple AirTags stalking led to ruin and murders, lawsuit says — Dozens join lawsuit alleging Apple AirTags are stalkers’ “weapon of choice.”

Apple AirTags stalking led to ruin and murders, lawsuit says

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/10/apple-airtags-triggered-explosion-of-stalking-reports-nationwide-lawsuit-says/

Dozens join lawsuit alleging Apple AirTags are stalkers’ “weapon of choice.”

Apple AirTags stalking led to ruin and murders, lawsuit says — Dozens join lawsuit alleging Apple AirTags are stalkers’ “weapon of choice.”::Dozens join lawsuit alleging Apple AirTags are stalkers’ “weapon of choice.”

35 comments

ColeSloth

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So because they're cheap and work well it's apples fault (or samsung or trakr) that people are illegally using them? This type of equipment has existed for decades. Why is it suddenly a companies fault for the illegal activities a minority of users are doing with them? I really hope all these types of cases get tossed.

Ghostalmedia

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They’ve existed for a decade, but the tracking networks have been small, so the trackers were pretty unreliable. AirTags are accurate AF because iOS users update aggressively and Apple rolled the tracking software into the OS updates.

All in all, people only care because these things actually work well now.

No one is suing Tile because they suck ass if they’re not close to your phone.

andallthat

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But it is exactly because they're cheap, widely available and work well. Before AirTags, I'm not sure where you could acquire the technology you mention, but probably through some specialized channel requiring at least some tech knowledge. Also purchasing from that channel would presumably look at least a tiny bit suspect, because you were purchasing spying equipment, not something that is marketed as a way not to lose your luggage

And I get it, I have never tried AirTags but they do sound great for not losing your luggage. It's just that the illicit way to use them is so evident that it's like those "face massage" vibrators

KairuByte

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Tile worked well enough for tracking. It wasn’t perfect but I used them before AirTags and never had a problem finding my items.

OhNoMoreLemmy

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Tile is great for finding items next to your phone.

Airtags let you find items next to other people's phones.

Tile only works for tracking people if you slip the item in someone's pocket and then explicitly follow them. That's just normal stalking with an extra step.

KairuByte

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Tile is more than capable of tracking items away from your phone. They work in about the same way AirTags do.

Edit: A word.

OhNoMoreLemmy

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Except that no one has the tile app, so it doesn't work with any reliability. On the other hand, there's an iPhone almost everywhere.

KairuByte

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Enough people have it that I’ve been able to track my wife when her phone was dead, so I wouldn’t call it useless by a long way.

Less useful, certainly. But if I was able to track my wife on an hours long trip with one, a stalker isn’t going to have any issues doing the same.

a_fancy_kiwi

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Wisely

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I would say guns are different because they are literally deadly weapons designed for the purpose of killing. However, the right to bear arms is also in the bill of rights and guns can be used to save lives in certain situations.

Guns could be argued all day but really it's a straw man that's distorting the scope of the discussion, which is on Airtags.

Airtags aren't dangerous devices that need to be regulated. They are useful for tracking lost and stolen property, pets. They can't directly harm anyone. I believe it should be considered as evidence for stalking, and using any tracking device to enable crimes should be an additional criminal charge. Using it without someone's knowledge could itself be considered a crime, or grounds for a restraining order.

JoBo

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Read the fucking article?

w2tpmf

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Sounds just like the gun debate.

fatalError

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Idk how you got from a tool that helps track your belongings to a tool who's sole purpose is injuring and killing. Pretty far away from each other

JoBo

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They were replying to someone. If you read what that someone wrote, you'll have all the context you need.

kobra

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Both android and iPhones get alerted to AirTags that follow them and I’ve seen it work extremely well. It even gives the option to play sounds from the AirTags or disable them entirely.

What am I not understanding that makes AirTags the “weapon of choice” for stalkers?

a_fancy_kiwi

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The article has a report from at least one person claiming they can’t find the airtag even with the alerts.

There’s also videos on YouTube that show you how to remove the speaker so without the UWB chip, I could see scenarios where people genuinely can’t find them.

I’m not making the argument either way, just saying that a problem is there. Whether it’s Apple’s responsibility or not is up to the court

YoungLiars

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Isn’t it on android you have to download an app and it only works with the app open? Or has that changed? Edit: that has changed, see response below

I have two phones, one android (work) and one personal (iOS). They use different accounts so no connections between them. My android has never gone off, even with my bike that has an AirTag. My iPhone has gone off with a work colleagues AirTag but not the android phone which was in the same pocket the entire time.

tony

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It's built into the OS since apple and google agreed common standards for tag detection.

