Apple Air Tag- who thought up this thing?

[Kev Williams]

Just saw a news story on TV, never heard of these things, a quarter-sized tracking device that can be tracked by its owner by phone or computer-- Makes it's real handy for the local stalkers to drop into ladies purses, or for car thieves to stick on cars they want to steal later that night... ridiculously easy to weaponize. Whatever their benefits,, IMO the risks completely outweigh them...

[Edwin Santos]

Just saw a news story on TV, never heard of these things, a quarter-sized tracking device that can be tracked by its owner by phone or computer-- Makes it's real handy for the local stalkers to drop into ladies purses, or for car thieves to stick on cars they want to steal later that night... ridiculously easy to weaponize. Whatever their benefits,, IMO the risks completely outweigh them...

There are a couple of protections. If you have an iPhone, it will detect the nefarious AirTag and messages will start popping up on your phone to say "AirTag found moving with you". Apple offers a downloadable app that will do the same thing on an Android phone. I think there is also a way to disable the device that is tracking you, but I'm not sure how to do it, and no doubt, it's a research step so not ideal. Yes, the designers probably thought all the productive lost/found uses and didn't consider bad actors. I'm going to guess the legal department was not involved, or asleep at the switch.

So your larger point is probably a valid concern, and if an iPhone user suddenly sees AirTag messages, it may be time to panic or you could find yourself face to face with Javier Bardem from No Country for Old Men.

[Scott Clausen]

I think the most likely use is sung to the tune of "your cheating heart"

[Steve Demuth]

The thing is, just making these things so easily available puts the burden on everyone who might be concerned about stalking or other forms of victimization to be scanning for them. Makes Apple's tech platform a burden to people who don't have it, don't need it, and don't want it. But as others have said, Apple is hardly alone in doing this.

[mike stenson]

The thing is, just making these things so easily available puts the burden on everyone who might be concerned about stalking or other forms of victimization to be scanning for them. Makes Apple's tech platform a burden to people who don't have it, don't need it, and don't want it. But as others have said, Apple is hardly alone in doing this.

At least it's possible to tell with these.. the others are intentionally designed to be covertly deployed, and completely hidden from the target. Aside from that, I'd venture to guess that most everyone here is having their locations actively tracked, and they essentially volunteered for it.

[Jim Koepke]

Aside from that, I'd venture to guess that most everyone here is having their locations actively tracked, and they essentially volunteered for it.

Cell phones can be tracked.

Many automobiles built in the past 20 years have tracking built in.

If you spend any time online there is probably a data file on you with all kinds of things in which you may or may not be interested.

Following a link to a product on Amazon may generate emails for the next week about deals on the item that was viewed out of curiosity.

jtk

[mike stenson]

Cell phones can be tracked.

Many automobiles built in the past 20 years have tracking built in.

If you spend any time online there is probably a data file on you with all kinds of things in which you may or may not be interested.

Following a link to a product on Amazon may generate emails for the next week about deals on the item that was viewed out of curiosity.

jtk

Then there's every purchase you make, etc. The sheer amount of data collected on us all daily is amazing. Thanks to things like individual identity cookies, it's also possible to tie it all together. Without any sort of oversight.

[Steve Demuth]

Then there's every purchase you make, etc. The sheer amount of data collected on us all daily is amazing. Thanks to things like individual identity cookies, it's also possible to tie it all together. Without any sort of oversight.

This is exactly right. Anyone who uses a credit card or other non-cash payment mechanism, has a cell phone, drives a modern car, uses email, uses the internet is contributing to a large data cache about themselves that is distributed across many different companies and government agencies, and which is often aggregated by other "pure data" companies. If you want a clear understanding of what all that is about, go to Acxiom's website and read all the myriad ways they are sucking up data about you, so they can resell it to anyone who wants a piece of your wallet or digital attention span. Their "product" is to help those companies understand you better than you understand yourself.

[Stan Calow]

Yes, all those things are tracking you. This AirTag-type technology just puts it more easily into the hands of individuals, good and bad. The Tile system has been around for a few years.
It does have good uses too. I put one in my own car so I could find it in a big parking lot if necessary., or if stolen. I put one in kindergartener grandson's school backpack so we know where he is. I put one on dog's collar in case he runs off again. There are other good uses. Some people put them in luggage and toolboxes, for example,in case it is lost or stolen, and on car keys, wallets, and other things you cant remember where you put them. Almost any good thing gets abused sooner or later.

[Curt Harms]

At least it's possible to tell with these.. the others are intentionally designed to be covertly deployed, and completely hidden from the target. Aside from that, I'd venture to guess that most everyone here is having their locations actively tracked, and they essentially volunteered for it.

At least the stand-alone trackers seem to have an Achilles heel - power source. It seems unlikely to me that anything small enough to be not easily noticed will have enough battery capacity to transmit for too long without being replaced or recharged. A cell phone doesn't have that limitation.

[Roger Feeley]

At least the stand-alone trackers seem to have an Achilles heel - power source. It seems unlikely to me that anything small enough to be not easily noticed will have enough battery capacity to transmit for too long without being replaced or recharged. A cell phone doesn't have that limitation.

Curt,
They should last a year or so. I worked on Bluetooth 4.0 or Low Energy. Their goal was to create a sensor that used so little power that the battery life in operation would be indistinguishable from the batteries shelf life.

Beacons we’re a big deal for a while. The idea is that when you are in a target store, you run a target app. The app is constantly looking for beacons which are coated in strategic spots. By looking at relative signal strengths of various beacons, the app knows where you are in the store.

There are some benefits:
if you want to find something, the app will locate it and guide you to it.
You can input your shopping list and the app will plan a route for you.
If you and your spouse both run the app, it can guide you to each other.

Theres also creepy stuff:
The app can serve up targeted adds based on your location.
The app can observe how fast you move and when you pause

I don’t know of any implementations of beacons in stores. As I recall, Macys played around with them. Early on, someone realized that you could tag your luggage or your kid and that’s where most beacons are used.

As I recall, a beacon is a Bluetooth chip that happily transmits a unique number when asked. All the brains are elsewhere.

[Roger Feeley]

I forgot to mention that there are now very limited range Bluetooth devices that harvest their energy from wifi. Also, someone played around with a Bluetooth chip that used the energy from the Bluetooth query to power a response. This is how RFID and near field communication (NFC) work.

I’m not in the game anymore. Retired a long time ago. So my information might be a bit stale.

[mike stenson]

The creepy stuff isn't limited to when you're using an airtag. This is something that's done with every phones OS. The beacons just make things less fuzzy.

[Jim Koepke]

At least the stand-alone trackers seem to have an Achilles heel - power source. It seems unlikely to me that anything small enough to be not easily noticed will have enough battery capacity to transmit for too long without being replaced or recharged. A cell phone doesn't have that limitation.

Bad news:

Air Tag Battery Life.png

That if from the Apple web site.

jtk

[John K Jordan]

There are a couple of protections. If you have an iPhone, it will detect the nefarious AirTag and messages will start popping up on your phone to say "AirTag found moving with you". Apple offers a downloadable app that will do the same thing on an Android phone. I think there is also a way to disable the device that is tracking you, ..,.

I just read an article that said, yes, your iPhone will alert you. However people reported getting the alert, i think, up to 5 hours later by which time they were already home. Said android app will not alert you unless you open the app and ask it to check for a tag.

The advice, if you are alerted to a rouge tag, is to not go home but go to a police station or to a public place and call the police.

Google tells me the battery in one of these is good for a year.

I suspect you might disable one with a hammer. Or ask a long-haul trucker or police officer to take it for a ride.