Apple Airtags Used as Stalking Tech
Police both within the United States and internationally are reporting that Apple Airtags, quarter-sized Bluetooth devices that retail for $29 each and are used as tracking tools that users can pair with the company’s Find My app to help locate lost belongings, are being used to stalk individuals and target cars for theft
Landwebs
Police both within the United States and internationally are reporting that Apple Airtags, quarter-sized Bluetooth devices that retail for $29 each and are used as tracking tools that users can pair with the company’s Find My app to help locate lost belongings, are being used to stalk individuals and target cars for theft, reports The Guardian. One in four victims report being stalked through some form of technology, according to the Stalking Prevention Awareness & Resource Center. A 2021 international study by the security company Norton found the number of devices reporting stalkerware daily “increased markedly by 63 percent between September 2020 and May 2021” with the 30-day average increasing from 48,000 to 78,000 detections. There are thousands of different stalkerware variants, such as Cerberus, GPS tracking devices and Tile, a Bluetooth-enabled AirTag competitor that announced a partnership with Amazon last spring. Built-in anti-stalking mechanisms and the fact that they can be easily disabled when discovered render AirTags less dangerous than other forms of stalkerware. In New York, Jackie’s Law – passed in 2014 to allow police to charge people using GPS tracking devices to stalk victims even if the victims have not pressed charges – contributed to police in West Seneca’s decision to subpoena Apple for information about a case involving an AirTag attached to a victim’s car bumper.
However, in general, law enforcement responses to incidences of AirTag stalking have thus far been inconsistent, and help is not always guaranteed. When Arizona’s Kimberly Scroop went to local police after receiving an iPhone notification that she was being tracked in September last year, “they were not interested in taking a report, they didn’t take my name or phone number,” she says. “They said if I noticed someone following me, to call the police then.”
