'Tragically, in multiple instances, AirTag tracking led directly to a murder,' according to a class-action lawsuit against Apple, which was updated to add more than three dozen new plaintiffs.
Here’s the thing about all this. Yes, tech existed before airtags. But apple made the tech incredibly accurate, incredibly cheap, and marketed the hell out of it.
On top of that, the protection features have been massively lacking, especially around people who do not use iPhones.When they first came out, a few companies did tests on their employees around air tags. They would slip air tags into their car. The end result was that some people noticed, especially iPhone users. Many did not.
Undoubtedly, there are people dead today who would be alive if airtags didn’t exist or if apple had done more.
And yes, we do hold companies up to some level of responsibility. Of course we do.
An edit to say I’m disheartened that so many people are willing to say it’s okay, if apple do this. The main complaint is that other tiny companies also make GPS trackers so why should apple be punished for making something that has lead to abuse and death.
We should be collectively holding major corporations to task, not standing up for corporations right to cause harm. Even if they make your favourite phone.
Mini GPS trackers have been available for cheap (cheaper than AirTags) for years and they’re practically undetectable. No apps are going to help you there.
Apple built detection features, beeping alarms, and even apps for platforms beyond their own to aid people in not being tracked against their will. Tile didn’t. I don’t know any other trackers that have put as much effort into the problem.
Google wouldn’t implement OS-level features for competitors’ products so people suggesting Apple shouldn’t have launched until their competitors added in support are being unrealistic.
Undoubtedly, there are people dead today who would be alive if hammers didn’t exist or if manufacturers had made them softer.
Undoubtedly, there are people dead today who would be alive if paracetamol didn’t exist or if chemists had done more.
Undoubtedly, there are people dead today who would be alive if cars didn’t exist or if the auto industry didn’t lie for years about the dangers of leaded fuel.
Your answer to “you may be killed by someone using a defacto spy device marketed by one of the largest tech companies in existence” is to “get a new phone”. Jesus. Do you hear yourself?
What should have been done to start with. They shouldn’t have launched a product (neither should tile or the others) that had the potential to be used this way without significant protections in place. They didn’t even protect their own users at launch.
I’m not really sure what you’re arguing here. That they’ve done enough? That they shouldn’t be liable for the damage their products have done? That they aren’t violating people’s privacy and potentially their safety by continuing to sell these items? If this were a car manufacturer and someone had died because of a feature of the car there would be a whole recall.
What I’m hearing is a lot of whataboutism in this whole thread. Nobody should be allowed to just track you without your permission. Privacy laws should be enforced and should be strengthened to prevent this type of thing.
It doesn’t matter that the auto industry poisoned people for 100 years while lying about the dangers. It matters that leaded fuel isn’t used anymore because people and their governments did something about it (leaded fuel is only used in aircraft, racing cars, farm equipment, and marine engines but not in consumer vehicles since 1975 in the US).
It doesn’t matter that drug companies in the past haven’t given people a complete list of the dangers of drugs. They do now.
It doesn’t sound like you’re actually looking for an answer to what could be improved. It sounds like you use the product or one like it so because it’s convenient for you you don’t care about the inconvenience or danger to anyone else. That’s pretty callous.
Their protection features did not go nearly far enough and were far too restricted to only apple users. I don’t see why apple shouldn’t have to be punished for causing harm just because others are too small to notice.
Yeah, this type of tech is way more accessible than it was before, which isn’t the problem. It’s that Apple has not done enough to provide safety to users from airtags if they aren’t using an Apple product. This isn’t one of those techs that should be gated behind a walled garden because of the potential consequences to unsuspecting targets.
Apple needs to break from their usual walled garden approach when it comes to their tracking technology.
Ok…and what about the trackers you can buy on Amazon for less than $20 that don’t tell anyone that they’re tracking except the stalker? Do those next. Explain how Apple is at fault for that. I’m almost there.
Top tip, if you start a discussion point with “what about”, you should check it for whatsboutisms that aren’t helpful to the discussion.
