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If I was evil and stuck these to ex-girlfriend/boyfriend car or something, illegal? Edit: Downvoters. I am not doing this obviously. Am asking as this is the c
by WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
If I was evil and stuck these to ex-girlfriend/boyfriend car or something, illegal?
Edit: Downvoters. I am not doing this obviously. Am asking as this is the clear abuse I see. Tracking people without permission.
I see this as being a weird legal thing we hear about down the road.
- Qahlel 5y agoPut it in the seams of the bag... and then you can rob the house -or worse- after figuring out their schedule... and it's only $30!
- dbt00 5y agoexcept that of course your iphone will notify you if it sees an airtag that's not yours frequently.
- ping_pong 5y agoIf you have an iphone. But outside the US, Android is far more popular. But this also begs the question, if I steal something with an AirTag on it, my iPhone would tell me that the item has an AirTag on it.
- p49k 5y agoIf you don’t have an iPhone, the tag will just start beeping by itself whenever it’s moved. This is covered in the article.
- thebouv 5y agoIf you have an iPhone yes. Will it let the Android users know?
- t0mas88 5y agoYou're being down voted because this is described on the page. If a tag not linked to your phone travels with you frequently while being away from its owner you'll get a notification.
- rodiger 5y agoWhat if you don't have an iPhone?
- p49k 5y agoThat’s in the article too. It will start beeping when moved if it’s following someone that’s not the owner for a while.
- rodiger 5y agoDoesn't help if it's, say, on the undercarriage/trunk of your car.
- jtsiskin 5y agoOr if you cut the wire to the beeper..
- booleandilemma 5y agoSo if a thief steals my jacket with an AirTag inside, some time later it’ll start beeping? At which point he’ll discard the AirTag and I won’t be able to track down my jacket. Kinda lame.
- zepto 5y agoNot if the alert is delayed
- zepto 5y agoTurns out that it is delayed by 3 days.
- shuckles 5y agoYou assume that in a counter-factual world, professional thieves can’t learn to check the pockets of stolen jackets? They are already known to use Bluetooth network scanners to identify, eg, cars with electronics stored inside.
- adolph 5y agoI was thinking law enforcement but same deal.
- dbt00 5y agoFrom the link: "iOS devices can also detect an AirTag that isn’t with its owner, and notify the user if an unknown AirTag is seen to be traveling with them from place to place over time."
- technofiend 5y agoThat's cool and all, but how do they handle a trainload of people all going the same direction sitting near each other? I mean public transportation is still a thing.
- p49k 5y agoI assume “over time” means for a long enough period to eliminate the possibility that you’re on a train with other people.
- hyperpl 5y agoSome train rides are quite long
- NovemberWhiskey 5y agoI don't know what Apple is doing behind the scenes here, but if I were Apple, I would generate much more "signal" from "this AirTag is traveling with this one person that is not its owner" than from "this AirTag is traveling with forty people that are not its owner".
- technofiend 5y agoAnd maybe this tag is generating a stronger signal than any other and is registered to me. Apple is all about the user experience so I assume they have a solution, just curious what it is.
- function_seven 5y agoWhen you get off the train, pick the one that sticks with you.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- agumonkey 5y agoI'm surprised I never ran into something like this on aliexpress.. I've seen a few spypen popping up
- kalleboo 5y agoThere are lots of GPS tracking devices that phone home over 3G. But they're all bulky and have terrible battery life. These (like the Tile devices that came before them) just use Bluetooth LE to talk to any phone nearby that will listen (in Tiles case it was their small network of owners, for AirTag it's any modern iPhone), and that phone will do the actual GPS tracking.
- slezyr 5y agoThese things are called beacons https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20210420114238&SearchText=nordic+beacon https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=S...
- freeflight 5y agoI also originally wondered about that, but they use Bluetooth for tracking. Doesn't mention what version, but even with Bluetooth 5.0 the maximum range would be around 400 m/1.000 ft under ideal circumstances. So the tracking would only work if you actively pursued the target to stay in range. Probably much more practical to go for an actual GPS-tracker, magnetic versions of those can be bought on Amazon for like 50 bucks.
- matthew-wegner 5y agoAny iOS device will relay the AirTag’s beacons to iCloud—-not just your devices. If you lose a tracked device, you can see its location if a random person’s Internet-enabled iDevice hears any of its chirps. The stranger’s device doing the relaying is unable to decrypt the contents; it just forwards the data to Apple.
- cute_boi 5y agohmm I don't think I would like my device should send data for others property (AirTag) becons to cloud? Why should I spent my data cost to send beacons for someone else? I hope it can be disabled.
- just-ok 5y agoYeah I’m surprised more people aren’t mentioning this: I’m really not a fan of being an involuntary participant in Apple’s mesh network. I guess I could monitor my Bluetooth status more often, but the Control Center toggle (intentionally) doesn’t turn it off entirely...
- endisneigh 5y agoDownvoted because this is literally addressed in the article: > AirTag is also designed with a set of proactive features that discourage unwanted tracking, an industry first. Bluetooth signal identifiers transmitted by AirTag rotate frequently to prevent unwanted location tracking. iOS devices can also detect an AirTag that isn’t with its owner, and notify the user if an unknown AirTag is seen to be traveling with them from place to place over time. And even if users don’t have an iOS device, an AirTag separated from its owner for an extended period of time will play a sound when moved to draw attention to it. If a user detects an unknown AirTag, they can tap it with their iPhone or NFC-capable device and instructions will guide them to disable the unknown AirTag.
- Hadriel 5y agojust wrap the airtag in something that reduces sound and now u can track android users. no one is gonna head something on the bottom of their car.
- mlindner 5y ago>And even if users don’t have an iOS device, an AirTag separated from its owner for an extended period of time will play a sound when moved to draw attention to it. So even non-Apple users will get alerted if they're being tracked with it.
- Rebelgecko 5y agoDoes this mean that if your phone dies or you turn it off during a movie your keys will randomly beep at you?
- rp1229 5y agoNo -- it has be 'over time' which can be inferred to mean more than 2 hours.
- Rebelgecko 5y agoHow long do you infer it to be? I assumed they just meant it wouldn't beep if you momentarily stepped out of the room for 30 seconds.
- DangerousPie 5y agoI suspect "an extended period of time" will not be an hour two.
- asdff 5y agoHow long is that, though? I wish Apple spoke in absolutes when discussing technical details. Some people shut their phone off to golf or do some other outdoor activity, like hiking. Some rounds take close to 6 hours on public courses depending on pace of play. Imagine your friend is trying to putt then your air tagged golf bag starts going off on the 18th green.
- themaninthedark 5y agoOr lend a backpack to a friend to go on a week long camping trip?
- sib 5y agoThey've thought about this use case and actually tried to do something about it: "iOS devices can also detect an AirTag that isn’t with its owner, and notify the user if an unknown AirTag is seen to be traveling with them from place to place over time."
- FridayoLeary 5y agoi suspect this is one of the reasons airtags are so delayed. see macrumors.com
- JKCalhoun 5y agoNo reason people couldn't have been doing this with iPhones for the past decade (albeit that's a pretty pricey tag).