Apple and Google want to fight AirTag stalking
3 Min Read
Unwanted tracking via Apple's Airtags and similar products like Tile, has become a major concern.
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An apple logo in an Apple store in Saint-Herblain near Nantes, France, September 16, 2021. (Reuters)
Together, Apple and Google are working to prevent unauthorized tracking via AirTags and other similar devices.
Apple’s AirTag digital tracking sensor was created for those who tend to lose their belongings. It is placed on the item one wishes to track to avoid losing it, enabling them to track it on their iPhone through the Find My app to know its exact location. However, Apple has now found itself the subject of lawsuits from people who have been harassed using the brand’s tracking product.
A proposal to establish guidelines for preventing covert surveillance on Bluetooth devices—which were developed to assist people in finding lost keys, monitoring luggage, and locating other items that are prone to being misplaced—was submitted on Tuesday by Google and Apple.
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The manufacturers of monitoring goods like the AirTag, such as Tile, Chipolo, and Pebblebee, as well as Samsung, which sells the most Android smartphones globally, support the idea.
Since its 2021 introduction, the $30 AirTag has gained popularity. However, police have received reports of stalkers using the gadgets to follow former romantic interests and other individuals who are unaware they are being followed.
According to Dave Burke, Google’s vice-president of engineering for Android, “Bluetooth trackers have created tremendous user benefits, but they also bring the potential of unwanted tracking, which requires industrywide action to solve."
Apple has also acknowledged the danger of misusing the gadgets. In response, the business has launched a number of features, such as alerts that alert iPhone users if a location tag that is not connected to their devices is traveling with them and a software for Android smartphones that can identify unauthorized AirTag monitoring.
However, Apple and Google now want to set take the new industry standard a step further. By the end of this year, the corporations want to have a strategy in place. The two businesses would provide the fix via software upgrades for iPhones and Android phones, which would be released by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), an organization that develops internet standards.
Erica Olsen, the senior director of National Network to End Domestic Violence’s Safety Net Project, commended the initiative to uphold a new standard that will help survivors of abuse and others that have been targeted. “These new standards will minimize opportunities for abuse of this technology and decrease the burden on survivors in detecting unwanted trackers,” she says.
The draft is out for review from interested parties for the next three months, following which the two firms will collaborate to address and incorporate suggestions.
