Woman uses AirTags to nab alleged parcel-pinching scum Theft of packages is an ongoing problem, so one California woman tried a high tech solution to the problem – and her use of Apple’s consumer-grade AirTags tracking devices led to two arrests. According to the sheriff's office in Santa Barbara County, California, two suspects were apprehended last week on suspicion of stealing …
Apple and Google agreed to make their tracking devices more transparent by establishing a standard protocol to find out if you have one secreted in your home or vehicle without your knowledge.
Nice to see Google and Apple helping crims find airtags they don't own being in their houses after stealing the packages.
Well done. Well done...
It's my impression that police across the entire Anglosphere magically become deaf and blind the moment you say the word "bicycle".
Cordless power tools have made bike theft trivial. Insure your bikes and don't leave them in places where they're easy to steal.
Leave your bike next to one that's worth more and has a worse lock...
So far I have fared well by having my good bikes inside (almost all of the time) and using a pretty shite looking bike for my errands downtown with a decent lock. The bike works well (admittedly the drive train is close to being shot, but as long as the chain doesn't jump under torque I'll leave it and not replace chain, cassette and chain rings).
I just hope my kids take bike locking seriously (Übut then again, not great looking bikes).
"I do a similar thing with my truck. It looks like you would catch a serious disease if you went near it and so no one does."
I had a boring white POS 4-door Buick (RIP) that nobody bothered with. The engine was very solid, it got great mileage on the highway and was like driving the sofa as to comfort. I didn't put too much effort into keeping it looking pretty. My current car has metallic paint cancer so it's not pretty either. Between having tinted windows and fitting window covers on the back seat windows, it can be hard to see in without cupping your hand around your eyes right up against the glass. Not that I leave things in plain sight worth anything, but one never knows. Between the stealth and parking close to something more enticing, I've never had an issue. I was thinking of getting the car painted, but now I'm thinking of just smoothing out what's there and giving it a clear coat to preserve the "patina". Money will go into a low mileage used engine or a good rebuild. Even completely repainted and fancy wheels fitted, it's not going to be a chick magnet.
One of the old tricks in this respect is to take a tin of red oxide primer, one of grey and decant some of each into a receptacle, then paint the bike using the poorly-mixed red-grey mixture. The result looks utterly vile, especially if you take care to badly paint parts of the wheels and sprockets and saddle as well. As long as the bike isn't obviously valuable for components then this generally puts off the bike thieves, together with a couple of strong locks.
"In a similar vein I've heard it's an old electrician/sound guy trick to put old electrical tape around your good cables so they look old and repaired poorly"
The downside to that is if you are a sound hire firm, if your gear looks really natty, people may not want to hire you a second time. If you have a "house" system at a venue, it can keep bands from nicking your cables.
"cassette and chain rings"
Oooh, things have changed since I last used a bike! We had gears and/or gear wheels, not "chan rings" (Or is that something new fangled?) And anyone with a cassette on the their bike was dead posh (Sony Walkman gaffa taped to the cross-bar :-))
It’s a thing called ‘change’. Or does your ‘telephone’ still have a ‘dial’?
I find it weird how people otherwise accepting of the onward march of technology suddenly become luddites when a bike is mentioned. ‘Don’t know why he needs all that, he’s not in the Tour de France’ they tweet from their smartphones in their self-steering 300bhp cars.
Fair enough, but what, exactly, is a chain ring? Is it the same gear or cog my bike had years ago or is to some new technological marvel that I just don't understand :-) Serious question actually, does it have teeth for the chain to engage or is it some clever friction drive or something else? A quick Google search indicates it's simply the main drive cog we've had on bikes for over 150 years, longer if you include other mechanical devices. As far as I can tell, chainring (all one word on the site I looked at) is just a different and more long winded name for that exact same device, a cog.
Oh, never mind. I just searched the origin of "chainring". It was used in the US in the early 1900's specifically for cycles, despite already having words such as cog or sprocket. Must admit, it's the first time I've heard the term in the UK :-)
Things were so much simpler in The Good Old TimesTM...
My parents gave me a very cheap, three-digit combination lock with my very first (also very cheap) bike. One day when I came back from a friend's house, it was stolen. Not the bike. The lock. The bike was still there.