The google compatible tags (which aren't launched yet, possibly because of stuff like this) will be detected by apple devices too.

YoungLiars

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Glad they were so proactive to have a better solution, the app situation was a load of crap. Looked it up and found the setting on my phone and it’s enabled. It appears my AirTag wouldn’t set it off as i have the iPhone with the tag and therefore it is not considered separated. I’ll turn my iPhone off next time I ride my bike to see if that causes it to detect it.

cynar

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I've definitely seen the alert from Android, with no app installed. I knew about the tags in question however, so it wasn't an issue. It took several hours to notice however. I'd imagine a false positive is a lot more of an issue than false negatives.

steal_your_face

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If it’s now built into the OS that is great going forward, but how many phones have the latest OS? Like 10%?

tony

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It's part of Play services, so most phones will get it.

steal_your_face

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Ah ok cool. Thanks for the clarification

redcalcium

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How long the airtag has to follow you until you get the alert? If it's long enough (e.g. a few hours), it still allows a stalker to slip one in your bag and find where you live.

capital

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Not long at all.

I had a friend accept the shipment of my vehicle when I shipped it across the country. I couldn’t get there fast enough to accept it myself. I placed an AirTag in the glove box so I could keep track of its progress.

The first time he drove the truck he calls me up saying his iPhone is saying there’s an AirTag traveling with him which is making noise and (jokingly) tells me he swears he’s not stealing the truck.

BReel

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I see these articles all the time and they drive me insane. Yeah I could buy an air tag and modify it myself to remove the speaker and then use it for an illegal action. That’s not apples fault.

I can also go buy a coffee, modify it by taking the lid off, and use it to assault a stranger by burning their face off. Is that Starbucks fault?

This is on the individual deciding to commit a crime. Not on the tool used. We don’t sue the crowbar company when someone uses one to break into a home.

IMO, apple has money, so people are just trying to see what they can grab.

autotldr

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

They alleged in an amended complaint that, partly due to Apple's negligence, AirTags have become "one of the most dangerous and frightening technologies employed by stalkers" because they can be easily, cheaply, and covertly used to determine "real-time location information to track victims."

One plaintiff from Indiana, LaPrecia Sanders, lost her son after his girlfriend allegedly used an AirTag to track his movements and then "followed him to a bar and ran him over with her car, killing him at the scene."

Plaintiffs claimed that AirTags are among products that have "revolutionized the scope, breadth, and ease of location-based stalking" because every Apple device is part of the company's expansive tracking network that's being abused by stalkers.

One Irish national, Àine O’Neill, had been living in California while launching a Hollywood career that was just taking off when she found AirTags inexplicably being used to monitor her every move.

They also seek a court order "enjoining Apple from further unlawful, unfair, and/or fraudulent practices with respect to the design, manufacture, and release into the market of its AirTags."

Court filings show that Apple is expected to move to dismiss the lawsuit by October 27, when the company is required to respond to the amended complaint.

The original article contains 912 words, the summary contains 205 words. Saved 78%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

phoneymouse

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Don’t you have to provide some personal data to use an AirTag? Like Apple ID, which would include some location data or IP addresses? If so, then I imagine you also can be found by law enforcement if someone find an AirTag on them.

Why would anyone use an AirTag for stalking given that it could be traced back to you?

What083329420

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I reccon you dont leave it on the body after completing the murder

phoneymouse

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Well, given that the AirTag will alert stalking victims of its presence there is a high chance the person finds it.

Neon

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yeah, but: spoiler alert:

apple isn't as private as they'd like you to believe

Apple is still able to find out that a AirTag has tracked that phone and who this AirTag belonged to

Zerfallen

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My friend was stalked for months via their airpods, which had been secretly paired with the stalker's account.

lloram239

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Related to that Not setting up Find My bricked my MacBook. Seems like not using Apple's theft protection can backfire quite a bit, as whoever gets their fingers on the device can use it for their own benefit.

Stanwich

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How many fucking stalkers are out there? Is this like pokeman go?

Sygheil

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Hello Sidney, i know where you are now...

😱

randomuser38529

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Additionally, I know where you went last summer.