The AirTag is a good way to locate objects… or people. Apple is currently facing a legal complaint from several women, who accuse the device of promoting harassment, Bloomberg reports.
Two cases are currently mentioned in the context of this complaint: that of a man who stalked his ex-girlfriend by hiding an AirTag in the steering wheel of his car. This scheme allowed him to find out where she had gone after her breakup. In another case, a woman discovered that her ex-husband had attached an AirTag to her son’s school bag to track her joint movements.
The complaint – a class action involving multiple plaintiffs – was filed in federal court in San Francisco.
“Stalker Proof”
When AirTags were released in April 2021, Apple sold the device as “stalker-proof” (resistant to stalkers). The group had included a feature to notify, via sound notification, a user when an AirTag was available within a Bluetooth accessible radius (approximately 30 feet) for an extended period.
After multiple complaints from privacy lawyers, the giant even increased security, shortened delays in sending this notification, and added a notification when an AirTag moved in the same way as a user. An app for Android users to identify suspicious AirTags has also been put online.
But that wasn’t enough to silence the usual controversies about the device.
For a year and a half, several serious cases have been possible: a man shot dead a woman he had followed in Akron, Ohio (United States). In Indianapolis, a woman had hidden an AirTag in her ex-boyfriend’s car before following him and running over him outside a bar.
Therefore, the San Francisco plaintiffs accuse the device of not being secure and seek unspecified financial compensation. They want to carry the voice of women “who have suffered or are harassed through this dangerous product.”
Source: BFM TV