I'm still not sure whether that says more about the quality fo the lock, or the bike...
"Insure your bikes and don't leave them in places where they're easy to steal."
Please read the Insurance Policies thoroughly before going down that path.
Some of them will insure you but only recompense if the theft was at home, you insurance might not cover theft from a public location.
I had a look at some of the nicer electric bikes and then had a look at the quantity that are stolen here everyday, no thanks, it will probably disappear in less than a month
Very important indeed to read the fine print on bike insurance. The vast majority of them require extremely heavy, certified to a certain standard chain locks AND proof that the lock was properly used and destroying in stealing the bike. You'll have to be able to show all keys to all locks used too. Can't show these things? Or the lock wasn't cut/destroyed properly? Or they claim whatever you chained the bike to wasn't sufficient (even if they still cut the lock)? Sorry, no insurance pay out for your. When the bike is stored at home it's often covered by household/property insurance (Check the fine print!) UNLESS you have bike insurance, in which case they'll point to the bike insurance and tell you to pound sand if your claim on that policy is then denied.
The unfortunate reality is that bikes are easily stolen and modern battery powered tools have made cutting basically any lock trivial. The best you can do is slow them down. Until society starts actually giving a shit and bike theft stops being an easy payout for lowlifes it'll be an ongoing problem.
My rider's insurance is very specific about how to lock up bikes, as you warn, but I only have that for third party injury cover. My home contents insurance on the other hand, perhaps surprisingly, covers the bikes no matter where they are, with no need to be specified and with limit on value. Even I didn't believe it so I've asked them more than once to confirm and they have...
> with no need to be specified and with limit on value
Suggest you reread your policy.
Mine has a £1000 single item limit, things up to £2500 need to be named and anything over this will impact the policy price. The other catch is the total value of stuff kept in sheds/outbuildings/garage. My insurance is £5k, basically garden tools, not 10+ bikes…
Fortunately, British Cycling’s insurance is helpful: put four bikes on the rack on the back of the car (depending on mix £10k~30k, yes the bikes are worth more than the car) and they are fully covered. However, if they fall apart whilst racing (a common occurrence with carbon CX bikes), not covered…
"I had a look at some of the nicer electric bikes and then had a look at the quantity that are stolen here everyday, no thanks, it will probably disappear in less than a month"
And that is why we can't have nice things. Because there are scumbags around.
It's not just bicycles. In the East of England we had an epidemic of catalytic-converter thefts (also made much easier by cordless power tools). The police response to both of my acquaintances who were victims was to issue a crime number and tell them to contact their insurer. I had the same response when I was targeted by vandals (three broken windows in a week).
The question really is:
Why are you buying an item to then abandon it in public for the majority of the day?
Most bike theft is from train stations. Police give up investigating because convictions are near zero because a guy walking up and taking a bike isn't suspicious, even on CCTV, and they can literally take them that quickly. The bikes don't have markings or trackers, and the thieves aren't identifiable even on the best CCTV. They can't police every bike stand. And insurance reflects this... try insuring a bike against theft ANYWHERE, not just from your own home.
The only time I ever used a bike - for years - was to cycle from home to an employer, and I insisted on bringing the bike inside my employer's premises and putting it in a locked room I had access to. I never had a bike stolen.
My ex- would cycle just to the station. Hers was stolen 3 or 4 times from the station itself, because it's unattended for hours every single day and the station just says "there's the sign: at your own risk" and the police just say "here's a reference number" and that's it.
Buy a folding bike if you're commuting, take the bike with you to your place of work, or if it's for leisure (i.e. circling back to your house, etc.) then you'll have no problems.
It's when you leave it unattended among a thousand other bikes with the public coming and going ALL DAY LONG where it's not insured, protected, watched or anyone else is liable.
Personally, I'd make the stations that offer bike racks liable, so they had to put in ticketing systems and security. All that would do, however, is see them abandon the whole idea of bike racks overnight. The police do not have the resources, and will have extremely minimal success anyway, to monitor every bike rack in London, even.
Like anything - take it with you and/or keep it in a sensible place at all times.
I keep looking at an e-bike, but if I buy one, I'll treat it even more preciously than a car. Wherever I go to with it, I won't end up just parking it outside. It would be for leisure use and even if I stop for a drink or picnic, it'll be right next to me at all times. And it would live secured on my property for most of its life.
