(The AirTags send the message "AirTag Detected Near You" so you find out that someone may be stalking you, but it's not easy to figure out who.)
ADDED: The post title is not offered as legal advice — or even practical advice. I consider it more of an expression of exasperation and helplessness and a hope of redirecting chaos.
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In December 2021, Apple released an Android app called "Tracker Detect" on the Google Play Store.[19] The app allows Android users to scan for nearby AirTags that are in a "lost" state and potentially being used for malicious tracking purposes.[20] - Wikipedia
In case you have an Android phone and don't want to be blind to these tracking devices that can be put on your car at a shopping mall, or wherever. Between the air tag, and fob scanners, and the like, it's pretty easy to steal your car these days.
The article is about people who see that a tracker has been put on them, and maybe they can find it, but the still don't know who did it or what to do about this amorphous threat.
"still don't know who did it or what to do about this amorphous threat."
Telling the police will do you no good. I wouldn't want to be a twenty year old girl who found this in her purse or somewhere in her clothes when she got home from a club, that is for sure. Or didn't find it. That's why, were I a young lady, or even a young man, I would get the Android app if I didn't own an iPhone. Both my daughters own iPhones or I would be on the phone with them right now telling them to install it.
Should I be victimized by the use of this Orwellian device, I would sue Apple to try to force them to turn off support for it and refund the money of all who bought it. It won't work without apple support.
I agree that everyone should have a phone that warns them if one of these things is nearby, but then what.
These things cost $29, so maybe just destroying the devices is the best option. I'd say throw them in the lake or river, but that seems ecologically wrong.
Gee, a conspiracy theory proven accurate.....
Buy yourself a gun. Carry it at all times. If your state doesn't allow that, move. Prepare yourself to shoot anyone who attacks you.
Bring it on Apple tracker stalker. I'm happy you paranoiacs have a new toy to keep the fear alive.
Fear Eats the Soul. Don Worri Be Happi. Hang Loose, Brah. No Worries Mate. Take it Easy.
Why the disclaimers? I can see you are just citing someone else’s comment, but the idea seems sound. What’s the downside to you of attaching it to a police car? If there isn’t a law against attaching it to someone else’s property without permission, there will be soon (at which point, you can just notify the police), but until then, why not a simple life hack?
"What’s the downside to you of attaching it to a police car?"
You're the one who would be detected, and you're the one who tampered with a police car. You could get arrested. I'm not saying that as a lawyer who has studied particular statutes, but I would not do anything to a police car... or to anyone's car.
I'll put one on my own car so I can find in my dotage while doddering about... Cars all looking like pregnant turtles these days.
Althouse
“You're the one who would be detected, and you're the one who tampered with a police car. You could get arrested. I'm not saying that as a lawyer who has studied particular statutes, but I would not do anything to a police car... or to anyone's car.”
Not sure this is how they work. Criminals buy these tags and put them on cars they desire or on the cars of women they would like to follow home and rob. That is the danger. If found and put on a police car the woman who did so could not be traced.
Ann Althouse said...
These things cost $29, so maybe just destroying the devices is the best option. I'd say throw them in the lake or river, but that seems ecologically wrong.
Find a long-haul truck and attach it to the trailer.
Never understood why Apple makes these things. Are Apple users prone to losing stuff?* Is this a Millennial/Zoomer thing, being unable to keep up with your phone/laptop/etc.?
*Before anyone says anything; I'm typing this comment on an Apple M1 Mac Mini!
It must be weird to imagine that every casual conversation on a blog represents some collection of hugely dramatic actions and emotions in real life. I also advise my daughters to throw out any drink in a club that is out of their sight for any time. Only a disgusting old predator could be dismayed by young women being given such advice, to indulge in a little hyperbole of my own.
At least you don't have to cryogenically freeze or cut them off like skin tags.
According to the Amazon page where it is sold, you can only track it within Bluetooth range, about 30 feet. So adding it to a woman's car or unattended handbag (for example only) would only be feasible (for nefarious ends) if you followed her home or to another place anyway.
According to Apple's website, the device will start playing a sound if it is separated from its owner for a period of time.
That's probably more reassuring to someone who parks in a quiet garage than someone who parks on the street in a noisy city.
