Apple Airtags – A Low Cost Surveillance Tool for Good or Evil

Ever see a scene in the movies where the cops (or the bad guys) plant a tracking device on someone and later catch the person doing something?

Ever hear stories about an ex stalking his or her former partner?

Well Apple just made that ‘affordable’.

Probably too affordable.

And folks have already tested it.

Like putting an airtag in a Fedex envelope and mailing it somewhere. Then tracking it. Apparently, WAY more precise than Fedex’s own tracking system.

In part, that is because of how they work. If they are within a few feet of any iDevice, poof you know where it is. That works great in the city where the number of Apple devices per square inch is high. Go out into the woods and it doesn’t work so well. Unless the person you are tracking has an iDevice.

You want to know where your kids are? Covertly slip a $29 tracking device in their backpack.

Want to know if your spouse is cheating? You can buy 4 tags for less than a hundred bucks.

Want to keep tabs on your ex? Ditto.

You could hide one in a car or any number of places, depending on how devious you are.

Here is the worst part.

In many cases, it may not even be illegal. But it might be. Depends.

Point of information: A tag is tied to an Apple device. If the Apple device can be tied to you or someone you called or an email account you accessed, the cops will be able to find you.

Just in case you were thinking of doing something illegal.

Tracking your kids? That’s not illegal. But kids are usually smarter than parents, so they might be tracking you right now. If they have $29.

Credit: Ars Technica

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