A bike is far more akin to a power tool than to a car. If you leave one just lying around and walk off for 8 hours to go to work... it ain't gonna be there when you get back. And most people don't tag, track or have security features on their power tools to stop it, just like bikes (but unlike, say, a smartphone... which still are regularly stolen).
Would you just leave your toolbag at the railway station and expect it to be there when you got back? Unlikely.
Or you know, don't have a bunch of people who think that taking stuff is easier than working for a living.
The reason there's lots of bicycles in England now is that supposedly they're used a lot in Europe, and "they're so sophisticated".
Why isn't there a problem in Europe? Or are they so poor they have to use a bicycle, but so rich they can just write off a bicycle being stolen every month?
Or is it just not done to talk about it?
On another note: thievery works like many other things in nature on a power law. There's a few thieves who steal most of the stuff. Lock those few up for a long time, and your thievery problem will become much less of a problem.
I would suggest a more permanent solution, but that's probably beyond the Overton window. For now.
"It is estimated that between 2.5 and 3 million bicycles are stolen in Europe every year. There were 88,307 reports of bicycle theft in England and Wales in 2019/20."
https://www.statista.com/statistics/303562/bicycle-theft-in-england-and-wales-uk-y-on-y/
If you look at the stats, not only are England/Wales below average, but they are getting lower all the time.
So actually, there IS a problem in Europe. They have the EXACT SAME problem.
And that problem is the same as the UK - funding enough to gather enough evidence to be able to have a sufficiently good chance of securing a conviction for a minor, non-violent offence that can literally be committed by children.
It's lovely to think of a world where you can leave your back door open, drop your wallet and guarantee someone will hand it in with all the cash still there, be able to leave tools in your van, or your bike at a station for 10+ hours every work day with nothing happening to it.
But we don't live in a country like that, a continent like that, or a world like that.
Until the Police actually do policing this is never going to change, it's not exactly rocket science and they can get the scummy teabags that do this. Its like bugulary, its trdious to pursue and may/may not be worth alot per incident but it is usually the same thieves each time. Don't police it and the thieves are encouraged to do it more, I mean they love easy money and non-enforced laws. And yes such cash will end up fueling more serious crimess and there will eventually be a moral panic - again.
> insisted on bringing the bike inside my employer's premises and putting it in a locked room I had access to.
One of the reasons why I stay at Premier Inn when travelling with my bike(s), is that they allow bikes to be kept in the room, even if access is via a lift.
"Why are you buying an item to then abandon it in public for the majority of the day?"
Because if we live in a decent society you should be able to and that is what all decent people want. I moved somewhere, where it almost is like that. It's brilliant. Minimal theft, usually from outsiders coming in. People think I'm odd because I lock everything up.
Why are you buying an item to then abandon it in public for the majority of the day?
My husband would take train to nearest station to work, then bicycle the rest of the way in decent weather (the bus was circuitous, crowded, and irregular in schedule). He would buy the cr@piest bike that still worked from a local garage sale, usually around $20 - $30, and a decent but not great lock. He could take the bike inside at work, but had to leave it at the station overnight.
The rules for taking bikes on commuter trains near Chicago involve: must be outside of the rush hours, and then only a few allowed per trip per car on the train (too many bikes when the train got to your station? sucks to be you). So beginning of warm weather he would take an out of rush hour (usually arrange to come in late) train with the bike. Work late and bring the bike when the weather got too cold and snowy.
Bike got stolen once, couple of times the gears were stolen off the bike, but the rest left. Yeah, that's how bad the bikes looked
Worst problem was that despite wearing high-vis vest he got bounced off his bicycle by a numpty turning into the dense traffic without looking for bikers. Fortunately, bruised but not badly hurt. His insurance sent a check that would have bought a VERY nice bike, but Bob still bought a junker and kept riding til COVID and then retirement ended his commute.
> Most bike theft is from train stations. Police give up investigating because convictions are near zero because a guy walking up and taking a bike isn't suspicious, even on CCTV, and they can literally take them that quickly
My case must have bucked the trend then, cycled to Derby train station (UK) , went to work...came back with a notice to talk to the BR Transport Police. Turns out they had caught someone in the act of cutting my bike lock and they only wanted to talk to me to get a more substantial lock rather than the cable one I had.
