6 ms·
Apple's AirTag uncovers a secret German intelligence agency
- rmahan 5y agoInteresting use case for an air tag. Say someone had a PO Box or mail forwarding service and you wanted to know where they live. Mail them an air tag!
- rasz 5y agoI imagine a lot of streamers with PO boxes will get doxxed this way.
- mikewarot 5y agoLock picking lawyer said it happened to him in a video a while back.
- hypertele-Xii 5y agoThere is no escape from the total information era. Everybody will know everything and the only thing anyone can do about it is learn to cope.
- jayolden 5y agoI have read many AirTag stories, and so far, I can say that it can be used for good and bad.
- cxcorp 5y agoI would think that mail to a federal authority would go through an x-ray and mail including suspiciously hidden electronics to get nabbed for forensics.
- b112 5y agoMaybe she sent an airtag in a package to a legit gov agency, it was scanned, and they detected the tag. So they forwarded to this "secret" agency for detailed examination. (a thought, likely or not... I do not work for the gov)
- throwawayciv651 5y agoSweet Apple didn't bother to create a real time Airtag tracking android app. They have one, but it's manual so it's useless. Thankfully, The Secure Mobile Networking Lab (SEEMOO)of the Computer Science Department of Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany has created an app for it. It's FOSS and available on Google Play and Fdroid. https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.seemoo.at_tracking_detection.release https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.seemoo.at_t... https://f-droid.org/packages/de.seemoo.at_tracking_detection https://f-droid.org/packages/de.seemoo.at_tracking_detection
- GekkePrutser 5y agoThanks! Just installed it and I have airtag but it didn't pick it up. Maybe it needs some time..
- webmobdev 5y ago
- whoopdedo 5y ago> If a tracker is detected at least 3 times and the locations have changed (to make sure its not your neighbour) the app sends you a notification. I'd like for it to report the stationary trackers as well. A ping from my neighbour is one thing, even a ping from a grocery store. But if I saw a repeated ping from an unremarkable street corner, I'm going to be suspicious. Even more so if there are multiple street corners. I like this though, > Version 1.0.6 - This version requires Android 8.0 or newer. > Version 1.1.1 - This version requires Android 5.0 or newer. :thumbsup:
- olliej 5y agoWhat's your worry about the static AirTag scenario?
- bravetraveler 5y ago
- t_h_r_o_w_away 5y agoIs there a way to scan my immediate area for an AirTag? I would buy a device I could plug in to my car's USB that would alert me if an AirTag was near.
- acheron 5y agoYes. It's called an iPhone.
- rjmunro 5y agoCan an iPhone detect other people's AirTags? What about an iPad? How do I do that?
- throwaway894345 5y agoI'm not the OP nor am I sure about the specific answer to your question, but an iPhone will alert you if there's an airtag that's following you around which doesn't belong to you. In other words, if someone is tracking you it will alert you. There is also an app for Android that does the same.
- raxxorrax 5y agoSo Apple has a tool against stalking caused by their own products. Reports of abuse are rising though. Technically trackers are illegal in Germany, but the law and legislation acts slowly.
- ilogik 5y agoif you have an Android device, Apple created an Android app for this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trackerdetect https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trac...
- waste_monk 5y agoAs I understand it's just a Bluetooth Low Energy beacon, at least for the coarse-grain positioning. I don't know of any portable devices that specifically hunt BLE (I understand Cisco CleanAir technology can monitor and report on BLE but that's for fixed wireless installations) but I would imagine a generic 2.4GHz RF detector would work, assuming there's not too much RF pollution nearby... drive out somewhere isolated and have a scan.
- Maursault 5y agoThe problem with AirTag and similar is that it's sole purpose is to provide an extremely minor convenience at the expense of allowing anyone at all to expose anything and everything its technology possibly can expose. It puts advanced location tracking in the hands of the consumer-at-large, a technology that no one needs nor realized they wanted until made to want. By and large, it allows people to choose to be dumber, at least that was its purpose before someone discovered they could use it to expose clandestine operations. Bear in mind, spies are people, too, and we only ever hear about terrible spies.
- Atlas667 5y agoI would not be surprised if apple was forced to implement a backdoor for these devices seeing their potential. Same goes for the Starlink satellites.
- solarkraft 5y agoLilith Wittmann keeps doing cool stuff. She recently rose to national prominence when she exposed massive basic flaws in a campaign app by the former government party and they reacted as incompetently as possible.
- IMAYousaf 5y agoWhat is the best battery life for a bluetooth low energy beacon?