Sale of 'Silent AirTags' on eBay and Etsy Raises Privacy Concerns

[turbineseaplane]

I'd love that. I want to be able to use Find My on my own devices and maybe my family member's devices. I'd rather not participate in Apple's wider network. If that's possible, sign me up.

...and the ONLY reason they so far aren't allowing that is for fears of what it would do to the coverage of their AirTag dragnet.

It's really rather unacceptable they are forcing people to participate in their AirTag business just to have their own phone be fully useful. (last known location when lost is a function that a phone can do solely on its own)

 

[Psychicbob]

Nice idea, scary use-cases

 

[Hexley]

And what exactly would that do when there’s Reddit threads that will openly discuss that very thing?

This is the Internet, once something is publicly disseminated with a vulnerability like this, there’s no hiding it. The only thing that can be done now, is Apple takes actions on how to fix this.

The mods edit out racist and political posts so why not instructions to stalk vulnerable flowers from predators?

 

[jjudson]

It’ll be interesting to see if Apple pulls out of these. One lawsuit could be crippling, especially given the danger these can pose by bad actors…

 

[pilotpat]

You misspelled "still"...

View attachment 1953845

"resellers not authorized by Apple". You didn't read the full post.

Amazon Is Kicking All Unauthorized Apple Refurbishers Off Amazon Marketplace

Amazon told independent refurbishers that it will now only allow "authorized resellers" to sell Apple products on Amazon Marketplace.

www.vice.com

 

[mingoglia]

Thanks for the link to the video. I bought an Airtag for my trailer to backup my asset tracker I already have on there. My asset tracker has to be charged every month or so and sometimes I forget. I just recently found out these things will beep if they're away from their "owner" for a period of time. I was disappointed by that since my trailer spends the vast majority of the time, literally sometimes months at a time, in an RV storage lot.

 

[pilotpat]

... at the moment they buy the product it becomes their personal property.


Colorware's been doing this for a long time with myriad products. See their custom-painted Airpods for example.

... and why on earth wouldn't you use the product's name when offering it for sale?

But at the moment they resell it, it is a product that they are selling. And you can't tell me that physically disabling hardware in a product and applying cool paint jobs on airpods is the same thing. If Apple can go after an indie film maker for using the word apple in the title of his film that has nothing to do with Apple the company, they can certainly use their use of the functionally altered product as a basis for an infringement suit.

 

[binaryfuneral]

This privacy talk is getting ridiculous honestly. No one reported on these 'privacy issues' before the Airtags existed. How big of a issue I this anyway? Shouldn't stores start selling dull knives too then because otherwise someone might kill their spouse with it? Limit cars so they can only go 10 mph because otherwise someone might die in a car crash.

People will find ways to kill/stalk/hurt eachother anyway. Stop hampering the Airtags already.

This. You can't litigate evil.

 

[binaryfuneral]

Now I can give one to my girlfriend!

Does she know that she's your girlfriend?

 

[vertsix]

Discontinuation of the product by Apple in 3... 2... 1...

 

[Unregistered 4U]

They should change that and allow any of us to opt out of helping to track AirTags if we'd prefer.

The best way to opt out of helping to track AirTags is to not use AirTags, though, right?

The AirTag network is the same one they use for locating anything via Find My. If you don’t want to enable Find My, perhaps there are some GPS cases? (I haven’t looked). My guess is that most anything is possible without going through Apple, you just have to not go through Apple.

 

[podycust]

Apple already does that if you have an iPhone 12 or newer.

If mean the U1 ultra wide band chip it’s iPhone 11 or newer as it has a U1 chip

 

[huge_apple_fangirl]

The best way to opt out of helping to track AirTags is to not use AirTags, though, right?

You can opt-out of being in the network by disabling Find My. But then you won’t be able to use it for you mr iPhone.

The AirTag network is the same one they use for locating anything via Find My. If you don’t want to enable Find My, perhaps there are some GPS cases? (I haven’t looked). My guess is that most anything is possible without going through Apple, you just have to not go through Apple.

Maybe there are other tracking apps for your phone? I mean Tile was complaining about all this.

 

[Hey Now]

Version 2 should include some sort of microphone as well, it would make it more useful and Apple could probably charge a little more for that version

 

[lowbatteries]

Because only AirTags use the entire network of existing iOS devices all over the world to determine location.

We've literally never had something quite like this.

GPS trackers exist, with a lot more accuracy than this, that work in a lot more places than AirTags.

 

[smelly feet]

Seems like Apple should be able to modify "Find my.." to not find altered AirTags.

 

[smelly feet]

All the more reason Apple should abandon these (or seriously change how they work).