OK, this was the 1980's !
I actually had a D lock fail in the locked position, the key would not unlock it. I managed to cajole a local fire engine into cutting it off with the “Jaws of Life”, massive overkill but at least I got home on the bike that night! Needless to say I had to buy a new lock!
<rant>
Sorry but having to insure it because the police wont pursue, is not good enough.
I had a car stolen and when reporting the police said, well it's insured isn't it? I bet that wouldn't be their attitude if it was their car or bicycle.
Look at how much tax you pay, you pay when you earn, you pay when you spend, you even pay when you die - we do not get value for money, we used to (I'm old git). Where is it going?
</rant>
"... police can decide not to investigate a theft"
I know for a fact that they do this in the UK !!!
They also decide whether they want to investigate a car collision that is on CCTV !!!
(Long story short ... no-one was hurt but the car was damaged, they could not be bothered, it was a Sunday !!!)
:)
(Long story short ... no-one was hurt but the car was damaged, they could not be bothered, it was a Sunday !!!)
This is the problem. Crimes like thefts aren't being investigated even when evidence might be handed to them on a plate, like CCTV or trackers on a bike. If crimes aren't investigated, or prosecuted, criminals, then there's the perception they can get away with it and crime increases.
Because so many on the left believe that property crimes (like theft) are just another means of poverty relief!
What you have is not yours, it all belongs to the state. If the state decides to transfer it to someone else, by any means, then so be it! If you object, then you are obviously a racist, white supremacist and most likely an enemy of the state!
"then there's the perception they can get away with it and crime increases."
it goes past perception and IS the reality. Plenty of people on the lower end of the economic spectrum need a bike to get by so the impact is severe when their bikes are nicked. OTOH, if somebody with the wealth of Bill Gates has their Mercedes stolen, they can get another in an hour or so and pay cash. THAT theft will be investigated even though it has far less of an impact on the victim.
I had an attempted break in at home. Failed attempt, nothing stolen but a door damaged.
Police arrived in 15 minutes, 10 minutes later police with a dog turned up. Next morning a science unit arrived to look for evidence and another officer was knocking doors in the road asking for any video or witnesses. Then next day a PCSO arrived with security advice, a victim support pack and a free UV pen.
So unfortunately I can’t partake in the whinge-fest today.
I had that happen a couple of years ago. They weren't interested in the report (I was a witness to the altercation)
About 2 months later they showed up wanting to obtain footage from local CCTVs for the same incident (which had aged out by that point) as local "bad families" were involved and it had triggered a feud
Regardless of the existence of the Overton window, if 1-2 families are respponsible for 90% of the issues in a neighbourhood, a molotov cocktail has a lot of appeal
I had a car stolen from outside a garage in Edinburgh. The thief rolled up in a recovery vehicle, winched my car on board and vanished. The receptionist at the garage got a couple of good pictures of the vehicle which includes a business name and phone number. These are easily linked - via Facebook - to a recovery operator who already has convictions for doing precisely the same thing.
Police Scotland are simply not interested. They gave me a crime number and that's that.
In the UK, your Council Tax includes a Policing Precept meant to fund the police. I wonder what would happen if enough people started deducting that from their payments on the grounds that the police weren't actually providing a service. It's not like they've got lots of prison places, is it?
I wonder what would happen if enough people started deducting that from their payments on the grounds that the police weren't actually providing a service.
There be monsters. Like there's also one for the fire service, but I've never needed those. Or schools, but I'm not aware having any kids. But that's one of those interesting differences where some states in the US allow a reduction in housing tax, if there's no kids.
But it's one of those issues with perception, and policing by consent. If the perception is that the police aren't doing their job, or criminals are being allowed to get away with crimes, then consent will eventually be withdrawn, along with public co-operation. Which is one of the problems Starmer has with the perception of a 2-tier justice system. Locking people up for showing anti-establishment tendencies might just increase those, if other crimes like theft or violence aren't being seen to be prosecuted.
"I wonder what would happen if enough people started deducting that"
Many people would end up in court and, ultimately, with a criminal record, regardless of the jail places.