Marcus Bressler said...
According to the Amazon page where it is sold, you can only track it within Bluetooth range, about 30 feet. So adding it to a woman's car or unattended handbag (for example only) would only be feasible (for nefarious ends) if you followed her home or to another place anyway.
They can be put in 'Lost' mode and will ping any iPhone in the area within Bluetooth range. The tag's location is then forwarded to the owner's phone. Maybe not the most efficient way of tracking someone, but it could be done.
According to the Amazon page where it is sold, you can only track it within Bluetooth range, about 30 feet.
You can track it farther using the "Find My" network. Nearby (Apple) devices will detect it and let you continue to follow it. The idea of the victim's phone being used (unknowingly and unwillingly) for someone else to track them bothers me more than the tracking tag itself.
Switch to android.
I recall a discussion we had about these devices when they came out - surreptitiously connecting to other peoples devices, effectively using it as a mesh network - and disadvantages seemed to outweigh any advantages.
"oh, I can track my child!"
"What if your child is 18 years old?"
"What if it's someone else's child?"
"..."
How long before cops start using these devices? And police have gone after people for removing/destroying tracking devices.
If you find a tracking device, it is best if it "fell off" somewhere where traffic will destroy it. If you take overt action, it might be one where prosecutors will come after you. There is nothing so nefarious that law enforcement won't use it against those they target with or without a warrant.
Enlist a couple of hard, pipe-hitting confederates, use the tracker to lure your stalker into a trap, break both his legs, shove the airtag up his ass and attach him to a police car.
Is all this Hoorah just an Apple guerilla marketing scheme?
How many more people know about these things now that might not have otherwise?
How many people, even Althouse commenters today, are thinking
"this is really terrible what these are being used for. There ought be a law. But... They do sound useful. Maybe I should put one on my keys"
Here's a poll idea for you Ann: How many commenters currently have one of these.
Repeat in 2 weeks and note the difference.
And commenters please note, the are available via the portal so you can help support the blog.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
Many Apple products are made with slave labor. Before you buy these or any other Apple product you need to ask yourself
Does the alleged coolness of this product justify being personally complicit in slavery/genocide? "
If yes, enjoy your Apple product.
Here's a pro tip on how to rationalize your decision:" they're Chinese and Muslim. They deserve whatever they get. '
John LGBTQBNY Henry
This is kind of like Chik-Fil-A's campaign a few years ago where the got gays and their "allies" to boycott them.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
'I'd say throw them in the lake or river, but that seems ecologically wrong.'
Or tape it to the collar of a stray dog : )
'Does the alleged coolness of this product justify being personally complicit in slavery/genocide?'
As long as the slaves aren't black, nobody cares...*
*Typed on my MacBook Pro.
Is it illegal to track a police car? Presumably there is some sort of trespass to chattels or vandalism charge for putting a tracker on a car, police or otherwise, but is it illegal to track a car, police or otherwise? I am not advocating for widespread tracking. I am not a fan of the surveillance state, or a surveillance society of neighbor spying on neighbor.
Blogger Joe Smith said...
As long as the slaves aren't black, nobody cares...*
Given that there are currently slave markets in North Africa where Sub-Saharan Africans are bought and sold as slaves, I think you statement should read, "As long as the slave traders aren't white, nobody cares..."
Having lost my keys recently (fortunately put two and two together and figured out they'd been mistakenly thrown out with some trash and was able to retrieve them), I contemplated getting something like this. It seems like the device has some utility, but like anything else is subject to abuse. That wouldn't make not want to use it for my own benign purposes, but it might be better if it didn't exist.
Leave it to Apple to design something useful in a way that makes it a potential hazard. I presume there are devices out there that achieve the same purpose without the hazard.
Many Apple products are made with slave labor. Before you buy these or any other Apple product you need to ask yourself
Does the alleged coolness of this product justify being personally complicit in slavery/genocide? "
-----------
all of them quite likely beta tested on slaves dontcha know
One more reason to move out of the blue zones to live amongst people who don't steal cars as a matter of course.
Trying to ban these would be as fruitless as banning gun ownership. It's not the device that commits the crime. It's the (sub) human who wields it.
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