They have created a dragnet (all the iOS devices in the world), sort of without thinking about the consequences of that and the nefarious uses that become easy.

Seems like Apple could modify "Find my.." to not find altered AirTags. That assumes that AirTags 'know' that they've been altered.

 

[deeddawg]

But at the moment they resell it, it is a product that they are selling. And you can't tell me that physically disabling hardware in a product and applying cool paint jobs on airpods is the same thing.

Both modify the device to have different qualities than if purchasing directly from Apple, thereby adding value in the eyes of their customers.

If Apple can go after an indie film maker for using the word apple in the title of his film that has nothing to do with Apple the company, they can certainly use their use of the functionally altered product as a basis for an infringement suit.

You don't understand trademark infringement / protection. Haven't read the details, but the movie thing is likely related to the requirement to defend a trademark - not doing so risks it being invalidated.

As for the resale of a product and using it's name - see the First Sale Doctrine. As the Material Difference is specifically why the consumer would be buying from the person removing the speaker, that would not constitute infringement.

 

[System603]

Reading this thread and seeing many harsh think-of-the-children reactions, I'm just glad Apple doesn't make steak knives. ?

With such a hair trigger in some people's minds I no longer wonder why does a simple article about a new, innocent watch band have to have discussion turned off. ?

AirTags are a quite good product already. Unlike competition they (at least*) have several countermeasures against privacy infringement. Why? Because Apple actually thought about it. Did they think of everything? Probably not. But speaker is just one of them and others stay in place (so far).

Average GPS trackers, phones(even iPhones!!!) with a double-sided tape, professional tracking devices, Tile or Samsung do not provide any (or virtually any). They were here years, actually decades before and they'll be here after all AirTags will die of old age.

Guess what. Even many apps on App Store can be used for nefarious purposes. Ban the iPhone already, I say! ?‍♂️

But to be fair, (*)you can always improve. I wonder if that's how we got to iPhone 13 ?‍♂️

edit: Looks like I spoke too soon about the "Apple" knives.

 

[madebybela]

Given how stubborn Apple has been with swapping out parts on recent iPhones, you think they would've programmed something that renders these useless if the speaker is tampered with, especially considering how easy these are to open up.

 

[turbineseaplane]

@System603

Would you at least agree that I, an an independent non AirTag iOS user, should still be able to opt out of being a part of the AirTag network?

(Without losing my ability to find my own lost phone using only it's built in last known GPS location)

Is that a fair expectation if I just personally want no part of the AirTag dragnet?

 

[genovelle]

The solution have a fail safe that deactivates the device if the speaker is remove.

 

[gpwdeux]

If that's supposed to be a joke, it's a horrible one.
(and is not even close to "funny")

Jeez, you are either an incredible crisis actor who is bored because of the weather or is genuinely clueless and ran out of things to throw your faux rage at. Tracking devices have been around for decades and none of them had any notification features at all. Some of them have multi year battery life and actual GPS real time accuracy. google it. This speaker thing is a non-issue. I have half a dozen of these things and unless it is dead quiet, you can't hear the beeping anyway. Are they perfect? No. But your over the top NO TIME FOR JOKES WE MUST BAN THESE THINGS NOW!!! chicken little act is quite immature and unnecessary

 

[turbineseaplane]

Jeez, you are either an incredible crisis actor who is bored because of the weather or is genuinely clueless and ran out of things to throw your faux rage at. Tracking devices have been around for decades and none of them had any notification features at all. Some of them have multi year battery life and actual GPS real time accuracy. google it. This speaker thing is a non-issue. I have half a dozen of these things and unless it is dead quiet, you can't hear the beeping anyway. Are they perfect? No. But your over the top NO TIME FOR JOKES WE MUST BAN THESE THINGS NOW!!! chicken little act is quite immature and unnecessary

1. Your post is perhaps a touch on the attack, maybe tone that down a bit please
2. No, I don't think a funny joke is to be made about "tracking your girlfriend"

 

[deeddawg]

"resellers not authorized by Apple". You didn't read the full post.

Amazon Is Kicking All Unauthorized Apple Refurbishers Off Amazon Marketplace

Amazon told independent refurbishers that it will now only allow "authorized resellers" to sell Apple products on Amazon Marketplace.

www.vice.com

There sure do seem to be a lot of resellers...

Remember the FTC investigated that Apple/Amazon deal. Not sure of the specific result, though the presence of myriad sellers of renewed Apple devices suggests either Apple relented or that becoming authorized to sell the products on Amazon is not unachievable.

That's still a red herring since it was a matter of Amazon policy for participation on their platform. Those sellers were completely free to resell Apple products on other venues.