You would also never be eligible to pay council tax by instalments ever again. So when that ~£1500 annual bill surfaces, you have to pay it all within a few days or go to court AGAIN.
They'll also send the bailiffs around, and it may well destroy your credit record for up to 4 years.
And you don't really even need a court here... your failure or refusal to pay is pretty much evidence enough to convict.
Now ask, how much of that tax is allocated to policing and what do you get for that amount? Because I guarantee you that you pay a pittance and get a lot of equipment, court time, lawyers, police and prison services for that money. It's also a LOCAL police precept. Their national funding is twice as much again. Or did you think you're entitled to even one week of a police officer's time when you paid your police precept of your council tax that barely amounts to a single officer's salary for that period, let alone anything else? By the way, about 12% of your council tax goes to the police. Slightly more than one month's council tax payment.
Literally, the amount you pay for council tax in total wouldn't fund an operation targeting a single bike rack, once you take into account all the costs involved.
" Or did you think you're entitled to even one week of a police officer's time when you paid your police precept of your council tax that barely amounts to a single officer's salary for that period, let alone anything else?"
Er yes, in fact I believe that even people who don't pay any tax are entitled to police time, that is the whole point of public services.
"There was a view that cops mainly existed to hassle or outright shoot minorities."
It was a meme. When a large enough cohort is examined, it's whitey that get shot by police more often. You can, of course, drill down to an area that is predominately one ethic group and use the statistics there to make your point. Binge watch some YT channels that feature police shootings and it's not long before you see trends. What I've seen in recent times is how bad people are addicted to their phones. Girls especially freak out when their phone is taken from them when arrested. It's also not unusual to see people blowing off a police officer and playing with their phone when the cop needs a word and tells the officer to wait a minute while they babble or text. It blows my mind when the officers put up with it.
"Daniel M" wrote:
San Francisco is not a country, and certainly not one known for law enforcement.
Regarding the actual subject of the article, the state of California contains 40 million people, only about ~850,000 of which are in San Francisco.
Including the place - 300 miles away - where the theft at the subject of this article occurred.
As for the author's particular personal example - SF these days has been having a hard time the last few years hiring police officers, seems that after some recent highly publicized police abuses around the country, it's hard to get people to work such jobs.
So if it's a matter of spending that limited personel time on rapes and murders vs radio and bike thefts - the violent crimes get the top priority.
Sorry to interrupt your kneejerk stereotyping.
So live in California the state where crime runs unchecked, police are under manned and the governers and past attorneys want to take your guns so the criminals are the only ones that have them. What a great place - get the hell out of there decent folk and leave Newsom to rot in the hell of his own making. Harris will still claim it's a lovely place with no crime.
" they have dozens claims of of murders, and TENS OF THOUSANDS of rapes committed by police officers"
You didn't put "claims" in line with the rapes. There's thousands of rape claims against officers in the US and now with body cams, there's proof that they never occurred. Plenty of criminals have no problem making that sort of accusation since there's almost never a charge against them if it's shown to be false so it's worth throwing out there to have everything tossed out.
As to "murders", yes, there's some that are inappropriate shootings that lead to death. Of those, a microscopic number might be classed as murder. Just like another comment I made above, it's easy enough to find loads of videos on YT. I see plenty where the person got themselves shot by being stupid. When an officer tells you to not keep putting your hands in your pockets/waistband and you do, it's makes them suspicious since in plenty of circumstances it can be highly likely that a person of their description in that area has a weapon of some sort. In the US, that would likely be a handgun. In the UK, it can be more likely to be a knife, but could be a gun as well. Either way, an officer can be seriously injured. While that's a risk of their job, they want to minimize the risks to themselves.
I've seen plenty of cases where the police put somebody down and once the body cam, dash cam and CCTV footage gets released, it's suicide by cop. I was brought up to treat the police with respect. Yes sir/No sir and comply with their directions. I don't have this cultural baggage that's told me I'm being dissed and The Man is out to get me and should "stand up for my rights" (without any clear knowledge of what those rights might be). My thinking is that police officers have guns (US), they practice more than I do so they're are better with them than I am.... and it's unlikely that I have my gun on me in the first place. If they've decided I need to be taken downtown for a chat, not a lot I can do about it right at that time. My only recourse is to complain about it in front of a judge and see if I'm making the more compelling argument. In my case, I know that I'm in the clear since I didn't commit a crime and my demeanor has been cooperative and polite the entire time I've not talked to them until I have representation.
