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But then the app’s tiny “wrench” icon stopped moving. The item was “last detected” seven minutes ago at a busy intersection less than a mile away. Traffic, maybe? Five more minutes have passed without an update. Is there a problem with the app? After another 10 minutes, my heart started pounding; always nothing.
Eventually, the tracker was detected four miles away in front of his school. Relieved, I decided that more information in this case was worse; I would come back to simply tracking my keys. Apple later told me that the delay was due to the tracker needing to communicate with Bluetooth on other iOS devices in the Find My network along the bus route before AirTag’s location. can be updated to iCloud and the app.
Still, my experience has highlighted how easily these trackers can be used to track another person. After all, I knew when he got to school and when he got back on the bus to go home.
While AirTags are explicitly meant for items only, Apple has added safeguards to reduce unwanted tracking. For example, the company does not store location data and will send an alert to the user of an iOS device if an AirTag appears to be tracking them when its owner is not there. If the AirTag doesn’t reconnect to the owner’s iOS device after three days, the tracker will start making noise.
“We take customer safety very seriously and are committed to respecting the privacy and security of AirTag,” the company said in a statement to CNN Business. “AirTag is designed with a set of proactive features to deter unwanted tracking – an industry first – and the Find My Network includes a smart, tunable system with deterrents that apply to AirTag, as well as third-party products. part of the Find My Network Accessories program. We’re raising the bar on privacy for our users and industry, and hope more will follow. “
Safeguards are a work in progress as software deploys and users begin to interact with devices. When my babysitter recently took my son on a date, using my set of keys with an AirTag attached, she was not told she was wearing a AirTag – separate from my phone. (She had not yet updated her phone software to iOS 14.5.)
Non-iPhone users can hold their phone near the AirTags, and via short-range wireless technology, information is displayed on how to turn off the tracker., but that is if the person knows they are being followed and locates them. In addition, three days is a long time for an AirTag to shut up before making noise.
Apple told CNN Business it may adjust these features through software updates to improve AirTag tracking deterrents. He also said that the three-day alert window was set so as not to flood users with alerts. For example, if a spouse puts an AirTag on a gym bag and leaves it in a closet at work, anyone at home may see the noise as a nuisance.
“Abusive individuals will misuse any type of technology as an abuse tactic, regardless of the purpose or how useful it can be to someone else,” said Erica Olsen, project manager of safety net at NNEDV, at CNN Business. “Location tracking is very common and a big concern for survivors, but it’s not just about AirTags. Apple’s privacy and security notifications can actually make this device more difficult to misuse. for abusive people than others in the market and this point should not be lost. “
However, she said more work needed to be done to “maximize confidentiality”.
Albert Fox Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project and a fellow of the NYU School of Law, agreed, saying AirTag’s guarantees “don’t go far enough.”
“Three days of follow-up is more than enough to create a privacy risk. For those who live with their attackers, they might never know they are being followed if their attackers may frequently be within AirTag range.” , said Cahn. Likewise, it is helpful for AirTags to alert nearby iPhones to their presence, but those using Android will not receive an alert if an AirTag is tracking them.
Apple said one of the main reasons it was spending so much time developing safeguards was the size of its network of Find My apps. But it’s AirTags’ reliance on this larger network that creates much of the need for warranties in the first place, Cahn said. “This is because Apple is turning over a billion iOS devices into a network for tracking AirTags, while Tile will only work within range of the small number of people using the Tile app. … The benefits of finding our keys a little faster are not worth the danger of creating a new global tracking network. “
But as AirTag adoption grows, Ramon Llamas, director of research firm IDC, echoed that Apple will need to extend its warranties because malicious parties “will find a way around the problems of confidentiality one way or another ”.
“It’s a work in progress, especially as the use case continues to evolve,” Llamas said. “Right now, AirTags are for things.”
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