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> I ask - what new insight did this article offer on Airtags? I don't think anyone can conclude either way on the effectiveness of Apple's "safety measures" whe

> I ask - what new insight did this article offer on Airtags? I don't think anyone can conclude either way on the effectiveness of Apple's "safety measures" when it comes to Airtags, from this small anecdote. While I understand where you're coming from, I think there's value in adding to the chorus when it comes to putting pressure on a company to rethink a strategy. Certainly, while articles such as this may not be news to you or I, they are likely to be news to a number of people on HN, their friends & family, etc. > The author also seems to be somewhat deceptive - "I sound like a terrible wife, but it's for journalism!" No, it seems like the author played a prank on her husband a while back and used that to neuroticaly follow him, then tried to excuse that behavior by writing this fluff piece. This point misses the mark IMO. The issue with AirTags at their core is that they permit people who are deceptive and shady to do bad things much easier than they could before. I think the cat's out of the bag now on this type of tech though. Tile's been around for a while, AirTags are now everywhere, the goal now should be developing detection systems (which shouldn't be too hard).

xoa 5y ago
>The issue with AirTags at their core is that they permit people who are deceptive and shady to do bad things much easier than they could before. But that's just not true. Seriously, right now, go to Amazon and type in "GPS Tracker" and look at the results: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=gps+tracker https://www.amazon.com/s?k=gps+tracker Literally $30 gets you a 1oz cellular magnetized tracker you put a SIM into for real time tracking anywhere with cell coverage with voice monitoring included! Literally for tracking and they proudly advertise it. No warnings or nags about "a device is following you", no noises. Comes with Prime shipping, get it as soon as Sunday February 13! Apple being Apple may well have brought more publicity to the issue but no, AirTags do not do what you say they do. If anything there are reasonable arguments that Apple has been too careful to the extent of making them pretty irritating in family/friends usage where everyone gets nagged for normal shared item activity and cannot use them in a shared way (despite being able to do so for devices!).
- tut-urut-utut 5y ago
  I am with you on this, there were and are a lot of tracking alternatives. The issue is more that now, since Apple released AirTags, everyone just got aware of it. While previously one had to search for a solution how to track someone, now we have streamlined mainstream product with great usability for the purpose. Which is still a net negative for a society, and it's Apple's fault for popularizing such behaviour.
- jtbayly 5y ago
  I actually agree with you, but Tile is a better example, I think. Because needing to also get a working SIM card is a pretty substantial “oh, you’ll also need…”
  - tokamak-teapot 5y ago
    Is it hard to buy a SIM card in much of the world? I can walk into one or about ten shops within 5km of here and buy one instantly. I think the price is ‘free’ but you pay something like EUR 10 to have credit on it. If you want to be anonymous, you can wear a hood and a mask and pay with cash.
    - kelnos 5y ago
      In the US, it's very unusual to buy a SIM card outside of purchasing a phone and phone plan. And while we do have prepaid options, they're much less commonly used than in other countries. At a quick glance, the cheapest T-Mobile plan is $60/mo, or $45/mo if you're adding a second line to an existing plan. You can also get a SIM card intended for IoT usage, but this is probably not something your average non-technical person would know how to do. I also expect that most Americans are unfamiliar with buying a SIM card in a way that is not direct from a mobile carrier.
      - Taniwha 5y ago
        prior to international roaming bundles becoming reasonable my first task when arriving in the US was always to buy a SIM card. Unlike almost anywhere else the US (well SFO at least) did not have the usual line of SIM sellers at the exit from immigration
eddieroger 5y ago
>> The author also seems to be somewhat deceptive - "I sound like a terrible wife, but it's for journalism!" No, it seems like the author played a prank on her husband a while back and used that to neuroticaly follow him, then tried to excuse that behavior by writing this fluff piece. You need to read more of the article. > Some states, including New York, where we live, have laws criminalizing this sort of thing. Not wanting to break the law, or my husband’s trust, I had asked him for permission. It may be fluff, but it wasn't deceptive.
- BeefWellington 5y ago
  I think you replied a level too low.
  - eddieroger 5y ago
    Whoops. So it goes.
- iszomer 5y ago
  If I had a pessimistic-comedic attitude towards titles of articles, it would read like this: "So you like putting a leash on your husband? Kinky."
r00fus 5y ago
Apple is literally the best vendor in the field in terms of providing privacy controls for their tracking products. Great if criticizing them sets a baseline for all other vendors, but given how the US government decided Apple was price-fixing ebooks while ignoring Amazon's monopsony (2012), I'm not really confident that they'll do something that isn't essentially a bill-of-retainer to limit Apple while not solving the tracker privacy problem at all.