And know where the stolen item is, make sure you tell the police that if they won't help you you're going to try to recover it on your own. Even if you don't actually have any intention of doing so.
From what I gather from articles in the press that seems to goad them into action, presumably because they are worried about a confrontation that results in violence or worse being reported as happening "because the police refused to investigate".
Under cover of anonymity, I will say that I had an acquaintance from whom a pony was stolen, by persons readily identifiable who were openly in possession of said pony. It was reported to police who opined that it was a "civil matter". Crap. People were still being hanged in England for horse theft in the nineteenth century, and the 1916 Larceny Act provided for up to 14 years penal servitude for the offence. Now? 'Sorry, guv, not our problem'.
Commiserations.
The loss of a horse in 1916 – modern equivalent is a car/van and we know how often those thefts get investigated. As it’s a civil matter not worthy of investigation your acquaintance can obviously just acquire a free replacement from plods own stables late one evening. /sarc
More than a decade ago people were complaing that uniformed plod only spent a day (usually just the remainder of that shift) 'investigating' theft before giving up, halcyon days indeed.
"How reassuring it must be to live in a country where the police can decide not to investigate a theft . . ."
That does seem rather odd. A general "old-style" theft, yeah, "we're a bit busy, fill out this form and go away", but a tagged item that can easily be tracked to a location? At the very least, there's a high chance of an easy collar on "receiving or handling stolen goods" and, as per the article, a reasonable to good chance of catching a more prolific thief along with further charges after a good search of their premises. Good for the officer, his station and the forces stats.
The cops probably aren't interested in that because it doesn't make headlines, and it doesn't let them seize a bunch of stuff they can use themselves. That's why they love busting drug dealers, they often get to keep the cars, cash, etc. to supplement their budget. What would they get if they bust someone who is porch pirating mail or Amazon packages? Maybe a few thousand dollars worth of stuff that they can't easily sell and have little use for.
Letting cops seize stuff as a way to grow their budgets, get additional vehicles for undercover work and so forth was the worst thing ever done to American policing. Their incentive structure is out of whack. It was already out of whack from wanting to make the kind of high profile busts that make headlines, this just makes it worse.
They can use the excuse of police not wanting to work because of "defund the police" movements, or because of law changes that prevent someone from being held in jail for months awaiting trial because they can't make a $5000 bail for a shoplifting arrest, but this crap was happening long before that. It just gave them an excuse to justify what they were already doing.
"What would they get if they bust someone who is porch pirating mail or Amazon packages? "
If they aren't investigating the theft of Amazon packages, the company is big enough that political pressure can be applied if the problem gets too out of hand. In New York City, a corner shop won't have much luck getting police to pay attention to reports of serial shop lifting unlike a major chain store which might wind up with a squad car and a couple officers stationed just outside the front doors.
"AirTags and similar devices are readily available and have been an ideal tool for stalkers – until the industry took action."
AirTags have never been an ideal tool for stalkers. Stop spreading FUD.
"Following protests from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others, Apple and Google agreed to make their tracking devices more transparent by establishing a standard protocol to find out if you have one secreted in your home or vehicle without your knowledge. Tile and other manufacturers of similar devices are also joining in."
Utter shite. Apple had anti-tracking protocols embedded in AirTag from the get go - no pressure from EFF or anybody else was the trigger for this.
The anti-Apple hate here is practically incandescent.
Quite impressive tech actually. I tossed an AirTag in one of our vehicles. My wife's iPhone promptly notified her she was possibly being tracked.
Same thing on a recent group trip. Some critical important kit was being hand carried by one of the participants and I offered an AirTag to ride along. After the event was over the tag was promptly returned with the comment, "I am sick and tired of being alerted about a tracker!!" That person had an Android phone.
Do I have concerns about Big Tech tracking movements with AirTags? YES! Am I worried about stalkers tracking movements with AirTags? Nope. Apple (and the rest of the industry) did that part right.
