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I didn't read all the replies so forgive me if this has been answered, but...what if I'm just near someone for a long time like at a restaurant? my car keys have an airtag. is it gonna alert to them and they can deactivate my own airtag??

No. It has to follow them around from place to place.
 
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they are though because even if they have no intention of stealing my child they can disable my ability to locate them.
Who would be disabling your ability to locate them if they are simply lost?
 
Who would be disabling your ability to locate them if they are simply lost?
Anyone who wants to turn the tracker off.

First, this idea of lost and stolen is arbitrary. But whatever.

Let's understand and agree that in order for something to be stolen the person has to have the intention to take the item. They could decide to disable a tracker without intending to take the item. Therefore, it wasn't stolen but lost and they disabled it.

Off the top of my head here is a possible compromise: in order to disable the tracker, Apple captures the personal information (device ID, phone number, location, carrier, etc.) of the person disabling the tracker and sends it to the owner of the air tag. The tracker continues to record location but stores the location updates in iCloud for a period of 1 to 6 hours at which time tracking is re-enabled and the tracking data is sent to the air tag owner. No auditory pinging of its physical location by the person who disabled the tracker. The person being tracked has the option to capture the information of the tracker to iCloud during the disabled period to be shared with police. The person who disabled the tracker has their device blocked to only allow contact with ICE and 911 until the tracker is reenabled.

Disabling someone tracker should mean you are worried about your own safety and YouTube and Words With Friends, or whatever are not essential service at that time. If someone disables someone else’s tracker it should be taken seriously for both parties.
 
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Let's understand and agree that in order for something to be stolen the person has to have the intention to take the item. They could decide to disable a tracker without intending to take the item. Therefore, it wasn't stolen but lost and they disabled it.
Why would they disable it?
 
Apple needs to release an Android app for AirTags tracking so people with Android phones can detect if they're being stalked.

I'm seeing a lot of videos on TikTok of people finding AirTags on their car.

TikTok videos are the ultimate source of truth on the internet. /s.

Sorry I don’t want to be rude but TikTok content makers will take any trend and make false videos for hits. I wouldn’t believe those content creators. I prefer their dog/cat videos.
 
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"he got a notification on his phone that informed him he was being tracked by an unknown AirTag." The system works—why is this even an article?
Because this is a potential safety/property protection issue that people should be aware of so they can take the proper steps to disable the tag and report it to the proper authorities. The police can, with a warrant, find out whose phone the AirTag is associated with, and perhaps cause the thieves some difficulty. This is so new, that the police may not know how to deal with this yet, so YMMV.
 
Do the thieves steal the airtags they use to steal or do they buy what they are using to steal ?

the one side thinks double edge and be ready :)

ditto has a smollet smell
 
Really really wish they wouldn't have made these things, they're doing much more bad than good. I'm an Apple fan and own a lot of the stock, but the risk they are putting people in with this type of tracking is grotesque. I don't care how its intended to be used, all that matters is situations like this that are increasingly growing and will continue to.

Its cool to defend it, and most will, until your wife or kid is the one in a situation like this. But yeah, go apple.
 
This is why I drive a 1977, rusted-out green Gremlin. I can park that thing on the south side of Chicago at two in the morning, leave it there unlocked for a week, and then come right back and pick it up with no problems whatsoever.
 
Aaaahhh Humans, aren't we a great species. A product is designed that has a legitimate use and us humans find a way to criminalize it.
 
If this did happen to me I would....
1- Not remove the AirTag
2- Inform the Police
3- Let the Police discreetly monitor the vehicle and catch thieves in action.
Option 1: I would let it roll down the driveway of the nearby Cop Shop. I bet the thieves wouldn't enter their premises.
Option 2: Attach it to my neighbour's car, he's as arse, and don't really care what happens from that point on.
Option 3: Find the nastiest car in a shopping centre and duct ? tape it as the rust flakes may cause it to drop off.
Option 4: Drop in a skip bin - theives can track some rubbish truck.
 
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He should just buy an EV.

Those are rarely stolen because you never know how much charge it has left.
And it takes more time to charge and you'll very likely leave a data-trail behind because the chargers note your vehicle ID.