xoa 5y ago

>The issue with AirTags at their core is that they permit people who are deceptive and shady to do bad things much easier than they could before. But that's just not true. Seriously, right now, go to Amazon and type in "GPS Tracker" and look at the results: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=gps+tracker https://www.amazon.com/s?k=gps+tracker Literally $30 gets you a 1oz cellular magnetized tracker you put a SIM into for real time tracking anywhere with cell coverage with voice monitoring included! Literally for tracking and they proudly advertise it. No warnings or nags about "a device is following you", no noises. Comes with Prime shipping, get it as soon as Sunday February 13! Apple being Apple may well have brought more publicity to the issue but no, AirTags do not do what you say they do. If anything there are reasonable arguments that Apple has been too careful to the extent of making them pretty irritating in family/friends usage where everyone gets nagged for normal shared item activity and cannot use them in a shared way (despite being able to do so for devices!).

tut-urut-utut 5y ago
I am with you on this, there were and are a lot of tracking alternatives. The issue is more that now, since Apple released AirTags, everyone just got aware of it. While previously one had to search for a solution how to track someone, now we have streamlined mainstream product with great usability for the purpose. Which is still a net negative for a society, and it's Apple's fault for popularizing such behaviour.
jtbayly 5y ago
I actually agree with you, but Tile is a better example, I think. Because needing to also get a working SIM card is a pretty substantial “oh, you’ll also need…”
- tokamak-teapot 5y ago
  Is it hard to buy a SIM card in much of the world? I can walk into one or about ten shops within 5km of here and buy one instantly. I think the price is ‘free’ but you pay something like EUR 10 to have credit on it. If you want to be anonymous, you can wear a hood and a mask and pay with cash.
  - kelnos 5y ago
    In the US, it's very unusual to buy a SIM card outside of purchasing a phone and phone plan. And while we do have prepaid options, they're much less commonly used than in other countries. At a quick glance, the cheapest T-Mobile plan is $60/mo, or $45/mo if you're adding a second line to an existing plan. You can also get a SIM card intended for IoT usage, but this is probably not something your average non-technical person would know how to do. I also expect that most Americans are unfamiliar with buying a SIM card in a way that is not direct from a mobile carrier.
    - Taniwha 5y ago
      prior to international roaming bundles becoming reasonable my first task when arriving in the US was always to buy a SIM card. Unlike almost anywhere else the US (well SFO at least) did not have the usual line of SIM sellers at the exit from immigration

eddieroger 5y ago

>> The author also seems to be somewhat deceptive - "I sound like a terrible wife, but it's for journalism!" No, it seems like the author played a prank on her husband a while back and used that to neuroticaly follow him, then tried to excuse that behavior by writing this fluff piece. You need to read more of the article. > Some states, including New York, where we live, have laws criminalizing this sort of thing. Not wanting to break the law, or my husband’s trust, I had asked him for permission. It may be fluff, but it wasn't deceptive.

BeefWellington 5y ago
I think you replied a level too low.
- eddieroger 5y ago
  Whoops. So it goes.
iszomer 5y ago
If I had a pessimistic-comedic attitude towards titles of articles, it would read like this: "So you like putting a leash on your husband? Kinky."

r00fus 5y ago

Apple is literally the best vendor in the field in terms of providing privacy controls for their tracking products. Great if criticizing them sets a baseline for all other vendors, but given how the US government decided Apple was price-fixing ebooks while ignoring Amazon's monopsony (2012), I'm not really confident that they'll do something that isn't essentially a bill-of-retainer to limit Apple while not solving the tracker privacy problem at all.