I've had something similar happen. For devices that don't have or can't access GPS, they look the MAC address of nearby wifi base stations and see if anything correlated that with a location earlier. This is what the iphone did at launch with the skyhook database.
However in some cases your wifi MAC isn't unique and it'll think you're elsewhere. In my specific case it kept resetting my time zone to somewhere in Russia (I'm in Massachusetts) because that's what the MAC said.
It seems to be worse if there are no other networks in range for it to do sanity checking against.
Expecting this random guy to deeply understand the technicalities of why Apple is directing angry people to his house, in a state where it's legal to kill people for stealing your stuff, is not terribly reasonable. If techies are interested, they could help by figuring out the reason for this.
> The Post reached out to Apple on Thursday seeking comment on Schuster’s predicament, and the company’s efforts to resolve it, and was awaiting a reply.
Yeah sure, expecting journalists to find a cause + fix for the trillion-dollar company's buggy software and _only_ call-out and amplify a commoner's struggle _after_ they figure it out sounds super reasonable. Totally.
Because you said "Expecting journalists to have an answer before writing a piece is very reasonable." - given the journalist did not have an answer, it implies you think the journalist should have had an answer before publishing
I don't expect a random guy to deeply understand the technicalities, but I do expect a journalist to do more investigation than reaching out to a large corporation for comment.
Regardless of what is "expected" I stand by that it would have been interesting to dig in to the details. Hopefully somebody does. I doubt apple will, but I think there can be lessons learned from understanding how it happened if someone were to research it.
That may be slightly overstated, but use of lethal force to protect one's property is legal in Texas. Very recently somebody in Texas did kill somebody for stealing their truck, using airtags to find to track them down. Legally speaking, somebody showing up at your door with a gun to recover their phone may not be okay. Realistically, the law doesn't act until you're dead.
While it probably wouldn’t apply in this specific case, in Texas the Castle Doctrine describes circumstances where one could apply lethal force to defend one’s property
Can you explain how this has any relevance at all to going to someone else’s house and killing them because you wrongly think your cellphone is somewhere nearby?
As far as I can see the person who I was replying to is simply making this up.
> In what state is it legal to kill people for stealing your stuff?
In Texas, under certain circumstances, it is legal to kill people for stealing your stuff. This might be very different than the laws in the state that you live in (it certainly is for me in New Jersey) but it is the reality.
As I mentioned it likely wouldn't apply in this case.
As a side note, the Castle Doctrine does apply within one's vehicle. Presumably an argument could be made that if someone stayed within their vehicle while confronting the home owner the Castle Doctrine may apply. Admittedly that is quite a stretch and I have no idea if something like that has ever been tried in Texas courts.
Could just be in the center of whatever radius the system spits out from cell tower triangulation, I assume? Or something similar. The technical details would be fun.
However in some cases your wifi MAC isn't unique and it'll think you're elsewhere. In my specific case it kept resetting my time zone to somewhere in Russia (I'm in Massachusetts) because that's what the MAC said.
It seems to be worse if there are no other networks in range for it to do sanity checking against.