[jakear]

This is such an amazingly terrible invention I have no clue where to begin. How many people will be sexually assaulted by predators planting these devices in the bags of unsuspecting folks at bars and tracking their every location? How many domestic abuse survivors will be terrorized by their abusers planting the tag on some possession then having access to their every location? Hell, how many folks will be burglarized by criminals who plant the tag on their car and can see when someone is away for on a distant vacation.

Some technology very much should not exist. “Tags that use an unsuspecting victim’s own phone to report their location back to a would-be criminal without their consent” is definitely on the list.

That being said, there are very easy ways to make this unusable for these cases, and I have no clue why they haven’t been implanted. Off the top of my head: a notification any time a tag has been away from it’s owners device for more than X time and has been around your device for at least Y time since, saying “it looks like XXX’s airtag has been lost and is with you, click here to message them”. Yes, this would sacrifice the privacy of the airtag owner, but it’s an opt-in, they only suffer if they buy an airtag. Compared to as-is a completely random unsuspecting person with no involvement in the ecosystem has both their privacy and security compromised.

[simondotau]

> Off the top of my head: a notification any time a tag has been away from it’s owners device for more than X time and has been around your device for at least Y time

That's exactly what Apple has done. This isn't even new information. It was part of the AirTags announcement on the 20th of April.

"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."

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-introduces-airt...

[asiachick]

So I can track every person that doesn't have an iPhone?

> an AirTag separated from its owner for an extended period of time will play a sound when moved to draw attention to it.

How long is "extended"? It probably won't take more then 60-90 minutes to track someone.

This also sounds really annoying. Anytime I leave a tag somewhere I have to somehow be able to tell it "don't buzz" and if I forget it annoys all the people near where I left it. Leaving things at my parent's when going out while visiting, leaving things in a hotel room, leaving things in the gym locker, etc...

> 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.

So if don't own an NFC capable device? How many people would even know to "NFC" the tag or how?

[Jcowell]

3 days : https://images.frandroid.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Find... but you can also follow someone around for 60-90 minutes as well.

I don’t viable these are viable for tracking since these are linked to your iCloud. I’m willing to bet that with a. Warrant Law enforcement can ask Apple to identify a specific airtag.

[jakear]

Knowing whose airtag it is isn’t all that helpful in domestic abuse cases. My partner is a domestic abuse survivor, if there were an airtag found on her items we’d know exactly whose it is, but we’d still be scared for both of our lives, probably need to permanently vacate our living area, and the police wouldn’t be all too helpful. (Restraining order already in place, not much help when the opposing party is insane)

[jakear]

“Don’t want to be assaulted/stalked/robbed via our $29 device? Buy our $1,000 device!”

[ohazi]

> and I have no clue why they haven’t been implanted. Off the top of my head: a notification any time a tag has been away from it’s owners device for more than X time and has been around your device for at least Y time since, saying “it looks like XXX’s airtag has been lost and is with you, click here to message them”

Did you read past the headline? Apple is doing exactly this.

[jakear]

Did you? Only if they have an iPhone. “Don’t want to be assaulted/stalked/robbed via our $29 device? Buy our $1,000 device!”