That person had an Android phone
That part is only possible because of Apple and Google working together to make that happen. Originally Android owners had no way of knowing there was an Airtag in the vicinity unless they downloaded an app and were actively running it. So it would have been fairly easy to use an Airtag to track an Android owner.
Likewise something like a Tile would not be detected by an iPhone (or Android) unless you were running the Tile app.
Now that there's a standard API for all tags to use, and the capability is built into iOS (and being added to Android) you'll be able to see all trackers following you. So that's good for preventing stalking, but bad for using tags to detect stolen property or just having other people in close proximity (like if you have someone riding in your car carrying something they've tagged) You can pause those annoying warnings about an "unknown tracker following you" for the day, but there's no way to permanently shut them off - it really would be nice if there was a way to mark an individual tag as "ignore this one forever" so you don't have to get warned about the tag carried by some random guy that's always taking the train at the same time you are.
So basically some of the best features of Airtags have been compromised by idiots using them for nefarious purposes, and we've all had to suffer.
A few weeks ago I gave a lift to a friend who had attached an airtag to his hang-glider equipment. He managed to lose his tag in my car... I was warned about a tag in the vicinity (by my Android phone), located said tag in the car, and then spent a couple of days trying to find the owner (I had no idea who the tag belonged to, and I gave many people lifts during that week). He was unable to locate his own tag.
The issue with anti-tracking notifications is that they inform the thief as much as the stalked. I would definitely err on the side of caution (giving priority to stalking victims over catching thieves) but it would be nice if a person with a big brain could come up with a way to ensure thieves don't get notified that the item they've lifted is being tracked while preserving the safety feature.
Perhaps something like "Report AirTag as Stolen" as a product feature the blocks informing someone about the tag in their vicinity. Make it a one-way ticket with an expiration. For example, make the report, and the AirTag dies permanently 24-hours later. It was stolen after all, so there should be no expectation of retrieving & reactivating it. Tie in a few more limits like an iPhone user can only report a theft once a month, or something like that.
Ooooh, even more fun... AirTags work by communicating to the smart phones near them, and then those smart phones report their location to the Apple mothership. If the device near them appears to be traveling with them (ie: a stalking AirTag), then the smart phone will alert its owner. Therefore the smart phone knows is being stalked, and the Apple mothership knows which smart phone is making the report. Using the same technology, if the AirTag is reported as stolen, therefore Apple would know who the thief is.
Of course, law enforcement would need to be willing to promptly investigate based on the information provided. That is a different problem, and is far more insurmountable than the technology required...which is probably why Apple has not created such a feature functionality.
Absent law enforcement taking an active role...how about a remote feature which shorts out the AirTag's lithium battery, causing a fire. Hmmmm, that would stop thieves! A little bit too Ethan Hunt-ish though, and would be quickly abused by anyone who ignores the "Don't try this at home" warning.
Interesting thought exercise, thanks for posing the question.
If somebody is notified of the proximity of a tracker, that bug is only useful as a way to find your keys.
If I've nicked something that has a tracker attached and I'm notified that a tracker is around, that tells me I need to give that booty a good ol' examination until I find the tracker and can fix it to the bottom of a bus seat or drop it in some little bitty's purse. It might even be fun to shimmy up a pole and stick it up high and watch from a cafe to see if anybody comes sniffing around. It's just as bad to have a LoJack fitted to your car and putting stickers on letting thieves know it's there. There's a couple of standard mounting locations that installers use that aren't that hard to check so if you know it's there, you can disable it before it can be activated.
Apple updated Apple Air Tags AFTER they were released.
> Apple has released a software update for AirTags following concerns they could be used to track people secretly.
>
> AirTags were released in April and were promoted as a way for people to keep track of their belongings.
>
> However, critics warned that the coin-sized tracker could be easily used to monitor someone's real-time location.
>
> Following the update, AirTags will beep if they are away from their owner's iPhone - at a random time between eight and 24 hours - to alert people nearby.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57351554
The audio alerts don't work, if somebody has cut the speaker connections, instructions available on YouTube. It seems to take a couple of minutes.
