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Apple sued by two women over AirTag stalking
- seanalltogether 4y agoDoes android warn if you're being tracked by a AirTag?
- groovybits 4y agoThere are apps for Android that monitor and alert for nearby AirTags. There's an official one by Apple, Tracker Detect [1], but I've heard that some third-party apps perform better [2]. I have no personal experience with any of them. 1: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trackerdetect https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trac... 2. https://mashtips.com/android-airtag-finder-apps/ https://mashtips.com/android-airtag-finder-apps/
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- N19PEDL2 4y agoNot natively. You need to install a specific app, for example: - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trackerdetect https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.trac... - https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard https://github.com/seemoo-lab/AirGuard
- Tagbert 4y agoApple provides an Android app to check for AirTags nearby
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- uni_rule 4y agoPart of me says "kitchen knife manufacturer sued over stabbing" and the other part of me says the fact that these tags can be rigged to avoid sweeps is screwy. The linked story says the tags just have a hole drilled into the tiny speaker so it doesn't beep. Just making it ping and not showing it on the phone itself seems like a dumb way to make "sweeps" work with these tags.
- lzaaz 4y agoThe solution obviously is to coat the speaker in diamond.
- paxys 4y agoGun manufacturers have been sued over school shootings, so this isn't that much out of the ordinary.
- sigzero 4y agoBecause of how they advertised and I don't know if anyone has actually won those argument.
- alistairSH 4y agoThe iPhone app does have a pretty accurate Tag-finding feature. So disabling the speaker doesn't preclude a victim being notified of tracking and finding the device. But, that's on Apple. There's only a very limited [official Apple] app available on Android - it lacks automatic notification of being tracked - victim has to manually scan for Tags. I don't know how well it can precisely locate the Tags. EDIT - added "official Apple" in brackets above.
- CharlesW 4y ago> There's only a very limited app available on Android… Android users have a bunch of AirTag scanning options: https://mashtips.com/android-airtag-finder-apps/ https://mashtips.com/android-airtag-finder-apps/
- daemoens 4y agoNo they don't. Besides the obvious flaw of having to download and open an app to check if you're being tracked, they just don't work. They all have sub 2.5 ratings on the app store. The only ones on that list that don't have terrible ratings are general bluetooth scanners and they don't tell you that you're being tracked, just that there's one nearby. Compare that to iPhones where you'll get a notification if one is following your movement, they're functionally useless if you don't think you're being tracked.
- sorenjan 4y agoIt was the people placing the tags that knowingly was breaking the law. There have been devices available for years that makes it easy to track somebody, they're only suing Apple because Apple have a lot of money so the potential payout is big. This is like suing the phone company because your creepy ex calls and threatens you.
- tyingq 4y agoThat Apple's system uses the huge existing network of "every iphone" does reduce the barrier to entry quite a lot. It's cheaper, doesn't require as much technical knowledge, placement considerations for GPS antennas, power source for hungrier devices, etc. And Apple did tout the features intended to discourage it being used this way.
- josefresco 4y ago> That Apple's system uses the huge existing network of "every iphone" does reduce the barrier to entry quite a lot. I bought a handful of Tiles to track my ATV/snowmobile that I leave out of state. Even when they're in my driveway, well within my Wi-Fi range they do not work. I'm going to ditch them for AirTags.
- chipsa 4y agoTiles need Bluetooth to work, not Wi-Fi.
- josefresco 4y agoWow. I feel like an idiot. Despite mentioning "GPS" several times in their copy, it does seem that Bluetooth is the only way to "find" a device. I still don't understand how the "GPS" part of their trackers work. Anyone have details? I'm going to remove them and attach to "household" items instead.
- tyingq 4y ago
- smileybarry 4y agoThe article doesn't link to or mention the case number; from Reuters[1]: (which might be a better URL for this item anyway?) > The case is Hughes et al v. Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-07668. Link to the case filing: https://unicourt.com/case/pc-db5-hughes-et-al-v-apple-inc-1351511 https://unicourt.com/case/pc-db5-hughes-et-al-v-apple-inc-13... 1: https://www.reuters.com/legal/apple-is-sued-by-women-who-say-airtag-lets-stalkers-track-victims-2022-12-06/ https://www.reuters.com/legal/apple-is-sued-by-women-who-say...
- tyingq 4y agoHelpful, though it's a link to only some very superficial info on the case. Downloading the documents from there is only free for "crowdsourced" documents. I imagine someone will download from PACER and publish it publicly sometime later today though.
- sethd 4y agoI'd kind of like to sue Apple for neutering my AirTags so that they are no longer a good way to recover stolen items.
