'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.
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.
I’m not sure what more you want here. What are your ideas on how to make this more robust?
They provide an app for Android users to locate tags, they give a notification when tags follow someone, they will work with law enforcement to find the Apple ID of the tag owner if found, they give instructions on how to find and disable the tag.
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.
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.
I’m not sure what more you want here. What are your ideas on how to make this more robust?
They provide an app for Android users to locate tags, they give a notification when tags follow someone, they will work with law enforcement to find the Apple ID of the tag owner if found, they give instructions on how to find and disable the tag.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212227
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.