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by vaillant 1883 days ago
This really feels like a losing battle - especially the part where you only get warned about being stalked by the AirTag if you have an iPhone. Having the technology to know where things are is great but we need to figure out how to account for bad actors somehow.

I don’t have answers but tech companies can’t create the tools that enable harm and then wash their hands of it. Good for Apple for doing _something_, points for effort.
2 comments
dangoor 1883 days ago
> especially the part where you only get warned about being stalked by the AirTag if you have an iPhone

I believe that's not 100% true because of a final failsafe: the AirTag will start making noise if it's separated for too long (the definition of which could be an issue) from the owner's iPhone. That failsafe works if the person doesn't even have a smartphone.

I don't know if there _is_ a perfect solution for this, but they are indeed trying.

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jjkaczor 1883 days ago
The failsafe (audible alarm) looks like it would take a couple minutes to disable physically: https://www.iphonehacks.com/2021/04/airtag-teardown-reveals-...
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hrktb 1883 days ago
As a caveat to that, from the reviews it seems the sound is produced by vibrating the outer shell.

I wouldn’t be surprised if removing the outershell or altering it would stop it making much noise. We’re in a situation where there is intention to hide the device, so making some effort to make it silent should be taken into account.

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jolux 1883 days ago
I think the suggestion to cooperate with Google, like they did with COVID-19 tracking, is a great idea. I'm not sure they will go for it, though.
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