- mensetmanusman 4y agoSigh, AirTags could be super useful. We can never have nice things.
- sorenjan 4y agoIn an ideal world this would make Apple, Samsung, Google and the others start using a common system where you could find out if a tag is following you regardless of your phone's OS. I guess a big part of the problem, if there is a technical problem, is that these tags are siloed in separate systems. How many Android users are going to download and run an Apple app to get notified if there's an Airtag following them? What about Tiles, Samsung tags, whatever is sold on AliExpress, etc? If course the real issue is that people will always do bad things to others. These abusive exes could have followed these women in rented cars, would we really blame Hertz in that case?
- jandrese 4y agoRemember that in the US you can sue anybody for anything at any time. Doesn't mean you'll get anywhere in the courts.
- traveler01 4y agoSomeone is trying to make money fast. AirTags are a tool, the ones being sued are the ones who were using them to break the law. Also, Apple does have features to prevent stalking.
- LeoPanthera 4y agoAirTags are literally the only tracking device that has any kind of anti-stalking feature at all. This lawsuit, and the attention Apple is getting, is absurd.
- briffle 4y agoThe anti-stalking feature is actually pretty annoying. We ordered a few, and then quickly learned you can't share their location with family members, etc. So all of them got registered to my spouse's phone, and I started getting stalker warnings for taking her car with her keys, or driving our family to the next state to visit family, with a kids laptop bag in the car, etc. Having family sharing actually work would have 'fixed' one of the two cases in the article: >According to the other woman in the case, her husband placed an AirTag in her child's backpack to track her.
- twawaaay 4y agoSo the question is, if those were not airtags but Google Pixel phones, would they sue Google for it? I mean... you can do pretty much the same with Google Pixel and more. You can buy used ones for cheaper than an AirTag. And it does not require any special knowledge either. About the only thing is that it is easier to conceal an AirTag and it will run for much longer, but there is no shortage of places on a car where you can be sure your wife will never look and many times you don't need for it to stay active for weeks or you have ability to charge it regularly making it only a bit of nuisance.
- antonf 4y ago> you can do pretty much the same with Google Pixel and more. Can you? According to apple website, “AirTag is designed to keep going more than a year on a standard battery you can easily replace”. Pixel probably wouldn’t last even a week. [1] https://www.apple.com/airtag/ https://www.apple.com/airtag/
- twawaaay 4y agoAs I mentioned, that might not be a problem at all. If you can put it there once, you can probably take it out every week or two, charge it and replace it. Or replace the powerbank it is hooked up to. Not all surveillance needs to be constant and long term. If you are curious what your wife does during lunchtime or what is your coworkers address it might be enough to get it running for couple of hours.
- jvolkman 4y agoOr, instead of all of that, you could just pick up a $30 AirTag off the shelf at Target.
- Graziano_M 4y agoI don't really think this is on Apple, but I find it funny that you need to pay Apple (by buying an iPhone) in order to get their anti-stalking features. My grandfather, who never used a smart phone, would have no way of knowing an AirTag was being used against him.
- Tagbert 4y agoIf you have an iPhone it will tell you if an unknown AirTag is near you. Apple provides a free app for Android phones that will let you see if any AirTags are nearby. You don’t have to buy anything
- Graziano_M 4y agoExcept for a smart phone?
- roxymusic1973 4y agoMy great-great-grandfather too.
- quitit 4y agoThis is pretty false information. Along with an Android app being available for direct scanning. The airtag itself will beep if it's been away from its linked device for an unusual amount of time. It's also the only tracking device that when turned into police can be used to obtain information on the person observing the location (i.e. the stalker).
- valarauko 4y agoI think the android app has to manually search for nearby tags, while iPhone will proactively surface notifications that they're being followed, something the Android app does not do. So you'd have to at least suspect that you're being stalked with Android.
- TimButterfield 4y agoApple could mitigate this risk to some extent. If some tracker that is not mine remains in proximity to me while I move around (or my iDevice does), it should warn me and then help me to find and identify/eliminate that tracker. If that tracker belongs to a member of my family or immediate circle, I could mark that tracker as accepted and not a risk. It would also be good to know who that tracker belongs to so I could be aware of the risk coming from that person.
- varenc 4y agoThat set of features literally already exists. An iDevice will very aggressively warn your about trackers that don’t belong to you following you around. But of course only on iDevices. Though there’s no way to share an AirTag with someone else. (That might open up the risk that a stalker could “share” an AirTag with their victim in a way they’re not aware of for the purpose of silencing those alerts)