Whether it’s a bike, suitcase, wallet, or keychain – Apple’s AirTags are currently enjoying great popularity and are undoubtedly suitable for finding misplaced or lost items. However, after repeat cases of misuse came it’s become controversial whether Apple’s tracking device offers sufficient security features, and it remains to be seen whether and how manufacturers and lawmakers will respond manufacturers and legislators.
The following article aims to provide an overview of the topic.
Misuse manufacturers and legislators
A handy and easy-to-use radio transmitter weighing just 11 grams and the diameter of a two-euro coin – it’s hardly surprising that such a device can be attached to other people’s objects and thus track people. In reality, usa business fax list the actual application goes far beyond its original purpose: In addition to arranging car thefts and tracking Russian troop movements in the Ukraine conflict, AirTags, as already mention above, have primarily been used as tracking devices to ambush people. A sad low point is a fatality in Indiana in which a woman used an AirTag to track her 26-year-old boyfriend to a bar because she suspect him of infidelity and then ran him over three times with her car.
How it works
An AirTag is a Bluetooth tracking device that doesn’t determine its own location like a GPS receiver, but inste uses short-range radio to transmit a signal that reaches only a few meters. This signal is then detect by another Apple device (iPhone, iPad, MacBook), and the iPhone registers the last location at which the device encounter the AirTag. The iPhone then sends the AirTag’s location anonymously to the cloud, these popups still have and the user can see. Where the AirTag is via Apple’s “Find My” network.
Apple’s high market share – more than one billion iPhones are actively us worldwide . Makes this principle possible and has the advantage that. AirTags can be produc comparatively cheaply and consume less power than GPS receivers.
AirTag warning message
. A firmware update shortened this period so that the warning signal is emitt after eight to 24 hours. However, botswana business directory it didn’t take long for the first. Instructions to appear online on how to deactivate the AirTag’s speaker. At 60 decibelsas heise online reported. Furthermore, this function is ineffective if the tracked person is unable to hear the AirTag at all.
Legal assessment: criminal liability gap
Spying on data under Section 202a of the German Criminal Code (StGB) criminalizes However, in this cas. The perpetrator, as the owner and possessor of the AirTag, is authorized to dispose of it. And this data is intend for him even if it reveals the victim’s location. Therefore, this does not constitute a suitable object of the crime.