In this case those aren’t relevant, those products did not have a blisteringly widescale advertising and marketing budget around them advertising how you can use the greatest tracking network ever created by the world’s top engineers so you can track anything you want
You do realise that something being widespread doesn’t really matter here.
If a stalker wants to stalk people then they’re going to find the tech to do it, whether that be an Amazon tracker or an AirPod.
Do you actually believe that since Apple released AirTags that regular people thought yes I can finally stalk people now.
I can’t work out if your take is just based on naivety or just bashing Apple because it’s in vogue to do that.
There are plenty of things that Apple are actually responsible for that you can call them out on. You know like using cheap labour at Foxconn, their greenwashing of their reputation, there stranglehold on their OS with terms of targeted ads, their pricing, etc. AirTags is such a none issue that you take away from the actual shitty stuff they do.
That’s from someone who owns an iPhone and used to work for them. Give it some thought and let me know your thoughts.
AirTags notify people that they’re in the vicinity. That same marketing campaign also shared that iPhones tell you and that there’s an app for Android to detect them. You can’t have your cake and get to eat it too.
Would the problem be solvable by saying Google needs to break from their approach (do nothing, in this case), and work with Apple to incorporate Apple’s tech into Android by default?
Just trying to think through the finger pointing that happens as we reel in tech.
However, the onus to mitigate problems created by one company shouldn’t be their on competitors.
Apple launched AirTags alone, leveraging its massive Find My network, in order to have an immense advantage in the market, and this helped Apple rake in millions and millions of dollars.
It could have coordinated with Google even before the AirTag launch, but this would have probably resulted in missing out on millions in profits. So Apple chose profits over mitigating ethical and moral concerns, and only fixed problems a long time after it started selling the product to customers.
Here’s the thing about all this. Yes, tech existed before airtags. But apple made the tech incredibly accurate, incredibly cheap, and marketed the hell out of it.
On top of that, the protection features have been massively lacking, especially around people who do not use iPhones.When they first came out, a few companies did tests on their employees around air tags. They would slip air tags into their car. The end result was that some people noticed, especially iPhone users. Many did not.
Undoubtedly, there are people dead today who would be alive if airtags didn’t exist or if apple had done more.
And yes, we do hold companies up to some level of responsibility. Of course we do.
An edit to say I’m disheartened that so many people are willing to say it’s okay, if apple do this. The main complaint is that other tiny companies also make GPS trackers so why should apple be punished for making something that has lead to abuse and death.
We should be collectively holding major corporations to task, not standing up for corporations right to cause harm. Even if they make your favourite phone.
It’s not like there aren’t any trackers that lack any and all protection. I don’t really see the manufacturer at fault here.
Mini GPS trackers have been available for cheap (cheaper than AirTags) for years and they’re practically undetectable. No apps are going to help you there.
Apple built detection features, beeping alarms, and even apps for platforms beyond their own to aid people in not being tracked against their will. Tile didn’t. I don’t know any other trackers that have put as much effort into the problem.
Google wouldn’t implement OS-level features for competitors’ products so people suggesting Apple shouldn’t have launched until their competitors added in support are being unrealistic.
Undoubtedly, there are people dead today who would be alive if hammers didn’t exist or if manufacturers had made them softer.
Undoubtedly, there are people dead today who would be alive if paracetamol didn’t exist or if chemists had done more.
Undoubtedly, there are people dead today who would be alive if cars didn’t exist or if the auto industry didn’t lie for years about the dangers of leaded fuel.
deleted by creator
Not for anyone using any android variant below android
6.09.0. There’s still users using phones stuck onlollipopPie.deleted by creator
Your answer to “you may be killed by someone using a defacto spy device marketed by one of the largest tech companies in existence” is to “get a new phone”. Jesus. Do you hear yourself?
deleted by creator
Did I say anything about banning the product?
deleted by creator
What should have been done to start with. They shouldn’t have launched a product (neither should tile or the others) that had the potential to be used this way without significant protections in place. They didn’t even protect their own users at launch.
