If that's supposed to be a joke, it's a horrible one.
(and is not even close to "funny")
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Sale of 'Silent AirTags' on eBay and Etsy Raises Privacy Concerns
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If that's supposed to be a joke, it's a horrible one.
(and is not even close to "funny")
START hampering AirTags already. Remember, this is a new stalker-friendly product.
A person has the right to modify any personal property they own as long as the modification isn’t strictly prohibited by law. So you would actually have to pass a law. But even then you will just drive the behavior underground since it would be hard to enforce.
Except that Apple is always claiming that privacy is their main concern.
They need to seriously look at abandoning this product and the worldwide iOS powered "dragnet" they've created here.
How Apple didn't see the obvious issues with these is -- mesmerizing.
The world is chock full of creeps doing really shady things and making an easy way for them to "do more of it"...powered by iOS and Apples tracking network is just an awful move by Apple
there was absolutely no reason for apple to ever release a product like this.
I use an AirTag for my puppy, and I followed the same video to disable the speaker (didn’t want the sound driving her crazy if we’re separated). I agree with your assessment, the process was extremely easy.
I’m really happy with the AirTag as a pet tracker. In fact I think it’s superior to GPS trackers: it’s cheaper (both upfront and no subscription fees), in a city the tracking works well due to the prevalence of so many iPhones, I don’t have to worry about charging a battery, I can be confident the battery won’t die if she’s lost, and it’s light and unobtrusive.
That being said, I could totally understand Apple disabling an AirTag with a removed speaker due to the obvious privacy implications.
Except they aren't modifying personal property here. They are buying a product, modifying it and reselling it using the Apple Airtag name in their marketing. Your comment is talking about something completely different than what I am talking about.
Apple should have put hardwired safeguards into AirTags to prevent physical tampering, similar to how the MacBook’s camera light is hardwired to the camera.
How else are you supposed to track your stolen backpack/car/bike without Apple snitching on you and alerting the thief?
Yeah
Yeah, maybe. But maybe that a temporary shutdown would be necessary to stop all the privacy backlashes
You want Apple to prevent people from using something that they purchased however they see fit, even if it's not illegal or ill intent?
Actually, there are more bad people that do kidnappings and robberies that stalkers, so at the end of the day, there are quite a lot noble use cases which can prevent really bad crimes. The product is good, but some people just use it in a bad manner. Many criminal use VPN to commit online scams and frauds, but this does not mean that VPN technology is bad.
Since when does someone need a manufacturers permission to resell something, even if it's modified?
Did people who resold modified XBox's to fix the red ring of death or with larger hard drives need Microsoft's permission? No.
Do people who resell modified cars need the car manufacturers permission? No.
Straw man - 100% irrelevant
Not to mention, Apple should want no part of "tracking people" without their knowledge (for good or bad reasons)
This is why we can't have nice things. Hopefully Apple has some kind of recourse to shut this down.
I wonder if apple could update the firmware to let the AirTags only function if it can detect that the speaker is connected and functional.
If this triggers you, well your in for a world of hurt once you realize the “Evil” your iPhone is truly capable of.
I disagree. I love using AirTags to find my stuff. Purses, keys, my dog, wallet, etc. We are using eight in our home. I’ve used tile products in the past. AirTags are better.
As has been stated. Anyone who really wants to track another person has many ways to do it. I can duct tape an old iPhone under someone’s car (I have a couple in a drawer). Should Apple quit making iPhones?
The resellers are offering a service.
Are you going to tell me I need to get Hanes' permission before I can buy their Beefy-Ts, modify them (i.e. silk screen something onto them) and resell them (while using the Hanes name and Beefy-T trademark) even if you or Hanes finds what's printed on them offensive?
How is someone suppose to describe something without mentioning what it is (AirTag, Beefy-T, etc) or who (Apple, Hanes, etc) made it?
The resellers aren't breaking any law; Blame the people who are using them for nefarious purposes.
Glad they didn't. It's not Apple's problem what people do with items. They made them have sound and put in precautions. Just like you can't blame gun mfg for creating a product people use in terrible ways, you shouldn't blame Apple for people using air tags the wrong way...or hell, using their computers to make explicit child content, etc
I would love a silent air tag that I could put inside my bike as a theft tracker so it would go unnoticed.
I hope the mods will edit out any links towards instructions deactivating the speakers.
I don't know, ask Amazon resellers who used to sell used and refurbished Apple products on the marketplace. Apple told Amazon that if they wanted to put an Official Apple presence on their platform that all of the resellers not authorized by Apple had to be booted off of Amazon.