From Feb 2022
> The latest beta for iOS 15.4 includes new features designed to prevent Apple’s AirTags from being used to stalk people, 9to5Mac reports. Most notably, there’s a new privacy notice during their setup which warns that using AirTags to track someone without their consent could be a crime, and that law enforcement can request details on an unknown AirTags’ owner. “AirTag is Linked To Your Apple ID,” the notice reads.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/23/22947063/airtags-anti-stalking-ios-15-4-beta-4-privacy-notice
Here's the Apple news release for AirTags dated 21st April 2021 https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-introduces-airtag/
Update on the case linked in the article.
> A woman found guilty of using an Apple AirTag to track her cheating boyfriend to a bar before repeatedly running him over in a parking lot and killing him in front of bystanders was sentenced Thursday to spend 18 years in prison.
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/apple-airtag-killer-sentenced-to-prison-for-killing-andre-smith-outside-bar/
[UPDATE]
Have a look at this article from Apple Insider.
> Apple's AirTags are being used for stalking, but the problem isn't new, nor remotely exclusive to Apple — and is easier to execute undetected with other inexpensive methods. The real issue is the overall failure of law enforcement to act.
>
> Reports of AirTags being used to stalk people don't give a full picture of the dangers of "stalkerware," and the reports often shift blame entirely onto Apple.
>
> Apple isn't the only one whose tracking devices can facilitate stalking, it's just the highest profile vendor to provide tracking tools.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/12/31/the-airtag-stalking-problem-is-only-partially-apples-problem-its-mostly-law-enforcements
Register article on the case https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/14/airtag_tracking_murder_charge/
You may find this Register article from May 2023 "Apple, Google propose anti-stalking spec for Bluetooth tracker tags" informative https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/02/apple_google_antistalking_bluetooth/
"Apple updated Apple Air Tags AFTER they were released."
Not to include anti-stalking measures; those were included from day 1 - before the produce was on the shelves. This is the press release dated April 20th 2021. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-introduces-airtag/.
@Lord Elpuss "AirTags have never been an ideal tool for stalkers. Stop spreading FUD." ...
Utter shite. Apple had anti-tracking protocols embedded in AirTag from the get go - no pressure from EFF or anybody else was the trigger for this.
Apple begs to differ in this APPLE STATEMENT released February 10, 2022 An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/02/an-update-on-airtag-and-unwanted-tracking/
reported in the Register February 11, 2022 https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/11/apple_airtags_stalking/
"Apple on Thursday said it is modifying its AirTag tracking devices to prevent them from being used for the wrong sort of tracking."
The article says people were getting too many tracking alerts, such as when borrowing a friend's keys, so Apple refined the algorithm.
It also says, literally in paragraph 2, that anti-tracking tech was always built in.
Please. Read your own articles and apply a little critical thinking - it's not much to ask.
The article says a lot more than that. But why let facts get in your way, just close your eyes, put your hands over your ears and continue to spout utter shite. You are such a rabid fanboy.
BTW When Apple ask you to bend over for another shafting do they charge 30% commission on the Vaseline.
This post has been deleted by its author
You know the truth. You can very easily look online and discover for yourself (including on the actual, literal AirTag launch announcement) that AirTag has always, from the day it was launched, included anti-tracking technology that makes it a poor choice for stalkers.
You won’t look though, because you enjoy your delusion. Your hatred of Apple means you’ll believe what you want to believe regardless of the actual facts.
I'm not writing this for you. I’m writing this for others, so they have the facts and won’t be misled by your misinformation and anti-Apple propaganda.
Bike theft seems to be a huge problem owing also to the increasing worth of the bikes, and not even keeping them in your premises will necessarily help.:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-27/police-brushed-him-off-so-he-exposed-an-international-bike-theft-ring-on-his-own
The authors site, Bike Index (https://bikeindex.org/) is a response the to this increasing problem - it give at least a chance that if your bike is found in a raid done on one of these international theft rings, you could have a chance to get it back.
Interesting to see that even on this level of high-value bike theft - the police continue to profess a lack of any interest whatsoever.
There's an engineer (named Mark Rober) here in the states that took a different approach when his packages were stolen. He created glitter bomb packages that made the thieves sorry they took the packages as well as capturing it on video. There was not just glitter, but a foul smell sprayed at the thief. He did this for multiple years with improvements each year. The first year video is here https://youtu.be/xoxhDk-hwuo?si=JEVbAApDmyJR5EV3
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