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Google's New Anti-Stalking Measure Will Alert Android Users About Unknown AirTags
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Yeah but crime has gotten so bad in some cities (Chicago), that city officials are advocating hiding them in your car to help the police.
But it is actually useful to find missing and misplaced items like wallet, keys and bags. Oh wait, that's its real purpose. Nvm.
The current lead article on Macrumors is about an AirTag hidden in a stuffed animal, inside a safe, used to track said safe when it was stolen from a bar.
Hey Apple, this whole anti-stalking feature is so stupid. Completely defeats the purpose of the device. There are lots of things that we can abuse and we as individuals should be held responsible for these misuses. You can use a car for transportation or for a terrorist rampage, for example.
Bad press and lawsuits.
Yes, you're correct that as individuals should be held accountable for in terms of misuse...but as a tech company (in the age of regulations), unfortunately, they can't just say that and move on.
Although there are other bluetooth trackers out there, it is AirTags that makes the news. Shortly after they were released and someone used it track strangers...those stories were all over the media. The family at Disneyworld, a young women being tracked from the mall. Warnings about AirTags were starting to grow.
There were warnings and stories & that class action lawsuit. Apple was bound to update the settings.
Obviously, they can still be effective in tracking stuff (even stolen stuff as the article states)...
Just imagion travelling by bus or train, or anykind public service.. Warning all time that airtag is travelling with you
If the owner is present, there shouldn't be any alerts. It only notifies you if the tag is separated from the owner and moving with you.
You mean the Mecca of surveilance? The Mouse has both long and short range tracking built into those cute Magic Bands they encourage guests to wear.
The Magic Bands certainly do, and its not really addressed in a negative way.
It was the "AirTags Track Family Through Disneyworld" headline that made the news. Even internationally, that story was everywhere.
And that was my point, there are plenty of other devices on the market or in use that track...but it was AirTags that got the bad PR. Apple, from a branding standpoint, was bound to update the settings on it.
This is all just working very poorly.
I recently got one of these "an unknown tracker is tracking you" alert and it was showing me a map of where I had been the past few hours.
i was traveling by plane and bus and it sure looked like I had a stalker!
But in reality of course there was simply another traveler traveling on the same route, taking the same plane and the same bus, who had some AirTags.
Now the tags become useless for tracking stolen items. I am not sure what % that use case was but I assume around 50%.
I recently got one of these "an unknown tracker is tracking you" alert and it was showing me a map of where I had been the past few hours.
i was traveling by plane and bus and it sure looked like I had a stalker!
But in reality of course there was simply another traveler traveling on the same route, taking the same plane and the same bus, who had some AirTags.
Now the tags become useless for tracking stolen items. I am not sure what % that use case was but I assume around 50%.
oh great! more spam omitted from Google with unintended airtags just passing by without intention
i wonder how big are the mansions of all the users of this forum that need to pay for an air tag to find their misplaced phone left on the couch
Not merely limited to advertisement delivery, Google has, on multiple occasions, engaged in collaborations with law enforcement agencies, enabling them to perform intricate geo-triangulation of data pertaining to all individuals in close proximity to a crime scene. Subsequently, each of these individuals underwent extensive interrogation. While it is evident that combating stalking practices is of paramount importance, it would be naive to assume that Google's utilization of your data is exclusively restricted to advertising purposes.
No big deal for the vast majority.
Google will push this automatically to most devices as a part of Google play services. It does not require an update by the device vendor. It does not require installation of an App or any manual intervention by the user.
It will work on any device with Android 6 or later that has Bluetooth low energy (the same that was used for COVID tracking) and Google play services.
Android phones that won't work are probably very old. Or maybe from Huawei (banned from Google services).
What's worse? Being tracked by
1) a woman with bad morals
or
2) tracked by Google so they can show targeted ads?
People saying “theft is not their intended use” lost this argument when Apple made this ad referred back in this thread:
I know, the ad is about the MacBook tracking, but it uses the same Find My features as AirTags.
I know, the ad is about the MacBook tracking, but it uses the same Find My features as AirTags.
I would not say lost. Lost shouldn't be alerting someone to them being tracked.
Stolen on the other hand it will be alerting them as that means the device is sticking to a single person.