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this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023
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I'm not a big Apple person, so I've not really cared about Airtags, so I'm probably missing something. If I don't allow them to connect to my device, how are they a concern?
Edit: I realized I asked my question poorly. I get they're a tracking device. My understanding is they're a Bluetooth device that do not have direct Internet access on their own; how is their location being updated if you're not pairing with them to allow them access to your device?
if I want to follow you home, I buy an airtag, drop it in your purse/truck bed/gym bag, wait for 45m and then go to where the airtag is.
That's why it's referring to anti stalking protections; the devices work too well, and allow you to track all sorts of things, even stuff that doesn't belong to you, or that has the agency to not want you to.
Man Allegedly Killed Girlfriend After She Took an AirTag Off Her Car That he Placed There
Woman used an AirTag to track boyfriend, then ran over and killed him, police say
If someone sticks one to your car, they can track everywhere you go and you’d never realize it. The big thing with AirTags is that they aren’t just local tracking. They have access to the entire FindMy network, which is comprised of every single iOS device. So any time you drive past an iPhone, the AirTag is able to report in with your latest location.
With an iOS device, you’ll get an automatic alert if you’re being followed by an unfamiliar tag that hasn’t connected to its paired device in a while. So like if you’re with a friend, you won’t get alerts for their AirTag because the tag is near your friend’s paired phone. But if that friend drops their AirTag into your bag and you go home, you’ll get an alert that you’re being followed by an AirTag.
I swear I've seen they alert someone that there's an airbag near them that isn't theirs
There has been an app for it, but you had to manually download and run the app to get alerts. It wasn’t an automatic thing like it is with iOS.
It’s a literal tracking chip so someone could dump it on you and therefore track you
Somebody with an iphone puts an airtag in your bag/car/etc and track you. Airtag is that usable because it can be located by other people's iphones (and you will be reported), otherwise it would be mostly useless.
Yep you got it! Specifically only the person who bought the AirTag and registered it.
Apple is rolling out the newest generation of them soon so hopefully it will get addressed/secured further.
It’s a tough problem that I’m not sure there’s a solution for besides notifying nearby people that it’s there
They connect to other devices and report their locations. There have been several cases of them being used for stalking.
Apple allows them to connect to any device in the "Find My" network and phone home, regardless of who it belongs to. Presumably that includes you driving next to someone with an iPhone if the tag is in your car. It's supposed to also alert you f it's determined to be travelling with you and the owner is not nearby, but I think that requires you to also have an Apple device, or install and actively use Apple's Tracker Detect app for Android.
https://www.apple.com/airtag/#:~:text=How%20does%20it%20work
Ah, so very similar to what Amazon did with Sidewalk a few years back. I shocked people are ok with allowing this data through their devices. Sidewalk caused a massive backlash because of privacy and data rate concerns.
it's a bit different, in that they're just constantly broadcasting a singular id, over and over. The "tracking" is the application on various devices which receive the broadcast and report it to Apple, along with that device's location.
Sidewalk was packing up actual user data and running it over your network, which has other implications.