I’m not really sure what you’re arguing here. That they’ve done enough? That they shouldn’t be liable for the damage their products have done? That they aren’t violating people’s privacy and potentially their safety by continuing to sell these items? If this were a car manufacturer and someone had died because of a feature of the car there would be a whole recall.
What I’m hearing is a lot of whataboutism in this whole thread. Nobody should be allowed to just track you without your permission. Privacy laws should be enforced and should be strengthened to prevent this type of thing.
It doesn’t matter that the auto industry poisoned people for 100 years while lying about the dangers. It matters that leaded fuel isn’t used anymore because people and their governments did something about it (leaded fuel is only used in aircraft, racing cars, farm equipment, and marine engines but not in consumer vehicles since 1975 in the US).
It doesn’t matter that drug companies in the past haven’t given people a complete list of the dangers of drugs. They do now.
It doesn’t sound like you’re actually looking for an answer to what could be improved. It sounds like you use the product or one like it so because it’s convenient for you you don’t care about the inconvenience or danger to anyone else. That’s pretty callous.
But they have added protection features, unlike virtually every other option. Yet they are the ones being sued? It does not seem fair.
Their protection features did not go nearly far enough and were far too restricted to only apple users. I don’t see why apple shouldn’t have to be punished for causing harm just because others are too small to notice.
Yeah, this type of tech is way more accessible than it was before, which isn’t the problem. It’s that Apple has not done enough to provide safety to users from airtags if they aren’t using an Apple product. This isn’t one of those techs that should be gated behind a walled garden because of the potential consequences to unsuspecting targets.
Apple needs to break from their usual walled garden approach when it comes to their tracking technology.
Ok…and what about the trackers you can buy on Amazon for less than $20 that don’t tell anyone that they’re tracking except the stalker? Do those next. Explain how Apple is at fault for that. I’m almost there.
Top tip, if you start a discussion point with “what about”, you should check it for whatsboutisms that aren’t helpful to the discussion.
In this case those aren’t relevant, those products did not have a blisteringly widescale advertising and marketing budget around them advertising how you can use the greatest tracking network ever created by the world’s top engineers so you can track anything you want
You do realise that something being widespread doesn’t really matter here.
If a stalker wants to stalk people then they’re going to find the tech to do it, whether that be an Amazon tracker or an AirPod.
Do you actually believe that since Apple released AirTags that regular people thought yes I can finally stalk people now.
I can’t work out if your take is just based on naivety or just bashing Apple because it’s in vogue to do that.
There are plenty of things that Apple are actually responsible for that you can call them out on. You know like using cheap labour at Foxconn, their greenwashing of their reputation, there stranglehold on their OS with terms of targeted ads, their pricing, etc. AirTags is such a none issue that you take away from the actual shitty stuff they do.
That’s from someone who owns an iPhone and used to work for them. Give it some thought and let me know your thoughts.
AirTags notify people that they’re in the vicinity. That same marketing campaign also shared that iPhones tell you and that there’s an app for Android to detect them. You can’t have your cake and get to eat it too.
deleted by creator
Would the problem be solvable by saying Google needs to break from their approach (do nothing, in this case), and work with Apple to incorporate Apple’s tech into Android by default?
Just trying to think through the finger pointing that happens as we reel in tech.
Google already did this.
However, the onus to mitigate problems created by one company shouldn’t be their on competitors.
Apple launched AirTags alone, leveraging its massive Find My network, in order to have an immense advantage in the market, and this helped Apple rake in millions and millions of dollars.
It could have coordinated with Google even before the AirTag launch, but this would have probably resulted in missing out on millions in profits. So Apple chose profits over mitigating ethical and moral concerns, and only fixed problems a long time after it started selling the product to customers.
You’re making some big assumptions. That’s ok, though.
I appreciate the link.
I can sleep knowing Android friends have built-in safety measures, just as I do on an iPhone.