It's a double-edged sword, for sure as Tesla (and other charger-operators, too) will likely provide interfaces for law-enforcement to track any car through HPC usage - because they identify to the charging-network.

More likely reason not to steal Tesla is teh parts are not worth as much to a body shop. Cars are worth a lot more for their parts and parts are a lot easier to get rid of than a whole car; unless you are stealing it for export and even then VINs, IIRC, get checked so you need to have a shipper that can bypass the check.

And something like a Tesla will whoop the "muscle cars" butt without break a sweat.

Depends on the Tesla and muscle car.
 
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I mean, people need to use their critical thinking skills. Someone got into the trunk and installed this thing? Didn’t do any damage to get in? Was willing to take the chance of being seen doing that?

Yea, I think a more likely scenario for a thief is to simply duct tape it to the bottom of the vehicle. If they are going to take the time to break into the trunk why not just steal it then? Probably easier and less noticeable.

If it’s real, isn’t it much more likely that it was placed there by the car dealer in order to aid in future potential repo? Or that someone he knows and who has access to the car did it?

How long does an AirTag hold a charge? It would seem to be a lot less useful than a car electrical system powered tracker placed in a vehicle, such as a LowJack type device.
 
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He should just buy an EV.

Those are rarely stolen because you never know how much charge it has left.
And it takes more time to charge and you'll very likely leave a data-trail behind because the chargers note your vehicle ID.

It's a double-edged sword, for sure as Tesla (and other charger-operators, too) will likely provide interfaces for law-enforcement to track any car through HPC usage - because they identify to the charging-network.
First I've heard that car thieves look at the fuel gauge before stealing a car.
 
There is a lot of info on twitter casting doubt on all of this. Apparently, when one tries to find an actual case where an actual car was actually stolen due to an airtag, no such cases turn up, and the canadian report was some sort of speculation.
100%.

Even this case is dubious, as the man in question had bought the car TWO DAYS before this incident.

Why he immediately believes it was thieves that put the AirTag there and not that the previous owner forget theirs in the car when he sold it is beyond me.
 
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If you actually read the article, you'll discover that the owner of the car had bought the car just TWO DAYS before this incident.

Why he immediately believed it was thieves that put the AirTag there and not that the previous owner forget theirs in the car when he sold it is beyond me.

It seems that people WANT to believe that their cars are being targeted with AirTags rather than it actually happening.
 
More likely reason not to steal Tesla is teh parts are not worth as much to a body shop. Cars are worth a lot more for their parts and parts are a lot easier to get rid of than a whole car; unless you are stealing it for export and even then VINs, IIRC, get checked so you need to have a shipper that can bypass the check.



Depends on the Tesla and muscle car.

Tesla spare parts are very expensive and sometimes hard to get by.
 
Tesla spare parts are very expensive and sometimes hard to get by.

The issue is what are stolen parts worth to a non-tesla certified body shop since no certified one would likely risk losing certification for using stolen parts. In addition, the volume of work for cars other than Teslas means their parts are likely much more in demand and thus targets of thieves. if theives used AirTags they would likely be targeting Civics, Accords and Ford / Chevy pickups.

While AirTags could be used, so can tag numbers to identify owners. Tools exist to defeat lock encryption. A tow truck can quickly steal a car or repo it. I just doubt AirTags will play much of a role in increased car thefts, although I can see them being used by spouses/partners etc. to track their SO as well as by say a stalker although I think the former is a more likely, and easier to accomplish, use. It doesn’t even have to involve subterfuge, you can give them an AirTag to “help find their keys…”
 
airtags or others should have a standard in which people can detect if they are being followed. I won't download 10 apps from 10 different companies to check everywhere i go.
 
Because this is a potential safety/property protection issue that people should be aware of so they can take the proper steps to disable the tag and report it to the proper authorities. The police can, with a warrant, find out whose phone the AirTag is associated with, and perhaps cause the thieves some difficulty. This is so new, that the police may not know how to deal with this yet, so YMMV.

But trackers have been around for quite a while. There’s nothing groundbreaking new here. You could have achieved the same thing with a Tile for years, maybe less efficient and certainly with less chance of spotting the tracker.
 
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