Of course they can. If you no longer have access to a device you used to own, you should use findmy to remote wipe it. If you really didn't want that, then yo

Of course they can. If you no longer have access to a device you used to own, you should use findmy to remote wipe it. If you really didn't want that, then you should at the very least go through the trouble of filing, with apple, that the device is lost or stolen, so that any attempt to return that device to an apple store or reseller to fix it gets it flagged. It seems bizarre in the extreme that you'd want to somehow protect your privacy by not reporting your stolen stuff as stolen with apple, but that you opt in to a system where installing apps requires going through a single vendor.